Record number of asylum-seekers entered Finland last year

Over 3,400 applications were turned down

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A record number of foreign nationals, 3,651 in all, sought asylum in Finland last year.
      According to Directorate of Immigration (UVI) preliminary figures, the number of applications exceeded the previous year's figure by 13 percent, or 430 cases.
      Finland's overall number of asylum-seekers is still relatively small compared to many other western countries.
      The previous peak was in 1992, when 3,634 asylum-seekers arrived in Finland. This decade's lowest number of asylum applications, 1,651, was recorded in 2001.
      The EURODAC fingerprint database reveals that 55 percent of the asylum-seekers over 14 years of age received by Finland had already applied for asylum in one or more EU or Nordic countries.
     
Finland's asylum-seeker situation is developing in the opposite direction compared with that in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, where the number of received asylum applications by the autumn was significantly lower than the year before.
      The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR, reports that the number of asylum-seekers arriving in Norway between January and September 2004 was 6,212, compared to the 12,210 individuals recorded during the same period a year earlier.
      In Sweden the number of applicants during that same period went down from 23,085 to 17,624. In Denmark the decline was from 3,531 to 2,372.
     
"Last year Norway tightened the criteria entitling individuals to asylum, accommodation, and benefits. In Denmark such measures already took effect some time ago", explains Matti Heinonen of the Refugee and Asylum Division of UVI.
      Heinonen believes that once the news of Finland's new speeded-up processing of asylum applications spreads among the would-be applicants in other countries, Finland's numbers will also turn downwards.
      Last year, Finland's average processing time for an asylum application was between 7 to 8 months, whereas in 2002 it was 14 months.
      "Next year the processing time will be further reduced", Heinonen says.
     
Last year UVI processed a total of 4,759 asylum applications, also a new record. Asylum was granted in 29 cases, while 761 applicants received a residence permit.
      Over 3,400 applicants were turned down, and about 550 applications were dropped before a decision was made.
      According to UNHCR, there are currently over 20 million people in the world who have had to leave their home for one reason or another.
      Most of them seek refuge in the nearby areas, but some travel further in search for shelter and better living conditions.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Finland getting more asylum-seekers - sharp decline in other Nordic countries (14.9.2004)
  Asylum application processing now fastest in Europe (26.8.2004)

Links:
  UNHCR
  UVI
  EURODAC System

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