Eveline Fadayel with her son Maher Gerges.

According to an aide to the Minister of Immigration, proper scrutiny of reform proposals will take time.

THE LAW may be made more sympathetic to foreign grandmothers as soon as this coming autumn. But the two women who inspired the proposed reform, Egyptian Eveline Fadayel and Russian Irina Antonova, will not be spared their fate. Both must leave the country within the near future.

“The police cannot stop and wait for a possible change to the law, because they can’t know when and in what form it will take force. Time has run out,” National Police Commissioner Mikko Paatero told the Finnish News Agency (STT).

In March the Supreme Administrative Court ruled against granting a residence permit to Fadayel, 65, and Antonova, 82, on the basis of their families’ residing in Finland.

This caused a sensation and compelled Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen’s (Centre) government to agree on a fast-tracked amendment to the law that would grant authorities additional discretion to consider humanitarian factors.

President Tarja Halonen was among those who came out strongly in favour of the two women. For their part, the police said that they would not hasten implementation of decision to deport the grandmothers.

Early last week the police changed their approach and initiated proceedings to deport Fadayel. At the same time, it emerged that any legal reform would not be ready before the summer. On 26 May, the Ministry for the Interior announced that the proposal is in the final stages of preparation.

The aim is to give authorities greater discretion in granting residence permits to the relatives of Finnish citizens who are not part of the citizen’s nuclear family. The proposal should be before parliament by the autumn.

Vanhanen “disappointed”

Prime Minister Vanhanen declared himself extremely disappointed that his government had not managed to help the two grandmothers. He has met the relatives of both women.

“I’ve told them that the government is striving to change the law and that this could open an opportunity to submit a new application,” Vanhanen said.

“That hasn’t been possible within this timetable, and it’s an extreme pity, that’s all I can say. The government’s intentions haven’t changed one bit, we just need to find a workable legislative proposal.”

As of 26 May, Vanhanen had no details of the sort of problems to emerge in preparing the proposal.

According to Thomas Bergman, aide to Minister of Immigration Astrid Thors (Swed. People’s Party), one cause for delay was the desire of parliament’s Administration Committee to investigate whether procedures could be adjusted without recourse to legal reform.

“The investigations have been requested and carried out, and that’s taken time. They’ve established that a change to procedures will require a change to the law,” Bergman told STT.

Critics fear new leniency

Efforts to change the law in response to the grandmother’s plight have not met with support alone, however. Critics of immigration have expressed fear that the change will trigger an explosion in the number of such cases in Finland.

Under the current system, residence permits may be granted to non-nuclear family members if they are completely dependent on their relatives living in Finland, or if the purpose is to continue more tightly knit family life.

According to the Finnish Immigration Service, a slight loosening of the wording will prompt a small increase in the amount of positive decisions on residence permit applications. Conversely, a major loosening will see a large increase.

Bergman says that the impact of any legal change must be carefully considered before a proposal can be placed before parliament.

JANNE HUUSKONEN,
JOHANNA VESIKALLIO – STT
MATTHEW PARRY – HT
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