All asylum seekers who arrived in Finland in 2015 are to receive a decision on their application by the end of 2016.
The Finnish Immigration Service (FIS) aims to clear the backlog of about 14,000 asylum seekers – including 2,500 children accompanied by one or both parents – in reception centres waiting for a decision on their application.
“With the exception of some individual cases, we believe that the asylum seekers who arrived in Finland in 2015 will receive their decisions by the end of the year,” said Esko Repo, FIS head of asylum affairs.
Finland received a total 32,500 asylum applications in 2015 and has received an additional 4,200 thus far in 2016.
Late last year, the Interior Ministry approved the recruitment of additional 500 immigration officials, more than a sixfold increase from the previous 75, to eliminate the backlog of applications by August 2016.
Achieving the objective would have necessitated an increase of 70 per cent in the number of decisions per man-year and a weekly rate of around 1,000 decisions.
The current rate is roughly 700 decisions per week, according to the FIS.
The FIS also disclosed that it has granted the applications of about 6,000 asylum seekers and turned down about 9,000 since the beginning of 2015.
An additional 7,000 applications, meanwhile, have expired either because the asylum seeker abandoned the process or has been absent for two months.
About 3,000 were rejected on grounds that they fall within the remit of another member state of the European Union (EU).
Negative decisions jumped from 16 per cent of a total 7,466 decisions in 2015 to 44 per cent of a total 17,468 decisions in 2016.
Positive decisions remained at 25 per cent.
Iraqis remain the largest nationality group among asylum seekers in Finland, accounting for 21,000 of the applicants who entered the country in 2015 and for 900 of those who entered the country in 2016.
Other common countries of origin among the asylum seekers include Afghanistan, Somalia, and Syria.
The FIS said it recently recorded an increase in the number of applicants from both Syria and Turkey, the former as a result of transfers within the EU and the latter possibly as a result of the volatile political situation in that country.
“We have not yet conducted asylum interviews with the asylum seekers from Turkey, but it is entirely possible that among them are persons who have left the country due to recent events,” Repo said.
The Interior Ministry forecasts that about 10,000 asylum seekers will arrive in Finland in 2016 and 2017.
“The number of future applicants is extremely hard to predict, but the indication nevertheless is that the number of asylum seekers arriving in Finland may have permanently settled at a higher level than before.
