Finland Times

 

Asylum seeker is being interviewed. File Photo – Lehtikuva.

The police and the Finnish Immigration Service, from the beginning of November, are adopting a common operating model in which a single authority will handle asylum seekers initial hearing and asylum interviews at the same time, said a press release of the National Police Board.

 

According to the Board, the measure will enable asylum seekers evade several months of waiting and clear the backlog of applications.

 

Currently, there are about 22,000 registered asylum seekers waiting for the processing of their applications.

 

“With the same authority conducting both the initial hearing and the asylum interview at the same time, we can eliminate the long waiting period between the police investigation and asylum interview – which is currently several months,” says Superintendent Mia Poutanen of the National Police Board in a release.

 

Until now, the police and the Border Guard have been responsible for conducting the asylum seekers initial hearing, after which the applicant had to wait for an asylum interview conducted by the Finnish Immigration Service.

 

The initial hearing will be gradually transferred to the Immigration Service and planned to be held in connection with the asylum interview.

 

According to the National Police Board, the task will be completely handed over to the Finnish Immigration Service in March 2016.

 

“In addition to speeding up the processing, operational development and management will be easier when the process is controlled by a single entity,” Esko Repo, Director of the Asylum Unit at the Finnish Immigration Service was quoted in the release.

 

In the beginning of October, the police began conducting initial interviews in connection with the registration of the asylum seekers. A total of 520 applicants have already had their initial interviews conducted at the Tornio registration centre.

 

“This measure has saved an estimated 21,000 days of accommodation which means 900,000 euros in savings,” said Poutanen as quoted by news agency STT.