Posts Tagged: Finnish Immigration Service

A watershed that may impact April’s parliamentary election

Two hard-hitting editorials by Helsingin Sanomat on the mistreatment of labor migrants could indicate how the Islamophobic Perussuomalaiset* will do in the parliamentary election. I make such a claim because I am an optimist. We saw something similar in the US Midterm elections, which showed how voters rebuked Donald Trump and his election deniers. Apart

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Welcome back Dana!

Migrant Tales insight: Dana is a talented poet from Iran and a victim of the Finnish Immigration Service. I met her through this blog in 2012. I wrote back in 2015: “After a year and six months, I got an email from Dana, who has written many beautiful and powerful poems for us. I was

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Daniel Malpica: Tottelemattomuus. On the Finnish Immigration Policy

Daniel Malpica* A couple of months ago, as part of the Writers for Peace Committee, the Finnish PEN was commissioned to write a resolution regarding migration on behalf of The Assembly of Delegates of PEN International. That resolution – written in a collaboration between Veera Tyhtilä, Shashank Mane and I – was focused on the problematic suffered by migrants and

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A picture that refuses to die and reveals Finland’s inhumane asylum policy where children are locked up in detention centers

The picture of the girl in Joutseno’s immigration removal center was taken by a detained Iraqi family in 2017. If there is a picture that represents the injustice of Finland’s heartless immigration “service” authorities, it is this picture of the girl gazing at her future from a barred window with barb wire. You can check

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A second deportation attemp from Finland to Mauritania

The desperation and anguish in a woman’s voice are present as she pleads for help for her Mauritanian husband, 45,  who was deported on March 27. It was the second time that the police had tried to deport her husband after the first attempt, on March 19, on Turkish Airlines failed. 

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Hussain Kazemian: A former Shia militia member seeks asylum in Finland

Migrant Tales insight: This story below, written by Hussain Kazemian, an Afghan living in Finland, was of a countryman called Sadr, 27, who spoke on condition of anonymity about his failed request for asylum in Finland. He got his first rejection from the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) in spring 2016. Sadr appealed, but the administrative court  overturned

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QUOTE OF THE DAY: Of course a child needs a mother and father!

“In today’s Finland, it is nothing uncommon for the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) to reject family reunification by a Finnish spouse on the grounds that the child does not need a father.Doesn’t need a father? Migri should ask Argentina’s Mothers and Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo if the father, mother, and grandparents are key to a child’s identity and well-being.”

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Finnish Immigration Service: “Your wife’s unborn child can grow up without you; is the child going to be raised a Muslim?” PART II

Migrant Tales will publish the decision to reject Abdul a residence permit on family grounds. His wife, a Finn, is expecting their child that will be born in September.  Below is the decision by the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) to reject Abul’s residence permit on family grounds. Unofficial translation: “The applicant and family reunification sponsor

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Finnish Immigration Service: “Your wife’s unborn child can grow up without you; is the child going to be raised a Muslim?”

 Apparently, there is no guarantee in Finland that marriage or having a child with a Finnish citizen will guarantee asylum and a residence permit. It is the case of Abdul,* who spoke on condition of anonymity, an Iraqi asylum seeker who came to Finland in 2015. Contrary to many like him, Abdul is married to a Finnish woman who is expecting their child in September. 

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Iraqi asylum seeker in detention cell 406: “Migri doesn’t believe I’m a Christian”

 Just like the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) proclaims violent countries like Afghanistan, Iraq, and Somalia to be “safe” for such nationals but not for Finns, they don’t have any problems about deporting you back to such countries if you are a Christian. If what Iraqi asylum seeker in detention cell 406 in Lappeenranta states is correct, his life is in danger if deported as a Christian back to his former home country. 

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Migrant Tales insight: Swedish Daily News published an article on legal alternatives for negative asylum decisions in Finland

Anyone who has had a refusal to emigrate from Finland has the problem of not organizing his or her defense at the appeal stage of the Finnish courts. Unfortunately, many are getting their applications for asylum rejected by the court. It is important to obtain support and information on the closure of the asylum case in Finland after all stages of the judicial appeal are exhausted.

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Finnish Interior Minister Paula Risikko vacationing in a war zone

Sira Moksi has made quite a name for herself by drawing cartoons that newspapers wouldn’t publish. In the one below, we see Interior Minister Paula Risikko vacationing in a “safe” country like Iraq or Afghanistan. Where would Interior Minister Permanent Secretary Päivi Nerg vacation? What about the director general of the Finnish Immigration Service, Jaana Vuori? What about Prime Minister Juha Sipilä? President Sauli Niinistö? Finance Minister Petteri Orpo?

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Zaki Husseini returns to Finland after being deported and staying 47 days in Kabul, Afghanistan

Zaki Husseini, 19, became the first asylum seeker that came in 2015 to return to Finland after being deported. He got in touch with Migrant Tales  a day after he was deported to Kabul. Thanks to Hussain Kazemian, we were able to get a glimpse of his ordeal and bad luck. A day after he was forced to return to Afghanistan on July 4 with 11 other asylum seekers, the supreme district court ruled against his deportation. 

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Finland’s immigration policy is inhumane, ineffective, it shows our hostility towards asylum seekers from countries like Iraq

It will be soon two years when large numbers of asylum seekers mainly from Iraq and Afghanistan came to Finland in hopes of moving to a country that would not only give them security but offer them human rights and social equality. One asylum seeker explained his ordeal in Finland as an eternal nightmare because he couldn’t wake up.

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Iraqi asylum seeker: A near-deportation ordeal with the Finnish police

A twenty-two-year-old Iraqi asylum seeker who was detained illegally by the police three days before he had to vacate the asylum reception center in Pori is now a free man again. Thanks to the efforts of the Lex Gaudius law firm, the district court overruled the detention of the asylum seeker at the Metsälä immigrant removal center in Helsinki, where he was held from April 27 to May 9.

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Deportation of Iraqi family of nine from Finland: Prime Minister Juha Sipilä’s asylum policy is a shame to all of us

As the Finnish government spends the Easter holidays in the comfort of their homes and family company, an Iraqi family of nine is awaiting deportation from Finland. It’s difficult, if not impossible, to put oneself in their shoes and wonder what is going through their heads at this moment at the Joutseno immigration removal center. 

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نماینده پارلمانی که بر علیه رای قبلی خود شد.

نفیسه رزمیار در برابر رای گذشته اش ایستاد. کسی میتواند توضیح دهد که، چطور یک سیاستمدار و عضو پارلمانی که خودش در سال گذشته رای مثبت به اخراج اجباری پناهجویان داده است؛ میتواند در مقابل رای خود صحبت کند؟ نفسیه رزمیار، خود مسوول بخشی از اخراج اجباری انجام شده در روز دوشنبه میباشد. همچنین سال

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Asylum seekers: Finland is not a country that abides by the rule of law

What does a comment by a police service official say about our country if he obstructs an asylum seekers’ right to justice? Migrant Tales understands that an Iraqi family, made up of a husband, wife, mother-in-law and a child, was told the following by a police official after receiving their first rejection for asylum from the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri).

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Announcement by Lex Gaudius: Immigration Service, police and government petition

  IMMIGRATION SERVICE, POLICE AND GOVERNMENT PETITION Dossier Faulty decisions made by the Immigration Service to the asylum seekers and actions of the authorities related on them. Underwrites Representatives of the asylum seekers from Afghanistan and Iraq; In cooperation with International law firm Lex Gaudius   I. FAULTY DECISIONS MADE BY THE FIINISH IMMIGRATION SERVICE

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Thank you asylum seekers for exposing Finland for what it is!

Finland got during 2015 and 2016 38,017 asylum seekers mostly from Iraq (21,698), Afghanistan (5,939) and Somalia (2,408), according to the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri). Even if these asylum seekers have received the government’s and Migri’s cold shulder, we should thank hem for exposing our deep denial of racism as a society and ineffective immigration-integration policy.

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Boiata: Ignorance of a country’s background information does not excuse judges – ignorantia facti non excusat

There is an old legal maxim in latin that confirms the principal, “ignorance of the law does not excuse” (ignorantia iuris non excusat). On the other hand there is a principle that the court or the judge has to know the law, iura novit curia. One is entitled to expect that the judges know what they are doing and what laws they are applying to various cases.

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يجب أن تستمر المظاهرات ضد الترحيل القسري و تشديد سياسات اللجوء

التظاهره التي بدأت يوم الجمعه الماضي , لم تظهر اي علامه على التراجع انتقلت من قرب البرلمان الى إلى ساحة للسكك الحديدية في هلسنكي. وعلى الرغم من جماعة يمينية متطرفة تدعى SuomiEnsin (فنلندا اولا)، الذين حاولوا إهانة وتخريب المظاهرة ،كان كل شيء تم على ما يرام، وفقا لما قالته Tiia Nohynek، التي شاركت في المظاهرة،

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A Finnish asylum policy that is doomed to fail

It’s been well over a year since tens of thousands of asylum seekers came to Finland from countries like Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia and others. An important watershed in the history of these asylum seekers took place in May, when an assessment by the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) saw parts of countries like Iraq are safe to return asylum seekers.

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What message does Finland want to send to Iraqi asylum seekers by deporting them to a country that it has no repatriation agreement?

The case of two young Iraqis, KM and SH, who were detained by the police on Friday and who will apparently be deported from the country on Monday are a case in point. To KM and SH, there is another Iraqi national, AM, who will be deported together with KM and SH. All three are being held at the Helsinki detention camp of Metsälä.

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UPDATE: How can a rape of an adolescent visitor happen at the Villa Meri asylum reception center?

Migrant Tales published Thursday a story about a list of complaints of the Villa Meri asylum reception center in Rauma, located 91 kilometers north of the southwestern city of Turku. The reception the story got was quite a surprise considering that present and former volunteers of Villa Meri accused me of racism, hating all asylum seekers, hating all reception center workers, and of having an agenda.

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Family reunification in Finland can easily cost a migrant thousands of euros

Affluent Nordic countries like Finland are making it legally near-difficult never mind costly to reunite families of migrants thanks to the tightening of family reunification guidelines that came into force in July. How much would it cost for an asylum seeker who got a residence permit before July and applied to get his wife and three children aged 9, 7 and 4 to Finland?

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UPDATED: Iraqi asylum seeker takes his life after getting a negative decision from the Finnish Immigration Service

Migrant Tales has heard that an Iraqi asylum seeker took his life on Sunday after the Finnish Immigration Service turned down his request for asylum. The death of the man, which was posted in Facebook, shows how difficult the situation is for some asylum seekers.

Migrant Tales published in August a story about a young Iraqi asylum seeker who attempted to take his life spoke on condition of anonymity.

“Obviously, there’s a big difference between the situation now and the situation [in Finland] 7 months ago,” he said. “In the past, we heard that applications for asylum were never rejected. But now, out of a hundred people… only two to four get asylum. We are not told why.”

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Helsingin Sanomat article on the Finnish Immigration Service sheds light on an institution distanced from human rights and Nordic values

It is surprising that whenever a Finnish government tightens immigration policy, it washes its hands by stating that it’s common practice in the EU or Sweden. Is it? If a landmark decision last month by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) is anything to go by, the government’s hardline stance on returning asylum seekers to a “safe” country like Iraq is more than questionable.

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In the asylum seekers’ eyes

Muh’ed Today I visited a Finnish-language class of asylum seekers silently worrying day by day. The Finnish-language teacher, a man, asked me to speak to them in the Finnish language, and tell about my life in Finland. I spoke slow Finnish, I told them who I am. How long I have lived in Finland and

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Iraqi asylum seeker hunger strike: Namir al-Azzawi taken to hospital for second time

Migrant Tales understands that Namir al-Azzawi, an Iraqi asylum seeker who began a hunger strike a week ago, has fainted and was sent to the hospital on Sunday. Al-Azzawi was taken to intensive care on Wednesday for the same reason.

Migrant Tales understands that Namir al-Azzawi, an Iraqi asylum seeker who began a hunger strike a week ago, has fainted and was sent to the hospital on Sunday. Al-Azzawi was taken to intensive care on Wednesday for the same reason.

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UPDATE: Iraqi asylum seeker hunger strike day 4

Namir al-Azzawin informed Migrant Tales by Facebook that he is out of hospital and will resume his hunger strike near Parliament. Zimema Mhone will upload a video shortly with an interview with al-Azzawin.  Al-Azzawin said he needed a tent. Does anyone have a tent to give or could lend? Namir al-Azzawin.

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Interior minister’s plan to close legal “loophole” would increase the number of undocumented migrants in Finland

Christian Democrat Interior Minister Päivi Räsänen has a dubious reputation in Finland for her homophobic and conservative religious views. In her latest attack against refugees, Räsänen writes that when an asylum-seeker gets a negative decision and doesn’t want to leave the country, the Finnish Immigration Service is required to give a residence permit if the person

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Finland had 3,238 asylum seekers in 2013

A total of 3,238 people applied for asylum in Finland compared with 3,129 people in the previous year, according to the Finnish Immigration Service. The largest single group of asylum seekers was Iraqis (819) followed by Russians (226) and Somalis (217). The number of asylum seekers coming to Finland oscillated between 1,500 and 6,000 over the

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Finnish Immigration Service terrorizes immigrants (Part II)

By Dana Why are we all so passive if we’re oppressed? What do you fear? What will you fear losing? Money? Benefits? What, then? Where’s your humanity? Who makes up your mind for you? Who controls your thoughts? How do you build and make your morals and values stronger each day? What is your religion?

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Finnish Immigration Service terrorizes immigrants (Part I)

By Dana The Finnish Immigration Service (FIS) strikes terror in immigrants like me. I’ve lived for three years in uncertainty not knowing if I’d ever be reunited with my family. My mother died in May and my father in July. I hadn’t seen my beloved parents for seven years. I never thought that the last time

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YLE in English: Three Afghani asylum seekers continue hunger strike

Three Afghani asylum seekers been on hunger strike since September 10 after their applications for asylum were rejected by the authorities, writes YLE in English. The three asylum seekers have appealed  the Finnish Immigration Service decision to the administrative court.  One of the asylum seekers, Abdullahi Gulamesdiq, said that he fears for his life in

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Helsinki Times: Eveline Fadayel dies

Eveline Fadayel, 65, an Egyptian woman who was granted a residence permit in Finland after a lengthy appeal process last month, died from a long-term illness early on Tuesday, the Finnish Ecumenical Council said.

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The sad case of Somalis in Finland

Below is a good example of how a public official’s comments helps strengthen racism and stereotypes of certain ethnic groups living in Finland. One of the biggest flaws in the arguments of anti-immigrant groups is that they incorrectly believe that cultures don’t change and therefore different groups are incompatible. I hope that the same stance as these far-right groups hasn’t overtaken the Finnish Immigration Service when we speak of the Somalians.

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