The Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) has for the first time used new powers introduced last year to strip foreign nationals of refugee protection on national-security grounds. According to information confirmed to the Ukrainian news outlet Mezha, Migri has already cancelled the refugee status of nine Iraqis and five Russians and withdrawn subsidiary protection from a further five Iraqis. Fifteen additional cases – involving citizens of Iraq, Russia and three other, unnamed countries – are under active investigation. The move marks a decisive tightening of Finland’s asylum policy. Until January 2025, refugee status could only be revoked once an individual had been convicted of a serious offence and a court had ordered deportation. Amendments that entered into force on 1 January 2025 (and parallel changes to the Aliens Act in May 2025 covering permanent residence permits) lowered the threshold: Migri can now reopen any case if credible intelligence links a beneficiary of protection to terrorism, espionage or other activities deemed a threat to national security – even in the absence of a criminal conviction. In practice, the procedure involves the Finnish Security and Intelligence Service (SUPO) submitting a classified risk assessment to Migri.
![Finland revokes refugee status for Iraqi and Russian nationals after national-security review]()
Companies and individuals navigating these evolving Finnish immigration requirements can streamline routine visa and permit formalities through VisaHQ’s online platform. The Finland portal (https://www.visahq.com/finland/) provides up-to-date guidance, document checklists and application management tools, helping HR teams and private travellers stay compliant while Migri’s policies continue to shift.
If the immigration authority agrees that the individual poses “a real, present and sufficiently serious threat”, it may cancel refugee or subsidiary-protection status and issue a deportation order. The individual is granted an oral hearing and has two weeks to appeal to an administrative court, but legal-aid organisations complain that classified evidence limits effective defence. For multinational companies with Iraqi or Russian assignees in Finland, the development underscores the importance of ongoing compliance checks. Employers should verify that employees’ residence status has not changed, as the loss of protection automatically voids dependent permits and may breach work-authorisation conditions. Mobility managers are advised to build in additional lead time for any fresh applications, because Migri is reallocating staff to security reviews, potentially slowing ordinary case-processing. Policy analysts note that Finland is not acting in isolation. Sweden and the Baltic states have adopted – or are considering – similar measures in response to what governments describe as “weaponised migration” orchestrated by Russia. In the short term, the stricter stance is likely to deter some asylum seekers; in the longer term, lawyers expect a wave of litigation at the national and European Court of Human Rights level testing the balance between security and the principle of non-refoulement.
Companies and individuals navigating these evolving Finnish immigration requirements can streamline routine visa and permit formalities through VisaHQ’s online platform. The Finland portal (https://www.visahq.com/finland/) provides up-to-date guidance, document checklists and application management tools, helping HR teams and private travellers stay compliant while Migri’s policies continue to shift.
If the immigration authority agrees that the individual poses “a real, present and sufficiently serious threat”, it may cancel refugee or subsidiary-protection status and issue a deportation order. The individual is granted an oral hearing and has two weeks to appeal to an administrative court, but legal-aid organisations complain that classified evidence limits effective defence. For multinational companies with Iraqi or Russian assignees in Finland, the development underscores the importance of ongoing compliance checks. Employers should verify that employees’ residence status has not changed, as the loss of protection automatically voids dependent permits and may breach work-authorisation conditions. Mobility managers are advised to build in additional lead time for any fresh applications, because Migri is reallocating staff to security reviews, potentially slowing ordinary case-processing. Policy analysts note that Finland is not acting in isolation. Sweden and the Baltic states have adopted – or are considering – similar measures in response to what governments describe as “weaponised migration” orchestrated by Russia. In the short term, the stricter stance is likely to deter some asylum seekers; in the longer term, lawyers expect a wave of litigation at the national and European Court of Human Rights level testing the balance between security and the principle of non-refoulement.
