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Return Migration: Policies and Practices
Prosecution and Detention Procedures
Certain precautions may also be taken to investigate whether a foreign national may be granted
entry to Finland, or where a decision to enforce and an expulsion order is pending. This may
include an obligation to:
Report to the police at stipulated intervals until a decision has been made;
Surrender his/her passport or ticket to the police;
Post a bond set by the police;
Inform the police of an address where s/he may be reached.
An individual awaiting removal may be detained if there is reasonable cause to believe that s/he
will hide or commit a criminal offence in Finland, or if his/her identity is yet to be established. 6
The legal provisions for detention are to be found in the Finnish Aliens Act Chapter 7, Section 46,
which states:
If there exists a reasonable cause, with regard to an alien’s personal and other circumstances, to
believe that he will hide or commit criminal offences in Finland, or if his identity has yet to be
established, he may be placed into detention. A person less than 18 years of age may not be placed
in detention without first hearing the social welfare authorities or the Ombudsman for Aliens.
Whenever an alien is placed in detention, his case is to be processed expeditiously.
A new law on the establishment of a detention centre for foreigners taken into custody under the
Aliens Act came into force on 1 March 2002. Prior to that, detained asylum seekers were kept in
police cells and county prisons. The detention centre was opened in July 2002. Usually, detention
lasts from a few days to some weeks, but can last up to a few months. Detention cases have
to be taken to a court hearing every two weeks. The District Court decides whether the asylum
seeker should be released or kept in detention.
Persons under 18 may not be detained without consulting the social welfare authorities, or the
Ombudsman for Aliens.
The specific period of detention is not prescribed in the Aliens Act, although it does recommend
that cases of detained persons be dealt with expeditiously. According to a study conducted in
1999 on the detention of asylum seekers in major Finnish cities, about 14 per cent of asylum
seekers were detained, mostly on arrival, and detention times varied considerable between Helsinki
(a few months) and other cities (up to a week). 7 Finnish courts usually review detention
cases within four days of the initial detention, and every two weeks thereafter.
Framework Agreements with Countries of Origin or Transit
Previous provisions on the readmission of asylum seekers have been replaced since the Dublin
Convention came into force in 1997. 8 Outside the EU, readmission agreements have been concluded
with Estonia (1995), Latvia (1996) and Lithuania (1997). These agreements are part of a
series of treaties on readmission, cooperation, and the abolition of visa-requirements, which
make up the Baltic Agreements.
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