25,892 people fleeing Ukraine granted asylum in Finland

A total of 25,892 people fleeing Ukraine following Russian attack were granted temporary protection in Finland, said the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) in a press release on Thursday.

After the attack, 28,039 applications for temporary protection have been submitted in Finland and altogether 26,108 applications have been decided till Wednesday.

Temporary protection is applied for by submitting an application to the police or the Border Guard. The Finnish Immigration Service is responsible for issuing decisions on the applications.

Nearly all decisions (25,892) have been positive. A small share of applications has expired (216) due to the applicant withdrawing their application.

The daily numbers of applications for temporary protection are now lower than in the early stages of the war.

At the moment, the police and the border control authorities register approximately one thousand applications for temporary protection every week. In mid-March, they received over 1,200 applications per day.

Most applications for temporary protection have been submitted by Ukrainian citizens (27,686). The estimated processing time of a temporary protection application is currently around one week.

“In the spring, when the temporary protection process was first started, there were delays in the service of decisions. After the beginning of May, however, applicants have received their decision rather quickly if there has been no need to complement the application with missing information, such as a photograph,” said Antti Lehtinen, Director of Asylum Unit of Migri.