Up to 51,149 foreign workers in Finland will gain new job-search protections on June 11, when amendments to the Aliens Act enter into force, broadening the scope of work permitted under an employment-based residence permit.

The changes, passed by the Finnish parliament, extend the so-called "protection period" during which an unemployed permit holder may seek new work. They align Finland with an EU directive that all member states must apply by May 2026.

What changes on June 11?

The protection period moves from three months to six months for:

• EU Blue Card holders
• specialists
• workers who have held a work-based residence permit for more than two years
• senior and middle enterprise managers

Other holders of work-based residence permits receive a three-month window. The standard applies to holders of permits for employed persons, recent researchers, recent graduates, and athletes. A Finnish Migration Service (Migri) spokesperson confirmed that the amendment clarifies: "unemployment in itself shall not constitute a reason for withdrawing a single permit" within those thresholds.

Who gets the longer six-month protection?

EU Blue Card holders, specialists, permit holders with more than two years of continuous status, and senior and middle enterprise managers. Before April 2023, Finnish law set no fixed limit on how long a permit holder could be unemployed before losing status. After that date, Migri applied a three-month grace period in practice. The June 11 amendment now codifies that practice and extends it for high-skill categories.

Where can a newly unemployed migrant look for work?

Until now, a residence permit for an employed person only authorized work in the specific sector named at issuance. The amendment lets permit holders use their protection period to apply for jobs in any sector listed on the Ministry of Labour's labour-force barometer (tyovoimabarometri.fi) as facing a national shortage.

The current priority list, in order, runs:

• nursing and health care
• generalist medical practitioners
• early childhood educators
• software developers
• welders and flame cutters
• security guards
• psychologists
• earthmoving and related plant operators
• social work and counselling professionals

Finnish Lapland leads regions by vacancy rate at 4.6%, with 3,326 open jobs recorded in April 2025. Åland (Ahvenanmaa) follows at 3.2%, with 441 open positions.

How much does a permit cost, and how long is the wait?

A first residence permit costs:

• €590 online
• €750 on paper

An extension costs:

• €170 online
• €430 on paper

Applicants must hold a confirmed job offer before applying, and permits may be subject to a labour-market test showing no Finnish or EU/EEA worker is available. Migri reported 4,436 applications awaiting processing on June 1. Since the start of 2025, the agency received 2,395 first-permit applications, decided on 1,972, and approved 1,187. Almost a quarter of decisions between May 19 and June 1 came within 14 days; 13.8% took two to four weeks; 61.6% took 30 days or longer.

Why are critics calling the protection period too short?

Migration Institute of Finland researcher Erna Bodström argued in 2024 that the changes arrive in piecemeal fashion. "The government is making these changes in small little packages, most of which may not seem very consequential individually. But when you look at the whole picture, you can see that together they make it much harder to both establish a stable life here in Finland and come to Finland in the first place," she said.

Recruitment consultant Anna-Maija Västilä, who helps Finnish firms hire internationally, said long hiring cycles blunt the new protections. "Companies can have up to five interview rounds. So, it's really not possible to find work fast, especially in your own field," she told InfoMigrants.

OECD migration data for 2022, published at the end of 2024, recorded 40,000 long-term or permanent arrivals to Finland: 32% labour migrants, 41% family members, 19% EU citizens, and 8% humanitarian admissions. Russia, the Philippines, and India were the top three nationalities of new arrivals that year. Roughly 8,100 temporary and seasonal work permits were issued.

The Finnish Ministry of Employment told InfoMigrants the amendments "aim to keep third-country national workers in Finland and give them the possibility of finding a new job in case the previous ends unexpectedly or without prior knowledge."