Govt mulls temporary permits for rejected asylum seekers

The Ministry of the Interior on Monday set up a project to carry out a study on a legislative amendment that would enable the granting of a temporary residence permit and an alien’s passport for a limited period to asylum seekers who have received a negative decision but who have found work.

The purpose of the amendment would be to allow a person to travel to obtain a travel document from the authorities of their own country, said the Ministry of the Interior in a press release.

In addition, the project will explore possible solutions to the situation of people who have resided in Finland for a long time without a right of stay.

The project is based on the Action Plan for the Prevention of Irregular Entry and Stay published earlier in May.

In line with the Government Programme, the Action Plan was updated for the period 2021–2024. The Action Plan includes a total of 52 actions, 10 of which focus on those without a right of stay in the country.

“Two of the actions will be implemented through the studies that will now be conducted. This is one part of a broad package aimed at preventing social exclusion and the emergence of a parallel society,” said Jutta Gras, Senior Ministerial Adviser.

In the programme, the government undertakes to further develop legislation and practices to provide more flexible opportunities to secure a residence permit based on employment for those whose applications have been refused but who have found work.

This means that a person who is integrated and has found work in Finland could obtain a residence permit for an employed person more flexibly, even though he or she has not been considered to be in need of protection.

“The basic requirement for obtaining a residence permit is that a person can prove his or her identity with a reliable travel document. In some cases, an obstacle to obtaining a work-based permit has been that the applicant has not been able to present a valid travel document. It may be difficult to obtain a document if the person's home country does not have a diplomatic or consular mission in Finland,” said Kukka Krüger, Chief Specialist.

The project to be launched will examine whether a temporary residence permit and an alien’s passport could be obtained in such a case, provided that all other conditions for a residence permit are met. 

In this case, a person could continue to work in Finland with a residence permit for an employed person and, with an alien’s passport, to travel to obtain a national passport of his or her own country.

Another study to be carried out in the project concerns possible solutions to the situation of people who have been in Finland for a long time without a right of stay.

“The aim now is to determine the conditions under which it would be justified to legalise the stay of these persons in Finland and to explore how this would be done. We will seek possible solutions from other EU countries and, above all, from the Nordic countries,” said Jutta Gras.

The studies to be conducted in the project will be finished in autumn 2021. Further preparation will be decided on the basis of these studies. The project will continue until the end of 2022.