Finland will increase the number of refugees it receives next year, primarily due to the deteriorating political situation in Afghanistan.
Minister of the Interior Maria Ohisalo (Green) told Twitter on Thursday afternoon that the government has decided to raise the refugee quota in 2022 to an all-time high of 1,500.
Quota refugees are people registered as refugees by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) who usually live in refugee camps or close to their home country and are then resettled in the host countries.
In September, the government was preparing to increase next year’s refugee quota to a maximum of 2,000.
In 2019, the refugee quota was 850 and last year 1,050.
The increase in the refugee quota is part of a draft supplementary budget announced by the government today to supplement next year’s state budget.
An increase of EUR 1.1 million was proposed for the administrative costs of the Ministry of the Interior due to the increase in the refugee quota. The Ministry of Employment and the Economy is allocating an additional EUR 3.2 million to support integration programs and education.
Source: The Nordic Page