Decision-making on asylum applications from Syrians paused by Finnish Immigration Service

At the moment, the Finnish Immigration Service has approximately 350 pending asylum applications from Syrians. They can be decided once the country of origin information about the area has been updated. Decisions on asylum applications always require up-to-date country of origin information from the point of time when the decision is made. The Country Information Unit of the Finnish Immigration Service is closely monitoring the situation in Syria. Country of origin information is continuously being collected from several different sources in many ways and updated to provide support for decision-making.

“We have experienced many similar situations, and they are relatively frequent in the field of international protection. In such situations, the first steps we take are to pause the decision-making and to start reviewing our country of origin information,” says Melanie Soini, Chief Specialist, from the Department for International Protection.

How the situation in Syria will develop is currently uncertain. The Finnish Immigration Service is following the situation and will be in contact with the Nordic countries and with other EU Member States.

“Because there are many elements of uncertainty, it is difficult to predict if and how the people in the area will move. Asylum applications can still be submitted, and we aim to continue the decision-making on asylum applications from Syrians as soon as possible, but it is difficult to estimate when exactly we will be able to continue,” Soini says.