Finnish Afghans are people from

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

living in Finland. As of 2021, there are a total of 12,044 people of Afghan background residing in Finland.

Migration

In late 2015, about half of all the asylum seekers in Finland were Afghans, of which most have arrived through Sweden to

Tornio Tornio (; sv, Torneå; sme, Duortnus ; smn, Tuárnus) is a city and municipality in Lapland, Finland. The city forms a cross-border twin city together with Haparanda on the Swedish side. The municipality covers an area of , of which is ...

. A large portion of Afghans in Finland are ethnic

Hazaras The Hazaras ( fa, , Həzārə; haz, , Āzərə) are an ethnic group and the principal component of the population of Afghanistan, native to, and primarily residing in the Hazaristan (Hazarajat) region in central Afghanistan and generally scatt ...

. In 2018, Migri temporarily froze all Afghani applications. Deportations of Afghani asylum seekers has drawn criticism in Finland and other European countries. In 2018, 62% of Afghans asylum seekers received an asylum in Finland. On 9 July 2021, Finland halted deportations to Afghanistan after the US withdrawal from Afghanistan. In August 2021, in the aftermath of the

2021 Taliban offensive A military offensive by the Taliban insurgent group and other allied militants led to the fall of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan based in Kabul and marked the end of the nearly 20-year-old War in Afghanistan, that had begun following the ...

, Finland evacuated a total of 330 people from Afghanistan to Finland during a ten-day operation. 250 of them were

Finnish citizen Citizenship of Finland can be obtained on the basis of birth, marriage of parents, adoption, or the place of birth. In addition, it may be acquired by application or by declaration to authorities. Finnish citizenship acquisition is based prima ...

s, people with

residence permit A residence permit (less commonly ''residency permit'') is a document or card required in some regions, allowing a foreign national to reside in a country for a fixed or indefinite length of time. These may be permits for temporary residency, or p ...

s in Finland, people who had worked at the Finnish Embassy in

Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...

and their family members. 80 of them were Finland's quota evacuees consisting of Afghan workers for the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

and

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

and their family members. A day after the operation, the total number of evacuees increased to 413 when 83 Finnish Embassy's security guards and their family members were evacuated to Finland with the help of the United States.

Organizations

*Association of Finnish Afghan Associations.

Notable people

Fareed Sadat Fareed Sadat (Dari:فرید سادات; born 10 November 1998) is an Afghan professional footballer who plays as a forward for Thai League 2 club Nakhon Si United and the Afghanistan national team. Born in Afghanistan, Sadat represented Finla ...

, footballer * Mosawer Ahadi, footballer *

Moshtagh Yaghoubi Moshtagh Hossain Yaghoubi (; in Dari: مشتاق حسین یعقوبی) aka Mosa (born 8 November 1994) is an Afghan-born Finnish footballer who plays for SJK. Early life Moshtagh Yaghoubi was born on 8 November 1994 to an ethnic Hazara fami ...

, footballer * Nasima Razmyar, politician

References

Ethnic groups in Finland Muslim communities in Europe {{Finland-stub

Migration

Organizations

Notable people

See also

References