Processing of asylum appeals to be decentralised to four administrative courts

As of the beginning of February, asylum appeals will be processed in three other administrative courts in addition to Helsinki Administrative Court, which at the moment processes all appeals alone. The new courts are Eastern Finland Administrative Court, Northern Finland Administrative Court and Turku Administrative Court.

The administrative court that will process an appeal will be determined based on which of the sections of the Asylum Unit of the Finnish Immigration Service has processed the asylum application.

The legislative amendment concerning this will enter into force on 1 February 2017. Asylum appeals pending at Helsinki Administrative Court upon the entry into force of the amendment will be transferred to and processed at the administrative court determined in accordance with the new provisions.

Cases where an interim decision has been made, where an oral hearing has been held, or which have already been decided in session will, however, be closed at Helsinki Administrative Court.

The objective of the decentralisation is to keep the average processing times of asylum appeals below six months.

Inquiries:
Arja Manner, Senior Adviser for Legislative Affairs, tel. +358 2951 50450 and
Anu Koivuluoma, Senior Specialist, tel. +358 2951 20228,
email: [email protected]