Moves on to cancel work-based permit after 3 months' joblessness

The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment on Thursday sent the government´s proposal for cancellation of work-based permit after 3 months' joblessness sent for comments, said the ministry in a press release.

The proposal has been circulated for comments from June 13 to August 16.

The government intends to submit the proposal to the autumn 2024 session of Parliament and the changes would not take effect before 2025.

According to the proposal, a worker with a work-based residence permit would have three months to find a new job, if their employment in Finland came to an end.

The conditions for residence would lapse and the worker should leave Finland if no new employment was found and there were no other grounds for residence.

The jobseeking period, however, would be six months instead of three months for specialists and startup entrepreneurs (including EU Blue Card holders), for senior and middle enterprise managers, for seconded specialists and managers moving within an undertaking and for all workers who have lived in Finland for longer than two years with a work-based residence permit.

While current legislation already allows residence permit cancellation when employment ends, there are no provisions governing the delay before implementing such cancellations.

Since April 2023 the Finnish Immigration Service has nevertheless already applied a practice whereby residence permit cancellation procedures are not initiated within a three-month protection period.

There would still be a requirement to depart from Finland when a permit expires if there were no new grounds for continuing residence. This means that the proposal would not introduce any right to prolong a residence permit for the duration of jobseeking, and instead the protection period would continue for no longer than the duration of the work-based residence permit.

The proposal would apply to work-based residence permits and not to permanent residence permits, permits based on family ties, or EU citizens.

The foregoing changes to rules governing a period of unemployment apply to all work-based residence permits. The proposal would also introduce certain changes in the worker’s residence permit.

An employee with a worker’s residence permit in Finland may currently change employer within the same sector for which the permit was granted, but may not switch to another sector.

The proposal would allow the employee to seek work in other sectors that have been verified as labour shortage sectors throughout Finland under the same permit. It would still be necessary to apply for a new residence permit for work in sectors other than these.

The government Programme envisages that an employer would be required to notify the Finnish Immigration Service of premature termination of the employment of a person residing in Finland with a work-based residence permit.

The employer should submit the notification within seven days of the end of the work. Failure to notify would be sanctionable, most typically by a fine.

Employers are already required to notify the Employment and Economic Development Office on hiring a citizen of a non-EU country. This notification will be submitted to the Finnish Immigration Service as of the beginning of 2025.

Earlier in September 2023, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment has launched preparations for legislative amendments with the view to tightening the monitoring of work-based residence permits.

On September 5, the right-wing four-party alliance government has started the initiative with the view to hike the income limit requirement from the existing 1331 euros to 1600 euros to get a Finnish residence permit on basis of employment.

The government took the moves amid protests across the country.

On August 25, several hundreds of people went on demonstrations in Helsinki in protest at the move of the four-party alliance right wing government of tightening the immigration policy.

Separate demonstrations were also held in Helsinki on June 27 and June 18 protesting against the immigration policy taken by the government.

Rector of the University of Helsinki Sari Lindblom and Aalto University President Ilkka Niemelä strongly opposed the tightening immigration policy announced by the four-party alliance government.

Earlier on June 16, leaders of the four parties announced the programme, which included tougher immigration, residence and citizenship laws.