Finland opens more centres as influx of Ukrainian refugees rises

The Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) is preparing to set up new reception centres following the increased need to provide accommodation for people fleeing Ukraine, said Migri in a press release on Monday.

Some of the reception centres to be established are branches of existing reception centres. The Migri continues to increase the number of accommodation places in existing reception centres.

At present, Finland has a total of 86 reception centres, their secondary branches and service points for people in private accommodation, as well as 8 reception units for minors.

About 42,000 people are currently registered as clients in the reception system. About 50 per cent of them live in private accommodation and 10 per cent in municipalities as part of the municipal model for accommodation of people applying for temporary protection. Most clients are people who have fled to Finland from Ukraine.

“The number of people applying for temporary protection keeps increasing, although there are people returning to Ukraine as well. Still, it is hard to predict how the ongoing war in Ukraine affects the number of applicants. We need to prepare for the possibility that there is a significant increase in the number of applicants in winter, which is why an increase in our accommodation capacity is necessary and justified,” said Pekka Nuutinen, Director of Reception Unit.

Against the backdrop of the increasing number of refugees, Migri opened the Iisalmi branch of the Kuopio reception centre at Setlementti Puijola on Monday with 200 accommodation capacity.

Meanwhile, the authority will open the Porvoo branch of the Loviisa reception centre with the accommodation capacity of 300 on November 1,

The authority will open another refugee reception centre with 250 accommodation capacity in Seinäjoki operated by Finnish Red Cross on November 15.

The Kuusankoski branch of the Hamina reception centre with 400 accommodation capacity will be opened on December 1.

The Migri is responsible for directing, planning and supervising the operations of the reception system.

The reception centres maintained by the Migri are located in Helsinki, Lappeenranta (Joutseno) and Oulu. The other reception centres are maintained by organisations, Finnish municipalities, and companies.

Earlier in September, Migri opened more refugee reception centres.