The National Union of University Students in Finland (SYL) has provided its statement to the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment regarding the Government’s draft proposal for amending the Aliens Act and certain related acts (VN/24207/2023).

SYL opposes the proposed changes to the Aliens Act in their current form, which allow for employment-based residence permits to be revoked if the holder of the residence permit has been unemployed for more than 3 months, or in certain cases 6 months. According to the Ministry, the proposal should protect those with a work-based residence permit from having to leave Finland after becoming unemployed, and would not uproot the lives of settled employees who are part of Finnish society. However, SYL does not see that the proposed legislation would actually achieve those goals.

The proposed changes do not protect the foreign workforce from having to leave the country once becoming unemployed, because data shows that it takes longer than 3 or 6 months to find a new job. According to Statistics Finland the average job search duration is 60 weeks. Additionally, 61% of all respondents to a 2023 report by Specialists in Finland would not have found new employment within the proposed 3-month time limit. Therefore the vast majority of skilled employees with a work-based residence permit would have to leave Finland when facing unemployment. SYL believes that this is a strong deterrent to coming to Finland for work and also studies with the goal to stay after graduation, and suggests that the time limit to find new employment after becoming unemployed be raised to at least one year, but preferably 18 to 24 months.

SYL further suggests that other solutions for foreign job-seekers to sustainably find work and stay in Finland must be invested in, such as: expanding anonymous recruitment and positive action; incentivising employers to provide language training as part of employment, lower the threshold of language requirements in the domestic languages, and have students write their Master’s thesis for companies, as well as having anti-discrimination and anti-racist strategies in place on the work floor. Finally, knowing that one only has 3 months to find a new job after unemployment strikes, or else face deportation, will not incentivise non-EU/EEA international students to come to Finland to study and thereafter settle permanently, especially considering the high tuition fees.

However, if the proposed legislation will proceed with only 3 or 6 months protection time, SYL strongly suggests amending it in the following ways. Firstly, SYL suggests including recent graduates from Finnish educational institutions and researchers in the groups of people who have 6 months to find a new job before their residence permit is revoked. Further, SYL believes that one should be able to qualify for 6 months protection time if one has been employed in Finland for at least 2 years, regardless of the basis of one’s residence permit. Residence permits that also allow for being employed include those for studies, research, an internship, and to look for work or to start a business for those who have graduated from a Finnish higher education institution. It is very common for international students to be employed or work as an entrepreneur during their studies, and they should be able to build up protection time as well.

Finally, SYL would like to emphasise our deep concern for international students and recent graduates, and how their overall wellbeing and sense of belonging in Finland is affected by these legislative changes, especially that of those from outside the EU/EEA. International students are increasingly worried about whether they have a safe future in Finland, and Finland is not seen as a place where migrants will thrive. We hope that the Government considers that international students, recent graduates and immigrants in general are an essential and irreplaceable part of the future of Finland, who deserve to create their futures without the constant worry of unemployment causing swift deportation and the undoing of their carefully built up lives here.

The statement can be read in its entirety from the Finnish government’s statement service or on our website at this link.

More information:

Eugenie Touma van der Meulen
Board member responsible for international students, EU and ESU, EU elections
eugenie.toumavandermeulen@syl.fi
044 906 5005

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