Finland’s residence permit legislation was amended in September 2024 to implement a stricter immigration policy, which has been established in the current Government Programme. Under the amended Aliens Act, one of the requirements for obtaining a residence permit is that the applicant must prove their identity with a national travel document. As required by the amended provisions, the Finnish Immigration Service has issued negative decisions on residence permit applications, also for Palestinian applicants. The Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs has stated in discussions between authorities that the Ministry’s definition of a national travel document is also applicable in the context of residence permit legislation. This is not expressed in the provisions of the amended Act or in the preparatory material for the approved Act. The Finnish Immigration Service wishes to assess the factors set forth by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in relation to the agency’s own guidelines for application of law.
The amendments that entered into force a year ago excluded the possibility for applicants to prove their identity with other travel documents, such as alien’s passports and refugee travel documents. The government proposal for amending the Aliens Act mentions separately that the requirement also applies to stateless persons, such as Palestinians.
The only way for the agency to affect legislation is by giving comments during the drafting stage. The question of equal treatment of stateless persons and the need for clear and unambiguous legislation were set forth by the Finnish Immigration Service during the drafting stage of the currently discussed provisions, from the perspective of a public authority that would apply the law in practice. The comments of the Finnish Immigration Service did not affect the content of the Act that was enacted by the Finnish Parliament or the preparatory material for the Act. The Constitutional Law Committee, for example, did not comment on the content of the Act in the drafting stage.
Finnish Immigration Service applies the immigration legislation
The decision-making guidelines and decisions of the Finnish Immigration Service are always based on law. When the agency applies the law, the point of departure is the phrasing of the provision in question and the preparatory material for the approved Act. Court decisions made in the appeal stage will also affect the application of the law, but such decisions do not yet exist on the amended provisions. The establishment of case law on the basis of court decisions will take several years. Interpreting the provisions in a way that is supportive of fundamental rights, which has also been discussed in the media, can be and must be utilised to support the application of law, but such interpretation alone cannot solve the legal questions that have arisen.
The role of the Finnish Immigration Service is to apply the immigration legislation of Finland, including the provisions on residence permits. The legislation on passports, visas and entry into the country does not contain a similar requirement for a national travel document than what was added for residence permits when the Aliens Act was amended. The requirement for a national passport only concerns longer residence in Finland, not entry into the country or short-term residence in the country.
The Ministry for Foreign Affairs has now set forth factors related to the definition of a national travel document and the Ministry’s view on considering a national travel document issued by the Palestinian administration as comparable to a national travel document. The perspectives presented by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs are not stated in the amended Act or in the preparatory material, such as the government proposal.
The Finnish Immigration Service is now assessing its guidelines for application of law in relation to the perspectives presented by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. At the moment, it is too early to say whether or not the review will lead to changes. Completing the review process will take a few weeks.
“As a government agency, we want to contribute to the drafting stage to ensure that legislation is unambiguous and foreseeable. Under the Constitution of Finland, the exercise of public powers must be based on an Act and the law must be strictly observed in all public activity. Because the role of the Finnish Immigration Service is to apply the law and exercise public powers, there are strict conditions for making a deviating interpretation of the specific phrasing of a provision. In the present case, factors that are not expressed in the Act or in its preparatory material have now been brought forward”, says Johanna Waal, Director of Legal Services.
“In this situation, we have deemed it justified to assess our guidelines for application of law from this perspective”, says Waal.
Customers may always appeal against a decision
In the case of stateless applicants who already reside in Finland, the Finnish Immigration Service always takes into account individual humanitarian grounds that under law may constitute grounds for granting an exemption from the requirement for a national passport. In the case of residence permits for work or studies, however, the requirements of the Aliens Act for granting an exemption are often not met.
The Finnish Immigration Service has deemed it necessary to pause the issuing of negative residence permit decisions for Palestinian applicants for the duration of the review. All applicants who have received a negative residence permit decision and a deportation decision have the right to appeal against the decision. During the processing of the appeal, the deportation decision is usually not enforced by the authorities, unless the deportation is based on crimes, for example. In these cases, too, the Administrative Court may issue an interim decision to prohibit the authorities from enforcing the decision.
The Finnish Immigration Service always follows the principle of non-refoulement. According to the principle of non-refoulement, a person cannot be removed from the country if the person in their home country faces a risk of being subjected to the death penalty, torture, persecution or other inhuman or degrading treatment.
Media enquiries
Johanna Waal, Director of Legal Services, [email protected], tel. 0295 433 037 (Finnish Immigration Service’s phone number for media representatives)
Please visit:
Our Sponsor