Becoming Undocumented: Legislation and Asylum Processes in Finland

Abstract

AbstractThe phenomenon of irregular migration is very complex in the EU, including Finland. Definitions and practices regarding asylum seekers, refugees, and undocumented migrants are blurred. The laws and immigration policies also attempt to define and enact fixed categories by which to classify undocumented migrants, but these people always escape such legal boundaries through their actions, decisions, and migratory behaviours.In this chapter, we study the asylum-related legislation and processes from the viewpoints of both the authorities who decide whether to grant international protection, and the undocumented migrants who request asylum. The chapter describes the Finnish asylum process in detail, and explains how the undocumented migrants (mostly former asylum seekers) we studied experienced it. Some countries tolerate undocumented migrants, allowing them to work and have access to many public services. In other countries, such as Finland, they are denied the right to work and barely have access to healthcare. Being an undocumented migrant is simultaneously about becoming an undocumented migrant, and failing the asylum process is the most common path to becoming an undocumented migrant. We also indicate how, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of new asylum applications in Finland decreased by more than half.