Govt plans to tighten illegal entry, stay

A ministerial working group on Monday expressed its apprehension that the risks of illegal entry and stay of refugees in the country would escalate in the coming years and recommended maintaining more intensive control on the phenomenon in 2017 to 2020.

The Working Group on Immigration has also adopted the Action Programme for the Prevention of Illegal Entry and Stay during the period, said an official press release.

The group, however, said that Finland was not an attractive place to stay illegally. Aside from the country’s geographical location up north, its appeal has most likely been reduced by the fact that the control on aliens, the asylum process and the implementation of deportation orders are known to be effective.

Moreover, there is no established market for black jobs in Finland. All these circumstances tend to discourage illegal entry and stay.

But, now it has been recognised that the risk of this phenomenon of illegal entry and stay may grow. The period from 2017 to 2020 will be extremely important in terms of maintaining control on who may enter and stay in the country.

The current programme is more extensive and covers a longer period of time than the Action Plan for the Prevention and Management of Illegal Stay approved last December. This is the third in a series of programmes first established in 2012.

The action programme now adopted was commissioned by the working group appointed by the Sipilä cabinet. The implementation of the programme will be monitored by the Civil Service Working on the Prevention of Illegal Immigration operating under the auspices of the National Police Board.

The programme provides for a range of measures to ensure the prevention of illegal entry and stay and maintain control over immigration.

Among the key priorities are actions to be taken in central Finland to combat illegal residence and ensure internal security. The programme specifies 25 measures to be carried out by various authorities. Some of the measures are new while others were already included in the earlier action programme; however, it was felt necessary to continue to pursue the previously specified measures.

Over the past few years, illegal entry to Europe has multiplied and become harder to predict. Even though there has also been a major change in circumstances in Finland, illegal stay is not a new development. In recent years, the authorities have detected an annual average of slightly over 3,000 people entering and living in Finland illegally.

Previously, most of these illegal foreigners had filed their applications seeking asylum in central Finland but lacked the documents required for legal entry to the country.

Another major group of people staying in Finland illegally are those suspected of violations of the Aliens Act. The number of illegal residents is expected to grow. Those denied asylum are likely to create a new category of illegal aliens.

The measures to prevent illegal entry are not designed to prevent the entry of refugees or asylum-seekers or complicate legal residence in the country. In all actions to control illegal immigration, it is imperative to give due consideration to fundamental and human rights as well as the legal protection of each individual.