Asylum applications down by one third
Chechens most successful applicants
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The number of people seeking political asylum in Finland in 2006 declined by more than one third from the previous year.
According to preliminary figures put out by the Directorate of Immigration, 2,316 people applied for asylum in Finland last year, which is 35 per cent fewer than in 2005.
The greatest number of applicants were from Bulgaria, Iraq, Serbia and Montenegro, Russia, and Belarus.
Decisions were given in 2,341 cases. Asylum was granted to 38 of them; 20 of those granted asylum were Russian citizens - mainly Chechens, and 12 were Iraqis.
Residence permits were granted to 600 applicants, of whom 86 were on the basis of a need for protection, and 198 for other reasons. Another 316 were given provisional permits.
In 282 cases the applications were either cancelled by the applicants themselves, or they left the country before a decision came.
In 1,421 cases the applicants were denied both political asylum and a residence permit. Of those, 817 were so-called "Dublin cases", who had been refused asylum in another EU member state before coming to Finland.
The number of children applying for asylum who had arrived in Finland alone was just 112 last year, down from 220 in 2005.
Most of the underage applicants were 16 and 17 years old. Most of them came from Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia and Angola.
Helsingin Sanomat
