NORDIC COUNTRIES: Finland maintains closure of border with Russia ― Proposals to deter asylum applications and encourage voluntary returns in Sweden ― Norway resumes forced returns to Lebanon

• The Finnish government has announced that it will keep its border with Russia closed until further notice.
• The Swedish government has restated its plans to increase financial incentives to encourage voluntary returns and is considering limiting the right to legal aid for people seeking asylum and removing the possibility for them to receive permanent residence permits.
• Norway has lifted its suspension on returning rejected asylum applicants to Lebanon.

The Finnish government has announced that it will keep its border with Russia closed until further notice. On 16 April, the government issued a press release in which it said that the closure, which has been in place since December 2023, was being maintained due to an ongoing risk of instrumentalised migration. “Based on information available to the Finnish authorities, the risk that instrumentalised migration will resume and expand as seen previously remains likely,” it wrote, adding: “If the phenomenon were to continue, it would pose a serious threat to Finland’s national security and public order”. Possibly with a view to accusations of refoulement, it also noted that asylum applications could be submitted “at other border crossing points at Finland’s external borders that are still open for air and maritime traffic”.

The Swedish government has restated its plans to increase financial incentives to encourage voluntary returns. On 2 May, in an interview with the Euronews broadcaster in which he spoke about the “absolute need to get control of migration” and ongoing “problems with the integration of migrants”, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson reiterated his government’s proposal to substantially increase the financial incentive for people who voluntarily return to their countries of origin from the current €900 to €32,000. “We are copying basically the Danish model and raising that sum pretty significantly to make it easier for those who realise that they would prefer to go back to their own country,” he said, adding: “I don’t think that would be a method that works for very many people, but we do have a problem with integration, and if people who have a legal right to stay in Sweden but basically do not integrate, basically do not really appreciate the Swedish way of life, then at least people would think about returning to their country of origin”.

In addition to its plans to increase financial incentives to encourage voluntary returns, the Swedish government is also considering limiting the right to legal aid for people seeking asylum and removing the possibility for them to receive permanent residence permits. Commenting on the proposal to limit legal aid, ECRE member organisation the Swedish Refugee Law Center said that it risked leading to “multiple erroneous decisions and people being deported to countries where they risk persecution or other serious violations of their human rights”. “It also means a significant deterioration in the possibility of a fair hearing, not least for people with special needs in the asylum process, such as children, people with disabilities or people with trauma,” it added. Regarding the proposal to eliminate the possibility of receiving permanent residence permits, the organisation said: “Such a system will create great psychological stress, especially for children, families and others who need security to be able to establish themselves in society”.

Norway has lifted its suspension on returning failed asylum applicants to Lebanon. According to a press release issued by the Directorate of Immigration (UDI) and the Immigration Appeals Board (UNE) on 30 April, the decision to lift the suspension, which has been in place since October 2024, was due to the “improved security situation in Lebanon”. As a result,  as of 1 May, people whose asylum applications have been definitively rejected can be returned to Lebanon and the police can carry our forced returns.

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