Backlog of asylum applications dismantled; new procedures lead to faster processing

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The Directorate of Immigration has succeeded in clearing a backlog of asylum applications. Nearly all applications submitted before the beginning of this year have now been processed.
      Only 70 old applications are awaiting a decision, compared with about 1,400 at the end of 2003.
      The remaining cases are the so-called Dublin cases, involving applicants who had previously applied for asylum in another European Union country. The directorate is waiting for responses from those countries to requests that they take the applicants back.
     
Employees at the directorate completed their task by working overtime, fine-tuning their working methods, and prioritising. "All applications were processed individually. This has been a great effort by the staff", said Esa Markkanen, director-general of the Directorate of Immigration.
      In December last year the Parliament’s Deputy Ombudsman Ilkka Rautio ruled that the processing times of applications for asylum and for citizenship were so long that they were in violation of the constitution. The Directorate of Immigration and the Ministry of the Interior agreed on measures to dismantle the backlog by the beginning of May.
      This year 895 new asylum applications concerning a total of 1,244 people have been submitted to authorities. Decisions have been made on about a third of the applications.
      The figures include the approximately 300 asylum applications filed by Slovakian Roma, all of whom had their applications denied.
     
Markkanen says that the process will speed up this year when the Directorate of Immigration sets up four regional units around the country.
      The directorate will hire 18 new employees to work at the new units.
     
This year officials hope to process asylum applications in ordinary cases in seven months; in 2002 the process took 15 months.
      Obviously unfounded applications are to be processed in about four months, and in cases in which an arrival has come from a country deemed safe, the processing time should be two months.
     
The Directorate of Immigration hopes  to bring the processing time for citizenship applications down to 1.5 years. In 2002 it could take up to three years for a foreign resident wanting to become a citizen to have his or her papers processed.
     
The new amended Aliens’ Act does not change asylum application procedure much. Interviews of asylum applicants have been shifted from the local police to the Directorate of Immigration.
      The police and the Frontier Guard will continue to investigate the applicants' identity, travel route, and next of kin.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Roma asylum-seeker tells of all-night torture session by Slovak police (13.4.2004)
  Nearly all Slovak asylum-seekers denied residence permits in Finland so far (18.3.2004)
  Finland has largest number of asylum-seekers who lodge applications in several countries (24.10.2003)
  Finland toughest of Nordic Countries for asylum-seekers (19.6.2002)

Links:
  Directorate of Immigration web site

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