Wed, 16 Mar, 2016 01:17:03 AM FTimes- STT Report, Mar 16  Immigration Service Asylum Unit Director Esko Repo spoke at a news conference in Helsinki on Tuesday. Photo Lehtikuva. Asylum applications received last year should be processed by the end of the summer, said the Finnish Immigration Service on Tuesday.
“A target was set at the turn of last year that we would process the 27,000 applications received last year by the end of August and issue decisions,” said Esko Repo, asylum unit director at the immigration service.
From the beginning of the year, more than 4,000 applicants have received decisions.
From the end of this month, the service aims to issue one thousand decisions per week.
Last year, more than 32,000 asylum seekers came to Finland.
To handle this influx, the immigration service has recruited more staff to process applications.
At the moment, the asylum unit employs approximately 530 people, and the number should rise to around 580 during the summer.
The immigration staff works in Helsinki, Turku, Vaasa, Oulu, Rovaniemi, Kuhmo and Lappeenranta.
The immigration service has also streamlined other services, such as interviewing asylum seekers and developing the processing system.
The police handed over the responsibility of investigating asylum seekers to the immigration service at the beginning of March.
Asylum investigation and interviews with applicants have become combined in practice. According to the immigration service, it is estimated that 60-70 per cent of applicants can be handled with just one interview.
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