Number of asylum seekers arriving in Finland turns downwards

The vigorous increase in the number of asylum seekers that has been continuing for a couple of years appears to have come to an end during the first months of the current year.
      In January, a total of 1,083 foreigners applied for asylum in Finland. In the corresponding period last year, the figure was about 450 higher.
     
In 2009, the total number of applicants was roughly 6,000. It was by far an all-time record in the country.
      In 2010, the number of applicants will be more than 1,000 lower than last year, if the numbers remain at the same level as in the first quarter of the year.
      ”Based on the figures for the first quarter of the year, the number of asylum seekers has peaked”, confirms manager Juha Similä from the Finnish Immigration Service.
      The highest number of asylum seekers came from Bulgaria in the period from January through March. The next largest groups came from Russia, Somalia, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
     
Citizens of Bulgaria, a member state of the European Union, began to arrive in Finland in vast crowds last summer. Almost without exception, they were all Roma.
      The Finnish Immigration Service has given all Bulgarian applicants a negative decision.
      At present, the arrival of Bulgarian asylum seekers appears to be drying up, as in April, hardly any of the incoming applicants were from Bulgaria.
     
An amendment to legislation is now being discussed in Parliament.
      The proposed amendment would restrict the rights of those asylum applicants who come from other EU countries.
      The entire vexed question of immigration and of asylum seekers is likely to be a hot topic in the campaigns leading to next year's parliamentary elections.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Amendment to Aliens Act would open doors to hundreds of grandparents (8.4.2010)
  Medical age evaluations for young asylum seekers criticised by legal scholars (30.3.2010)
  Asylum-seekers clear snow from Helsinki streets (5.2.2010)
  Young Afghan asylum-seekers heading for Nordic countries through Paris (21.4.2009)
  Surge in number of underage asylum seekers (24.11.2008)

See also:
  Survey: More than half want tighter immigration controls (31.3.2010)
  Survey: Finns´ attitudes toward immigration have become more negative (15.3.2010)

Links:
  Finnish Immigration Service
  Up to a third of “underage” asylum seekers prove to be older (5.5.2009)