Reform of legislation on residence permits out for comments

The Ministry of the Interior has sent out for comments a legislative proposal on amendments to the Aliens Act. The deadline for submitting comments is 20 February 2024.

The proposal sent out for comments consists of several individual elements that will implement the Government Programme’s entries concerning the evasion of provisions on entry, verification of identity and prevention of asylum seekers from becoming applicants for work-based residence permits. 

The amendments concerning the evasion of provisions on entry are aimed at supporting the Government Programme’s overall objective of managing migration and promoting internal security. 

Preventing asylum applicants from switching application procedures

The aim of the proposal is to prevent asylum seekers from becoming applicants for work-based residence permits while the asylum process is ongoing or while they are still in the country after the asylum process has ended. Asylum applicants would also be prohibited from switching to a study-based application procedure.  According to the legislative proposal, residence permit applications submitted in Finland during or after the asylum process would not be dealt with in the future. The proposed amendment would not apply to persons entitled to temporary protection. 

The reform would also support the Government Programme’s objective of promoting rapid departures of rejected asylum applicants. 

Clarifying verification of identity

The amendments would place more responsibility on both the authorities and residence permit applicants for the verification of identity. In situations where, under current legislation, a residence permit can be issued despite the absence of a travel document, applicants would in future be required to have obtained, or to verifiably have tried to obtain, a travel document before they may be issued with a permanent resident permit. In addition, applicants should present other reliable proof of their identity. 

The legislative proposal would harmonise the concepts of the Aliens Act related to the verification of identity. The aim is for the Act to be coherent and to lay the foundation for developing the regulation on identity verification in other legislative projects to be implemented during the government term. 

Making biometric data available to the Schengen Information System

The reform would also enable disclosure of fingerprint and facial image data stored in the police register under the Aliens Act to the Schengen Information System, where they would be added to alerts for returns and alerts for refusal of entry. Alerts for returns help authorities to ensure that an obligation to return set out in the return decision has been complied with and to support the enforcement of return decisions. Authorities can use alerts for refusal of entry to prevent a person who has been issued with an entry ban from returning to the Schengen area.   
Adding biometric data to alerts will improve the ability of competent authorities to identify or verify the identity of persons subject to alerts.  

Inquiries:

Jorma Kantola, Senior Ministerial Adviser, [email protected] (evasion of provisions on entry, switching of application procedures)
Tuuli Tuunanen, Chief Specialist, [email protected] (verification of identity)
Anu Polojärvi, Senior Specialist, [email protected] (biometric data)