Yet another parliamentary debate over immigration

Minister of Migration and European Affairs Astrid Thors (Swedish People’s Party) says that Finland’s policy on residence permits will have to be changed, as there are jobs in the country for which it is impossible to find Finnish workers.
      ”The government does not recruit, but we think that the needs of labour markets are decisive when deciding who can immigrate here”, Thors said.
     
Thors expressed her stand in Parliament’s question time, during which Members of Parliament were arguing once again about work-based immigration and consequent problems.
      Later on, the debate continued, meandering on and ending up in the issue of asylum seekers, when Parliament began to handle a minor amendment to the Aliens Act that is pending.
     
The discussion was sparked by an interview in the Swedish-language newspaper Hufvudstadsbladet last weekend, in which Eero Heinäluoma, the chairman of the Parliamentary group of the opposition Social Democratic Party, criticised the government’s policy on immigration.
      In the interview, Heinäluoma defended the view that immigration should not be increased now that we have more than 200,000 unemployed in the country.
     
Heinäluoma continued the same theme even in the question time, saying that work-based immigation would be very desirable if there were undone work in the country. In his view, this is not the case at the moment.
      In Heinäluoma’s opinion, it is not sensible to allow employers to import labour force from outside the European Union without any restrictions, as stated by the pending amendment to the Aliens Act.
      ”Foreign workers would be used as low-wage labour, which would inevitably lead to upheaval in the labour markets”, Heinäluoma argued.
      Ben Zyskowicz (National Coalition Party) commented that work-based immigraton does not pose any problem to Finland, but that immigrants who are after Finnish benefits do.
      ”Heinäluoma is anxious about immigrants’ working in Finland, while I worry about their not working”, Zyskowicz noted.
     
     
BACKGROUND: Several amendments to Aliens Act pending
     
Several major amendments to the Aliens Act are to be brought before Parliament this spring.
     
The Administration Committee is to complete the first large package in a couple of weeks, relating to asylum seekers’ age tests, family reunification, and the asylum seeker’s right to work. The bill is expected to be passed in Parliament before the summer break.
      The Administration Committee has another two amendments to the Aliens Act that have both raised a heated debate.
      One of them handles an amendment to the practice of issuing residence permits.
     
This legislative package also includes a proposed amendment relating to labour availability considerations, the issue to which even Heinäluoma’s sensational interview pointed.
     
The third amendment is urgent and the Administration Committee is trying to further it rapidly.
      The aim of the third amendment is to reduce the number of groundless asylum applications made by EU citizens - in practice by Roma from Bulgaria and Romania.
      If this amendment is passed, asylum applicants who have received a negative decision could no longer use Finnish reception services, including accommodation at a reception centre, and neither would they be eligible to social security benefits from the Social Insurance Institution of Finland (Kela).
     
On Thursday, Parliament handled the spring’s first and least significant amendment to the Aliens Act:
      The spouses from third countries of those EU citizens who move to Finland will face less bureaucracy in the future.
      Previously the spouses coming from outside the EU had to apply for a residence permit in Finland, while in the future, they will be treated as EU family members. The procedure is less expensive and does not require such thorough investigations.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Unexpected debate over quota refugees (25.2.2010)
  Up to a third of “underage” asylum seekers prove to be older (5.5.2009)
  SDP´s Heinäluoma criticised over comments on work-based immigration (26.4.2010)
  Thors: Deliberate deception in immigration debate (22.3.2010)

See also:
  NEWS ANALYSIS: Immigration debate enters new phase (30.3.2010)
  Foreign Minister Stubb defends immigration and multiculturalism (19.3.2010)
  Survey: More than half want tighter immigration controls (31.3.2010)

Links:
  Finnish Immigration Service
  Social Insurance Institution of Finland (KELA)