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Refugee quota

There are about fifteen countries in the world that accept quota refugees. Finland is one of them.

Within its refugee quota, Finland accepts for resettlement persons defined as refugees by the UNHCR (refugee organisation of the United Nations) and other aliens who are in need of international protection.

The refugee quota is verified in the State budget for each year. 

The grounds for granting a residence permit within the Finnish refugee quota are the following:

• The alien is in need of international protection in relation to his or her home country.
• The alien is in need of resettlement from his or her first country of asylum.
• The requirements for receiving and integrating into Finnish society have been assessed.
• There are no obstacles, such as public order or security or Finland's international relations, to granting a residence permit.

The selections of the refugees are usually based on interviews conducted in refugee camps, during which the grounds for granting a residence permit are examined. A representative of the Security Police also participates in the interviews.

A tenth of the refugee quota is annually reserved for urgent cases and for people whom the UNHCR has assessed as being in urgent need of resettlement. These refugees are selected on the basis of UNHCR documents.

The Finnish Immigration Service grants residence permits to refugees admitted to Finland within the refugee quota.

The parliament decides the quota size

Parliament of Finland decides annually when accepting the state budget how many quota refugees Finland is committed to receive (the Finnish Aliens’ Act Section 90, Subsection 2). The government of Finland decides on the allocation of the quota.

Since 2001, the annual quota has been 750 refugees.

10–15 per cent emengency and urgent cases

Emergency and urgent quota refugee referrals amount to 10–15 per cent of the annual quota. Those refugees whom UNHCR has defined as belonging to the emergency category (emergency and urgent cases) are in need of urgent resettlement due to a special need for protection or other reasons such as exceptionally strong humanitarian reasons or an acute need for medical care or treatment. Persons submitted to Finland, must have been granted a refugee status by UNHCR.

Decisions on the emergency and urgent quota refugees are made based on the background documents. This is exceptional as all the other quota refugees are selected to Finland based on an individual interview. Finland does not have any geographical limitations concerning the country of origin or the first country of asylum of the emergence referrals to Finland.

Statistics on quota refugee selections

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