This is how the government is tightening migration policy – and more is promised

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The opportunities to come to Finland, to get a residence permit here and to get by here are being tightened. The government submitted an entire package of laws to the Riksdag on Thursday.

Initially, a so-called border procedure will be introduced, to streamline the examination of groundless asylum applications and to return rejected applicants. The procedure can be applied to applications that are judged to be probably unfounded.

In normal cases, applicants can move freely in Finland, but in border procedures they must be detained and monitored at a facility near the border while they await notification. The procedure must also be applicable to what the authorities call “extensive refugee immigration” or “instrumentalized entry”.

The intention is to expedite the return of persons deemed to pose a threat to national security.

In another bill, the government proposes that those who have come to Finland as asylum seekers should not be able to “change tracks” and apply for a residence permit if they have obtained a job or a place to study.

Interior Minister Mari Rantanen (Sannf) justifies it by the fact that the person seeking asylum has come here solely for that purpose.

– If the person is not granted asylum, the starting point is that he leaves or is removed from the country. We cannot have it so that people come here for one reason, but apply for a residence permit on other grounds, she says.

– If we are to have an asylum system, it is extremely important that we protect it from abuse. This is one way to do it.

“Dangers to society” must be expelled

Furthermore, the Aliens Act must be clarified so that it mentions all the situations where an applicant is refused a residence permit. Then there is less room for interpretation. This may apply to the provision of incorrect information, illegal stay in the country, illegal work or sham marriage.

– The purpose of the changes is to emphasize that society’s rules must be followed. It will become more difficult to enter Finnish society using the wrong methods, says Mari Rantanen.

Interior Minister Mari Rantanen and Director General Minna Hulkkonen at the Ministry’s Migration Department explain how Finland is tightening migration and asylum policy. Jussi Nukari/Lehtikuva

With another change in the law, the government ensures that international protection cannot be granted in Finland for a longer period of time than anywhere else in the EU. The validity period for residence permits through international protection must be shortened to the EU minimum, i.e. three years instead of the current four, and the validity of the first permit from four years to one year.

Anyone who has received international protection can lose it if they commit a particularly serious crime in Finland or endanger national security and are designated as a “danger to society”.

The Swedish Migration Agency must assess the need for continued international protection more often than before.

More to come this fall

Anyone who succeeds in getting a residence permit for international protection must get by on less money in return. The government lowers the so-called reception allowance and use allowance through an amendment to the Reception Act.

This also includes people who receive temporary protection and people who have fallen victim to human trafficking and who do not have a home municipality.

How much the amount is reduced depends on whether the person lives alone or with a family. The amounts must be reduced to the minimum allowed by the constitution and the EU’s reception directive.

Mari Rantanen says that the intention is to achieve savings to balance the public finances.

– All these changes must be applied gradually. This autumn, a second package of laws will come that further tightens the migration policy.

Then the criteria for obtaining Finnish citizenship and the requirement for income must be tightened, while introducing requirements that new arrivals must be blameless. It will also become more difficult to reunite families in Finland.