The Ministry of the Interior says that it will not instruct the Finnish Immigration Service to change established legal practice in its interpretation of the Aliens’ Act with respect to decisions on residence permits of foreign grandparents of Finnish citizens.
The ministry is currently drawing up a proposal for changes in the law after the furore surrounding the cases of two grandmothers, Russian citizen Irina Antonova and Egyptian Eveline Fadayel. The aim is to make it easier for the foreign parents of Finnish citizens to get residence permits.
The National Coalition Party has come out against any legislative change on the matter.
The party’s Parliamentary group chairman Ben Zyskowicz last week called on the Interior Ministry to drop the proposed amendment and to instruct the Immigration Service to apply the legislation more leniently.
The Ministry of the Interior says that a legal practice has been established on the issue of residence permits for foreign relatives of Finnish citizens, and that the ministry cannot give instructions that deviate from the practice.
The Immigration Service is responsible for giving practical instructions for the implementation of the Aliens’ Act, and the ministry cannot give instructions on individual administrative matters. Therefore, it feels that changes in practice would require changes in legislation.
“It is ultimately a question of how great a change is to be made in the Aliens’ Act”, Zyskowicz said on Tuesday.
“The National Coalition Party does not support any significant changes in the present law.”
