Finland to receive 10 rescued asylum seekers from France

The government on Thursday decided that Finland will take ten asylum seekers rescued by the Ocean Viking vessel that docked in France, said the Ministry of the Interior in a press release.

Priority will be given to vulnerable asylum seekers.

France has accepted 238 people rescued by the Ocean Viking. The Ocean Viking is one of the three vessels carrying people rescued at sea, which first tried to land on the coast of Italy.

This is the first time that a rescue ship operating in the Mediterranean has docked in France.

France has requested other countries, Finland among them, to take some of the rescued people.

Voluntary relocation of asylum seekers is included in the solidarity measures which the Member States have decided to take as a consequence of the reform of the EU asylum system.

Finland has experience of receiving asylum seekers who have been relocated within the EU.

The Ministry of the Interior, in cooperation with the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri), will decide later on a more exact timetable for the relocations and the individuals to be relocated.

The Migri and the Finnish Security and Intelligence Service will check the backgrounds of the individuals before they are relocated to Finland.

The actual asylum process will start when the asylum seekers arrive in Finland.