Finland adds 128 to evacuation list from Afghanistan

The government on Tuesday decided that Finland could admit to the country a maximum of 45 additional Afghan former employees of the Finnish Embassy in Kabul together with their families, said the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in a press release.

Finland can also admit a new group of persons representing security sector employees together with their families, totalling a maximum of 83 persons.

The new decision complements the government's earlier decisions of 13 and 15 August, according to which a total of 170 persons would be admitted to Finland.

Under these three decisions, altogether 298 persons from Afghanistan can be admitted to Finland.

The government decided that Finland would admit a maximum of 45 Afghans who were employed by the Embassy of Finland in Kabul between 1 January 2016 and 31 December 2020, including their families.

These individuals have asked the Finnish government to admit them to Finland. The quota of 45 persons includes the employees and their family members.

In addition, Finland will admit to the country persons who were employed as of 13 August 2021 by Tahiri Protection Risk Management Consulting, which provided security services to the Embassy of Kabul in Finland.

This decision applies only to those employees of the company who were responsible for the security of Finnish Embassy personnel. These individuals have asked the Finnish Government to admit them to Finland. The total number of these employees and their family members will be a maximum of 83 persons.

The aim is that these persons will be transferred to Finland on a charter flight organised by the Finnish Government.

In the first phase, the Finnish Immigration Service will be responsible for receiving the evacuees in Finland. They will be granted residence permits.