Most Iraqi asylum-seekers still being granted residence permits

Three Iraqis sent back after stricter line implemented

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A majority of Iraqi asylum seekers appear to be avoiding repatriation to their homeland even though the Finnish Immigration Service has declared parts of Iraq to be a safe place for asylum seekers to return to.
      In recent weeks the Immigration Service refused the asylum requests of at least three Iraqis, but the decisions have not yet been implemented.
     
The Immigration Service announced three weeks ago that asylum seekers from most parts of Iraq could be sent back there, because security conditions in the country have improved considerably.
      Finland has not sent any asylum seekers back to Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein.
     
At the request of Helsingin Sanomat the Finnish Immigration Service calculated how many Iraqis have been ordered sent back during the past three weeks, and how many were allowed to stay in Finland.
      By midweek last week three Iraqis had been refused permission to stay in Finland, and 19 had been granted a residence permit based on a need for protection.
      “The number of those turned back is relatively small”, notes Esko Repo, director of the asylum unit.
     
About 1,500 Iraqis are currently in Finland waiting for a decision of the Immigration Service. About 1,300 are expected to be granted a residence permit, and about 200 would be likely to be sent back if the policy line remains what it has been in recent weeks.
      Esko Repo says that it is still too early to say if the policy line will remain unchanged. he nevertheless feels that it is possible that Finland will send hundreds of Iraqis back to their home country in the coming years.
     
None who have been refused residence permits have been removed from the country, and they are all entitled to appeal the decision.
      The Immigration Service believes that it will take until the spring of next year before the first decisions to refuse entry take legal effect, after which it will be possible for Finnish police to start flying failed asylum seekers to Iraq.
      Repo believes that most of those who have been granted residence permits come from the provinces of Nineve, Salah al-Din, Kirkuk, and Dijala, all of which the Immigration Service still considers inherently unsafe, for which reason Iraqis coming from those areas are all granted residence permits.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Finland expected to send hundreds of Iraqis back home in coming years (11.5.2009)
  Finland to start repatriating Iraqi asylum seekers (8.5.2009)

Links:
  Finnish Immigration Service

Helsingin Sanomat