Return - IOM Publications - International Organization for Migration

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exemption of passports for citizens travelling within this area, as well as working and residence
permits. It does not regulate the question of expulsion and leaves the issue of protection of
negative decisions with the relevant national authorities and at the level of domestic legislation
and administration.
All parties to the agreement have the right to request the return of foreigners who have transited
through Finland, Sweden, Norway, Iceland and Denmark. Such a request has to be made not
later than within a month of the authorities awareness of the aliens’ presence on the territory, and
the return must be completed not later than within six months of the illegal entry.
With the joining of Finland, Sweden and Denmark in the Schengen Agreement, the Nordic
Passport Control Agreement was modified in the late 1990s to allow for the three countries to
adapt to the Schengen requirements.
The EU and the Annex 9 removal documents are used occasionally and specifically in connection
with escorted deportations.
Costs
Information on expulsion costs is currently not available.
Detention
In practice, detention is widely used when the applicant’s identity and/or travel route is not
established, as per the changes in the legislation. Police may now also detain asylum seekers
who are not cooperative in the examination of their asylum claim and/or their removal.
According to Section 36 of the Aliens Act of 1983, asylum seekers may be further detained if the
police consider that alternative measures (deposit of travel documents at the police station, provision
of bail, stay at accommodation determined by the police, report to the police as determined
by the authorities) are insufficient to ensure that the applicant does not abscond, and
hinder thus the removal process. Foreigners detained on grounds of criminal activities are not
subject to this provision and are treated differently.
The police, being responsible for all return-related activities can detain a foreigner on the abovementioned
grounds for an initial three days. Only a court can prolong detention thereafter for a
period of four weeks. Further prolongation is subject to judicial review every four weeks. Thus
there is no maximum detention period, except for asylum seekers processed under the manifestly
unfounded procedure, who cannot be detained for more than seven consecutive days.
There are no official statistics on the number of detainees. In practice, detention is widely used at
all stages of the asylum procedure. According to ECRE, detention seems to be applied routinely
to certain nationalities or categories of asylum applicants, including those, whose cases are processed
under the accelerated procedure for manifestly unfounded claims. 7 This seems to apply
for Russians and nationals from the Baltic States. Courts generally seem to follow the police
decisions, which results in a situation where the majority of asylum seekers are detained at some
point of the examination of their application.