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

unfounded procedures. At the time of writing (May 2000), these amendments have not yet been
adopted. Information on this issue can be obtained from the Finnish Refugee Advice.
In 1999, 44% (1,216) of all applications were rejected as manifestly unfounded, out of which 4 %
(117) were on the basis of the Dublin Convention.
Normal determination procedure
Appeal
In accordance with Section 33 of the Aliens Act, first instance decisions on the granting or denial
of Convention status, residence permit based on the need for protection, or residence permit for
other reasons, are made by the Directorate of Immigration.
The decision is based on a written record of the police interview. The applicant is not reinterviewed
except in very special cases. The government intends to modify the procedure, so
that the Directorate of Immigration will be responsible for conducting the interviews in the future.
Training will start this year but the change will not be adopted before year 2001.
According to the same Section 33, the Ombudsman for Aliens must be given the opportunity to
be heard during the determination procedure, “unless evidently unnecessary”. In practice, the
Directorate either forwards the case to the Ombudsman for comments, or simply asks for a
statement over the telephone. So far, the Ombudsman’s involvement in the asylum procedure
has very rarely had any impact on the outcome.
The average processing time for the first instance decision within the normal procedure lies
between one and two years. Together with the appeal procedure (see below), the time necessary
to reach final decision on the application can take up to two to three years and sometimes even
longer.
Pursuant to Section 57 of the Aliens Act, negative decisions by the Directorate of Immigration can
be appealed to the Helsinki Administrative Court. It is also possible to appeal a decision whereby
Convention status was refused but a residence permit granted. The appeal must be lodged within
30 days of notification of the decision and it has suspensive effect.
Legal assistance is allowed and free legal aid is available during the appeal procedure.
Interpreters are provided wherever necessary.
The Administrative Court considers whether Convention status or another form for residence
permit should be granted to the appellant, and it may also examine whether there are other
reasons which may prevent him/her from being expelled from Finland.
If the Court’s decision is negative, the applicant can lodge a request for a leave to appeal with the
Supreme Administrative Court. However, this can only be granted if the Supreme Court considers
that ruling on this issue is important for the application of the law in other similar cases, for
reasons of uniform judicial practice or if there are other weighty grounds. In practice, leaves to
appeal are granted very rarely.
Following a refusal to grant a leave of appeal or a negative decision by the Supreme
Administrative Court, the rejection is final. However, the applicant may still lodge a new asylum
application, provided that the situation in the country of origin or his/her personal situation has
clearly changed. According to the Government Bill amending the Aliens Act (see above), new
asylum applications will, in the future, be processed very quickly so that the applicant can be
expelled immediately after the decision of the Directorate of Immigration.
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Finland