The applicant applied for asylum as a minor in another Member State and had been transferred to Finland under the Dublin III Regulation. He had reached the age of majority before the transfer took place. The Finnish Immigration Service rejected the application for international protection and adopted a return decision.

The applicant appealed against the negative decision before the Administrative Court of Turku. From the outset, it appeared from the Finnish Immigration Service's decision that it did not consider the applicant to be a minor when it examined the application.

The Administrative Court annulled the decision of the Finnish Immigration Service and referred the case back for examination in view of the below.

 The Administrative Court clarified that, since an applicant is transferred to another Member State on the basis of the Dublin III Regulation, which determines the Member State responsible for the processing an application for international protection, then the application must be examined based on the initial application. Accordingly, the transfer did not constitute the lodging of a new application. By referring to the CJEU judgment in Bundesrepublik Deutschland v SE (C-768/19, 9 September 2021) and the Supreme Administrative Court's judgment Applicant v Finnish Immigration Service (Maahanmuuttovirasto‚ FIS) (KHO:2024:25, 6 March 2024), the court clarified that the application of an applicant who was minor at the time when he submitted the application in another Member State could not be processed in Finland, the responsible Member State, without considering the applicant's minority. Relatedly, the court held that the Finnish Immigration Service could not have assessed the application without taking into account the impact of international protection recognised to the applicant's parent in Finland on his need for protection.