New refugee centre to be opened at Raasepori

The Finnish Immigration Service will set up a new refugee reception centre at Raasepori in the Uusimaa region, said a press release.

The authorities have already completed a tendering process for the reception centre operations.

The centre for adult refugees and refugee families will be maintained by Medivida Oy.

The new reception centre is needed as those in operation are almost full. There has been no significant increase in the number of asylum seekers, but people do not leave reception centres at a pace expected by the Finnish Immigration Service.

Many asylum seekers have appealed to the Administrative Court and their appeal processes are still ongoing. Additionally, those who have received a positive decision on their applications have been unable to move to municipalities as rapidly as expected.

The new reception centre will contain 249 beds at first and is scheduled to start operations in October 2017.

The Finnish Immigration Service is also preparing to float a tender process for reception centre operations for unaccompanied minor asylum seekers in Finland as a regional framework agreement which covers all of Finland.