Minister of the Interior Maria Ohisalo wants to improve asylum application processing in Finland, especially in its early stages, to avoid problems in the process and wait times that can stretch to several years.

 

Appearing in an interview on Yle’s Ykkösaamu programme, the Green Party chair said that Finland should consider granting residence permits to people who have integrated and found work.

 

The minister said that the beginning of the asylum application process in particular should be improved, to avoid long waiting times and streamline the immigration authorities’ work . She reported that the government has earmarked 26 million euros over the next two years to improve the Finnish Immigration Service’s processing of asylum applications.

 

Ohisalo called for immigration officials to be more mindful of asylum seekers’ legal rights, and ensure the availability of interpreters and legal advisers. She also hinted at the possibility of longer appeal periods being reinstated.

 

“Right now, at start of the process, speed has taken priority over quality,” she said in her morning interview, vowing to make quality the priority once again.

 

The government has recommended in its official four-year agenda that asylum seekers who have secured a steady job in Finland should be granted a residence permit. Minister Ohisalo said on Saturday that Finland should rethink whether it wants to be deporting people who have integrated and found work.

 

Finland’s interior minister said that current Finnish law already sees to it that asylum seekers who are convicted of serious crimes are deported. A citizens’ initiative backing the deportation of foreigners convicted of sexual offences recently gained enough signatures to be considered by the Finnish Parliament.