legal and social conditions for asylum seekers and refugees in ...

Policy Programme adopted in 1997, this number should gradually increase to 1,000 refugees
each year.
Other types of residence permit
According to Section 20 of the Aliens Act a residence permit may be issued if “refusing a
residence permit would be clearly unreasonable”.
It is possible to apply for such a residence permit following a final rejection of an application for
asylum. However, this does not suspend the implementation of a deportation order because, in
principle, all aspects are taken into consideration when decisions on the asylum application or on
deportation are made. Nevertheless, it is sometimes possible to argue, even in the absence of
new elements that could justify a new application for asylum, that circumstances have changed
(e.g. health) and that refusing a residence permit would be clearly unreasonable.
However, this falls outside refugee status and is considered as normal immigration status;
holders of a “non-refugee” residence permit come under the same integration programme and
receive the same social benefits as Convention or de facto refugees, but their right to family
reunification is conditioned on their financial resources and their ability to support the family
members coming to Finland.
Temporary protection
Under the current legislation, there are no specific provisions on temporary protection. The
Ministry of Interior has made a proposal for incorporating a temporary protection system in the
Aliens Act, but no developments are expected in a near future.
So far, temporary protection has been granted twice: to Bosnian medical evacuees during the war
in Bosnia-Herzegovina and to 1,032 Kosovo Albanians who came to Finland under the UNHCR
Humanitarian Evacuation Programme in spring 1999.
Bosnians were issued with residence permits, renewable every six months, and were entitled to
permanent residence after two years.
Kosovo Albanians were issued with normal (non-refugee) time-limited residence permits, valid for
11 months. Due to lack of legislation on temporary protection, the issue of whether or not their
applications for asylum should be processed is not regulated. In practice, none of the Kosovo
Albanians evacuated to Finland has yet applied. As far as other Kosovo Albanian asylum seekers
are concerned, the Ministry of Interior advised the Directorate of Immigration in 1999 to suspend
the examination of their claims. The Directorate did, however, render some decisions and since
2000 asylum decisions to Kosovo Albanians are also made normally. In May 2000, the Ministry of
Interior decided that the temporary residence permits for the evacuated Kosovo Albanians will not
be renewed automatically. Only those individuals belonging to special groups which, according to
UNHCR (March 2000), risk facing serious problems upon return can still receive protection in
Finland provided they apply for a renewed temporary residence permit or for asylum.
Kosovo Albanians with temporary residence permits were given some special rights, which are
normally not given to the holders of such residence permits, including for example the right to
family reunification without any special requirements.
Rejection at the border
An alien who does not meet the necessary requirements for being allowed to enter Finland
(mentioned in Sections 8 and 37 of the Aliens Act) and who applies for asylum at a border point
should not be rejected until a decision has been made on his/her application.
66
Finland