New amendments to the Finnish immigration laws will come into force from June 11 onwards. The most significant amendment relates to new reporting obligations for employers. It is therefore advisable for employers to familiarize themselves with these new obligations in order to ensure compliance.
From June 11 onwards, several changes made to Finnish immigration laws will come into force. These changes include the three-month/six-month rule, which has caused a rather intense political debate. The rule clarifies and formalizes the practice related to cancellations of work-based residence permits based on unemployment.
The three-month/six-month rule means that an individual staying in Finland with a work-based residence permit has 3 months to find a new job in case their current employment ends prematurely. In the following scenarios the period is extended to six months:
If the individual is unable to find new employment within the 3/6 month time-frame and there are no alternative grounds to stay in Finland, their residence permit will be cancelled. It has also previously been possible for the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) to cancel a work-based residence permit based on unemployment but there has not been a statutory time limit for this.
From 11 June onwards, employers are obligated to notify Migri if a person holding a work-based residence permit is no longer employed with the company and the employment has ended prematurely. A notification will also be required if an individual, who has applied for a work-based residence permit, does not start the work as expected. The notification must be submitted through the Enter Finland online system within 14 days of the end of the employment. If the employer fails to notify Migri, sanctions can be issued to the company.
In addition, a deadline of 7 days is introduced for the existing obligation to submit an employee announcement when hiring a non-EU citizen. Employers have already previously been obligated to submit an employee announcement through Enter Finland every time they employ someone new holding a work-based residence permit. However, before the amendments, there has been no exact deadline when the announcement had to be made as the law previously stated that the announcement needed to be made “without delay”.
Please reach out if you would like tailored advice or if you would like support with taking care of the employer notifications. Our Vialto team is also happy to submit these notifications online on your Company’s behalf with Suomi.fi authorization.
The Finnish Government is working on a series of updates, and we expect more amendments to happen in the near future. Vialto will continue to monitor the situation and provide further guidance as it becomes available.
For a deeper discussion on the abovementioned changes or other Finnish immigration matters, please reach out to your Vialto Partners point of contact, or alternatively:
Jenni Merta
Senior Manager
Lena Nymark-Akerele
Director
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