Interview to Yle English service original here. Post for archiving purposes only.

Finland’s Immigration Service updated its website with language that echoed the government programme — but officials say that’s a coincidence.

EGAN RICHARDSON

27.6 18:09•Updated 27.6 18:53Share

Finland’s Immigration Service (Migri) says a website update that appeared to echo language from the government programme was a coincidence, and it has not yet changed practices to match the new administration’s harsher line.

The new government programme includes a raft of measures designed to tighten the rules around moving to Finland.

One of the changes is a requirement that employers inform the authorities when an employee is fired or resigns, so that their residence permit can be revoked within three months of them losing their job.

That proposal prompted an outcry from foreigners in Finland, given the discrimination and exploitation they can face when looking for new positions.

Juliane Fuchs, a service designer from Germany who has lived in Finland for four years, was therefore concerned when she noticed a change in the official guidance last week.

Migri had updated its website with language similar to that in the government programme, which was published on 16 June.

“Can one single person change thousands of people’s lives with a simple directive?” asked Fuchs. “That doesn’t sound overly democratic to me.”

Edited in May

The Finnish version of the Migri website now states that “we can start the cancellation of the permit once you have been unemployed for three months”.

The previous wording mentioned the possibility of cancelling work-based residence permits if unemployment struck, but did not include a time frame.

Migri says the wording on the website was changed on 26 May, 21 days before the government programme was published, and the agency was at that point unaware of the content or phrasing in the government programme.

They say the timing of the change is a coincidence, and in practice nothing has changed.

“Currently if or when we find out, we can consider the removal of the residence permit right away,” said Päivi Henriksson from Migri. “The law allows us to do this right away but in practice we are unable due to the processing queues and so on. So in theory, the law allows us to do this [at present].”

Henriksson says the change was made partly to encourage victims of human trafficking and labour abuses to come forward and report their employers to the police.

Migri believes that letting them know they have three months to find a new job after reporting bad employers will help victims to leave abusive situations.

“When we are open about this three months, the time we give people, it gives the possibility for victims of human trafficking or labour abuses to resign and look for a new job, so they don’t have to stay in abusive employment,” said Henriksson.

“No obligation” for employers

The new government programme says that in future employers will be asked to inform Migri when a foreign employee’s employment ends, so they can ensure the person leaves Finland. In theory employers can do that already, but Migri does not ask them to.

“Some employers regard it as their responsibility to inform us, if there is a change to the residence permit conditions,” said Henriksson. “There is no responsibility to inform us, but some do. The government might change this in the future, but for now there’s no obligation.”

Even if the Migri change has no practical impact just yet, the government’s proposals have worried many foreigners in Finland.

“What upsets me about the three month rule that they want to pass, is that if that had been in place before I was a citizen, I probably wouldn’t be here,” says Luis Orozco, originally from Mexico, who currently works as Product Director for an e-commerce firm.

He had taken voluntary redundancy from Nokia, and then been laid off by another firm before spending four years outside Finland working in Dubai.

Orozco says that Finnish recruitment works slowly, and in the summer months almost shuts down completely at some firms. If someone loses their job in June, hiring managers are unlikely to be looking at applications until August, and by then half of the three month period could be up.

The government programme states that it is committed to increasing supervision and preventing abuses in the immigration system, and is emphatic that “Labour immigration must improve general government finances”. Orozco sees that as offputting for foreigners in Finland and those thinking about moving to the country.

“Basically that just shows me that this incoming administration is hostile towards immigration,” said Orozco. “That’s what it is, because anybody who knows how the labour market in Finland works knows that you cannot find a new job in three months if you lose your job.”