The Right to Live (Lupa elää) citizen’s initiative passed through the 50,000 signatures barrier Friday. If passed by parliament, the initiative will grant four-year residence permits to undocumented migrants who came to Finland before January 1, 2017.
The ministry of interior published its recommendations on what to do with some 3,000 undocumented migrants who came to Finland in 2015-2016. Of this group, about 300 are children.
States the Right to Live: “An unprecedented number of asylum seekers arrived in Finland during the years 2015 and 2016. Many went through asylum processes that were hurried and of poor quality. More than 5 years later, some of them are in a legal limbo and are still waiting for a residence permit, while some are waiting for the first non-appealable decision to their asylum applications.”
The proposal, made by the Green League, to grant a residence permit to undocumented migrants has received opposition from government parties like the Social Democrats (SDP) and Center Party.
Migrant Tales has published several stories about the lives of undocumented migrants in Finland. Here is Amir’s story.
Some of the most vocal government objectors to the proposal are SDP MP Eveliina Heinäluoma and Mikko Kärnä of the Center Party, both parliament’s administrative committee members.

Be ready to hear a lot of empty whining by some politicians on why we should continue to let thousands of undocumented migrants and their children live on the fringes of society without any rights.
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