Change in the law govering reception of Ingrian Finns

On 18 April 2002 the Finnish government's ministerial working group on immigration policy and ethnic relations reached a consensus on amending section 18 a of the Aliens Act, which governs the immigration of Ingrians to Finland. The Ministry of the Interior hopes to submit a proposal to Parliament to change this law by the end of September.

The proposed amendment would require prospective immigrants of Finnish descent coming from the territory of the former Soviet Union (Ingrians) to possess specified competence in the Finnish or Swedish language before the residence permit is granted. This command of Finnish or Swedish would only be required of the Ingrian concerned, and would not be a condition of entry for other family members.

In February 1999 the parliamentary Committee for Foreign Affairs stated its official views of a government report to Parliament on immigration by Ingrian Finns. It was the view of the parliamentary Committee that two principal ideas underlie Ingrian immigration: a "debt of honour" and Finnish identity. The notion of a "debt of honour" alludes to such factors as the return of Ingrians from Finland to the Soviet Union based on the interim peace accord following the Winter War, and the service rendered by Ingrian Finns in the Finnish army over the war years from 1939 to 1944. "Finnish identity", on the other hand, refers to such matters as competence in the Finnish language and upkeep of a Finnish cultural heritage.

The ongoing national debate on Ingrian immigration came to a head in February 2002 when the parliamentary Committee for Foreign Affairs learned of a memorandum drafted at the Consulate General of Finland in St. Petersburg that stressed some of the problems of immigrants. Although the Ministry of the Interior was already preparing a comprehensive reform of the Aliens Act at the time, a decision was then taken to prepare the amendment to section 18 a of the existing Act separately and more urgently.

The amendment to section 18 a is based on a formula dating from one year ago. The language competence requirement would apply to residence permit applications submitted on grounds of Ingrian identity that are not classified as "debt of honour" cases. The required language competence would be tested before the residence permit is issued using a special language test designed for Ingrians and adapted to the test conditions. The required standard of competence would broadly correspond to level 2 on the Finnish general language examination scale.

The revised provisions governing Ingrian immigration would also specify certain procedural aspects. These include the queuing procedure, which requires registration for the Ingrian queue maintained by a Finnish diplomatic or consular mission, and a procedure for securing housing. No residence permit is issued in practice until the applicant has secured housing or can be placed in local authority housing in Finland. In the absence of explicit procedural provisions, these procedures have so far been based on established administrative practice only.

The April decision of the ministerial working group to amend the provisions on Ingrian immigration does not seek to abolish the special status of Ingrians altogether. It should be borne in mind that in addition to using the Ingrian immigration procedure, Ingrians will also continue to be able to move to Finland on all of the general grounds whereby other non-Community nationals may immigrate to Finland. The amendment will require no special language competence, for example, of an Ingrian seeking a residence permit as a migrant worker or as a family member of a person already residing in Finland.

The writer is a Senior Adviser in the Aliens Department of the Ministry of the Interior

Determining the language competence of Ingrian returnees

By Pekka Lampinen

Finland has developed general language examinations for determining language competence. These examinations are governed by the General Language Examinations Act (no. 668 of 1994) and the associated Decrees (nos. 669 of 1994 and 116 of 1999), and on the principles for general language examinations approved by the National Board of Education.

These language examinations are tests of functional language competence intended for adults, and are open to all participants regardless of the manner and place in which the language competence was acquired. Since 1994 these tests have been jointly arranged twice a year by the National Board of Education and the University of Jyväskylä. Candidates are graded in each of five test areas (listening comprehension, oral production, written comprehension, writing, and syntax and vocabulary) resulting in an overall language competence grade. The language competence assessment scheme has recently been changed from a 9-point to a 6-point scale.

Language competence tests for Ingrians have been negotiated by the Ministry of Education with the National Board of Education and the University of Jyväskylä.

The University of Jyväskylä is also prepared to arrange testing in Russia and Estonia. The cost of testing about one thousand candidates at four sessions a year has been estimated at no less than EUR 208,000. This is roughly the sum that has been spent annually on language training in the near-abroad. Preliminary discussions have suggested a target standard of language competence at level two.

As language competence testing based on the General Language Examinations Act would be relatively costly, especially when compared to the resources used for language training, this method should not be applied for determining the language competence of Ingrian returnees.

The National Board of Education is prepared to establish and defray the expenses of a task force to prepare a proposal by autumn 2002 for a separate test of language competence suitable for Ingrian returnees. An adequate budget allocation for implementing this test will need to be made when the Aliens Act is amended, as the educational administration has no resources available for this purpose.

The writer is a Senior Inspector at the Ministry of Education.

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