GETTY Asylum seekers arrive in Finland

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Officials carried out tests on 630 people last year and found more than 400 applicants claiming to be teenagers were older. Over the past two years, the Migri immigration officials have looked at around 3,500 applications from juvenile applicants who arrived in Finland without their parents. They are reportedly still working on decisions for around 400 children and adolescents.

GETTY Asylum-seekers play football with local Finns

Although a minor's application is always processed as urgent, Migri's consideration time for reaching a decision now stands at an average of 10 months. The majority of adolescent asylum seekers who were granted asylum in Finland in 2016 were from Afghanistan (74 per cent), Iraq (11 per cent) and Somalia (6 per cent). Deportations from Finland also doubled last year in comparison with 2015.

GETTY Iraqis arrive back in Baghdad after leaving Finland

In 2016, 6,657 people were returned from Finland, of which 1,671 people received an assisted return - an escorted flight to their home country. According to senior police officials, the increase is due to the larger number of asylum-seekers in 2016 and the larger number of rejected asylum applications. There are also at least 164 asylum seekers in Finland who do not have permission to be in the country and are awaiting deportation.

GETTY Young asylum seekers in Finland

Migrants clash with police across Europe Wed, February 15, 2017 Migrants clash with each other in over crowded camps across Europe. Play slideshow EPA 1 of 107 Moroccan Police look at immigrants trying to jump the six-meter-high fence in Ceuta, Spanish enclave on the north of Africa, 09 December 2016.