The Finnish Immigration Service has announced that all residence permits for Ukrainian refugees will remain valid until March 4 next year on the basis of temporary protection.
Through a statement issued yesterday, on March 30, the authority said that now Ukrainian citizens will not need to apply for an extension of their residence permit or a new residence permit card, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
The Immigration Service also noted that Ukrainian refugees receiving temporary protection do not need to apply for a new residence permit card. At the same time, their stay in Finland will be legal even if their residence permit cards have expired.
At the same time, people receiving temporary protection will also retain their right to work until March 4, 2024, even if the date on their card has expired.
As for the refugees from Ukraine who want to get a new residence permit card, they can apply for one at the Finnish Immigration Service.
Data provided by the Finnish Immigration Service also revealed that by February 15 this year, those fleeing the war in Ukraine had submitted 50,361 applications for temporary protection in Finland.
In total, 49,405 applications were submitted by Ukrainian citizens and 956 by citizens of other countries. The same source said that by February 15, 2023, a total of 46,194 decisions had been made on applications filed by Ukrainian regugees.
Such data show that a percentage of 62 per cent of those who apply and receive temporary protection are children and their mothers. A significant number of children also arrived in Finland without a guardian, usually accompanied by relatives or family friends. Overall, about one in three arrivals are children.
According to data from UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, more than eight million people have already left Ukraine due to the war, and nearly 4.8 million of them have applied for temporary protection.
In the last months of last year, the weekly number of Ukrainian applicants in Finland remained between 400 and 500 people. Thus, the Finnish Immigration Service estimates that around 30,000–40,000 applicants for temporary protection will arrive in Finland this year.
Earlier this month, the Lithuanian authorities also decided to extend the period of validity of all types of temporary protection documents for Ukrainians until March 4, 2024.
In this regard, The Migration Department of Lithuania said that until March 6 of this year, a total of 41,933 Ukrainian refugees have received permission to stay in Lithuania on the basis of temporary protection.
