The Finnish Security and Intelligence Service (SUPO) has launched its “Migration Pact – Data Integration and Use in Screening”, or MIS project – The Helsinki Times wrote.
The aim of the project is to plan the screening process, develop new and efficient information systems to support screening, and enhance the use of data.
Authorities said the project will be used to design administrative procedures, improve the use of intelligence and develop digital tools to support screening operations.
A central part of the project involves creating a new information system capable of comparing data from people entering Finland against information already held by SUPO.
The journal noted “the aim of SUPO’s MIS project is to plan and implement the administrative processes for screening tasks, develop and deploy new and efficient information systems to support screening, and enhance the use of data. The project will help the authorities identify risks related to the asylum process more comprehensively and prevent threats to national security more effectively.”
“With the new information system, data on persons arriving in Finland can be compared efficiently and as automatically as possible with SUPO’s existing data,” the agency said.
As the screening process will make use of a broader range of data than before, SUPO will be able to provide other authorities with more comprehensive and higher-quality information.
The MIS project will receive EUR 2.3 million in funding from the EU’s Integrated Border Management Fund for the first two years of its implementation. The project’s total budget is EUR 2.55 million.
Tighter Rules for Asylum Applications
The EU deal requires member states to evaluate migrants arriving at external frontiers before they initiate asylum or repatriation procedures. In Finland, the accord regulations impose tighter asylum application deadlines, more use of fast processing, and new obligations for persons living in reception centers.
Under the new system, asylum seekers must go through separate application, registration, and submission phases before their cases are formally reviewed.
Applications that are deemed unlikely to succeed, especially those from countries with low EU-wide approval rates, will be processed using accelerated procedures or border procedures with shorter timeframes.
The changes also impose harsher deportation and admission bans, while receiving center occupants must now undergo frequent identification checks and participate in orientation classes.
Human rights NGOs and refugee supporters have criticised the modifications. The Deaconess Foundation warned earlier this year that Finland’s implementation of the treaty could weaken legal protections for asylum seekers. Shorter deadlines, limited access to legal counsel, and stricter procedural requirements, according to the organization, may make it more difficult for disadvantaged applicants to present their cases successfully.
The MIS will receive EU money for the first two years of deployment, with the project slated to continue from April 2026 to December 2029.
