Migri to reduce reception centres as refugee influx deceases

The Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) will reduce the number of reception centres as the number of new applicants for international protection and recipients of temporary protection has decreased during the spring, said Migri in a press release on Monday.

The Ukrainian refugees, who have received temporary protection may apply for a municipality of residence if they have been residing in Finland for a continuous period of one year prompting the authority to reduce the number of refugee reception centres.

By the end of June, the reception system will have about 11,000 recipients of temporary protection who can apply for a municipality of residence if they so wish.

Those who have a municipality of residence can personally decide their place of residence. They have the same rights and services as other residents.

The Migri is continuously assessing the need for accommodation in the reception system and its cost-effectiveness. The agency regulates the number of places in the system according to the current need.

“As the need for accommodation decreases, it is also necessary to reduce the accommodation capacity in the reception system to maintain cost-effective operations. Capacity will be scaled down by reducing the number of places in the reception units in operation and by closing down some of the units. Some of the new reception units for adults and families will be turned into institutional reception units,” said Elina Nurmi, Director of the Reception Services Department of Migri.

The changes to the reception system will be planned and implemented during the summer and autumn of 2024.

Finland currently has 76 reception centres, their branches and service points for clients in private accommodations and 23 units for minors.

The reception system has currently around 27,800 customers. 43 per cent of these customers live in private accommodation. The majority of the customers are Ukrainian refugees.