

Employment relationship
Foreign employee
A foreign employee is an employee who is not a Finnish citizen. The employer must ensure that a foreign employee has the right to work in Finland and keep this information at the workplace. The minimum Finnish terms and conditions of employment must be observed in employment relationships of foreign employees.
General information on topic
If you are not a Finnish citizen, your employer is required by the Finnish Aliens Act to verify that you have the right to work in Finland.
You can prove your right to work for example with a passport, other official document or residence permit card. The document you must present depends on the grounds for your right to work. If you are an EU citizen, you have a right to work in Finland on the grounds of your citizenship. In this case you can prove your right to work with a passport or other official travel document.
Your employer may make a copy of the document that verifies the grounds for your right to work. This is because they are obliged by law to keep information on foreign employees and the grounds for their right to work at the workplace.
The right to work must be verified
The employer is required to ensure that foreign employees have a residence permit entitling them to work in Finland. The employer is also required to keep a record of foreign employees and the grounds for their right to work. The employer must further provide such information for the employment and economic development office (TE Services) and the personnel representative at the workplace.
The Aliens Act also requires the main contractor or commissioner operating in Finland to ensure that employees working for a foreign employer have the right to work if they work for a contractor or subcontractor or as leased labour.
Separate legislation for posted workers
A posted worker is an employee sent by a foreign company to Finland to perform work on a temporary basis. The minimum terms and conditions of employment and working conditions for workers posted to Finland are provided for in the Posted Workers Act.
Instructions for employee
If you are not a Finnish citizen, the Aliens Act requires you to prove to your employer that you have the right to work in Finland. You must present to your employer your passport, official travel document or residence permit card.
The employer will generally make a copy of the document verifying your right to work, because he is required by law to keep that information at the workplace.
Residence of an EU citizen to be registered at the Finnish Immigration Service
If you have the citizenship of an EU Member State, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland, you do not need to apply for a Finnish residence permit. However, if your stay in Finland lasts for more than three months, you must register your residence. Go to the Finnish Immigration Service's service point to register.
If you are not a citizen of any of the aforementioned countries, your right to work in Finland must be based on Finnish law. If you need a residence permit, you must apply for one yourself. If you work in Finland without the right to do so, you could be committing a violation or a criminal offence.
If there is any change in your right of residence or any of the grounds for your right to work, you must inform your employer immediately. If your residence permit is about to expire, you must submit an application for a new residence permit while the old one is still valid. Give your employer a copy of the receipt of your pending application and then give him a copy of your new residence permit as soon as you receive it.
Further information: Working in Finland. Finnish Immigration Service.
Terms and conditions of employment and occupational safety
You are entitled to the same statutory terms of employment as Finnish workers. If there is anything unclear about your pay, working hours or any other terms and conditions of employment, talk to your employer first. When your employment relationship ends, your employer will not provide a certificate of employment automatically; you must request it. You may use this form (doc, in Finnish): Document request to employer.
Safety at work is the responsibility of the employer, but you as the employee also have responsibilities. If the work causes a serious hazard to your life or health or that of other employees, you have the right to refuse to perform that work.
Instructions for employer
Under the Aliens Act, an employer with foreign employees must:
- ensure that an alien entering his or her service and working in his or her employment has the required residence permit for an employed person or that the alien does not need a residence permit (Aliens Act, section 86a), and
- keep the information on the aliens in his or her employment and on the grounds for their right to work easily available at the workplace (Aliens Act, section 86a).
The information that the employer must keep at the workplace must include:
- the personal data of the foreign employee, and
- the grounds for the foreign employee’s right to work.
The employer shall store the information for four years beyond the termination of the alien’s employment. The employer may choose how to store this information, but it must be easily available for inspection by the occupational safety and health authorities.
While clients who use posted workers generally have the same obligations as other employers under section 86a of the Finnish Aliens Act, they are exempt from the obligation to keep records. They must, however, be able to present evidence of the workers’ right to work in Finland.
Information to be supplied to TE Services
The Finnish Aliens Act obligates employers not only to check that all foreign workers of theirs have a right to work in Finland and keep evidence of these checks but also to
- inform the shop steward, the elected representative and the occupational safety and health representative of such workers’ names and the applicable collective agreement and
- supply their local TE Office with the following information, if they employ individuals who are not EU/EEA citizens or family members of EU/EEA citizens:
- information on the principal terms of employment applicable to the work and
- a declaration of the terms’ complying with the law and the applicable collective agreement. In the absence of a collective agreement, the terms of employment must correspond to those of other workers performing similar work in the labour market.
The principal terms and conditions of employment include at least the following:
- the date of commencement of the work
- the trial period
- the place where the work is performed
- job duties
- the collective agreement applicable to the work
- grounds for determination of wages
- amount of wages
- the pay period
- regular working hours
- the manner of determining annual holiday
- the terms and conditions concerning the period of notice.
In case of a fixed-term employment relationship, the grounds for concluding an employment contract for a fixed term and the actual or estimated expiry date of the employment contract must also be recorded.
The aforementioned information and declaration must be supplied to TE Services without undue delay (within one week). The notification is made electronically via the employer's Enter Finland -service. A copy of the employee's passport or residence card must be attached.
Further information and form: Employer’s duty to provide information about foreign workers. TE Services.
Enter Finland -service: Enter Finland.
Occupational safety and health authorities have a legal duty to notify the police if an employer neglects to provide the information. The use of illegal foreign labour is a punishable offence. For more information, see Grey economy > Right to work in Finland.
Forms from the occupational safety and health authorities
Forms (in Finnish) for recording the right to work and the minimum terms and conditions of employment are available from the occupational safety and health authorities:
Terms and conditions of employment and occupational safety
Related topics in Tyosuojelu.fi
- Employment relationship: Posted worker
- Employment relationship: Non-discrimination
- Employment relationship: Terms and conditions of employment
- Employment relationship: Working hours
- Employment relationship: Pay
- Employment relationship: Annual holidays
- Occupational health and accidents: Occupational health care
- Collective agreement: Berry picking
- Working conditions: Picking of natural products
- Press release, 8 March 2016: Enforcement of foreign employees in the commercial sector: minimum wages unknown to many
- As a foreign employee in Finland. Guide in 15 languages.
Links to other websites
- The Finnish Immigration Service
- Passports and other travel documents. The Finnish Border Guard.
- Work and Enterprise. InfoFinland.fi.
- Ihmiskauppa.fi. Website about human trafficking and anti-trafficking activities in Finland.
- Seasonal work helpline – advisory service for seasonal workers. Victim Support Finland.
- Exploitation and discrimination against foreign workers. Victim Support Finland.
- Every foreigner has the same rights at work as Finnish citizens. Short animated films about employees’ rights in Finland in 16 languages. Victim Support Finland.
- Working in Finland, brochure in 24 languages. Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment.
- Welcome to work on Finnish farms! Video with subtitles in five languages. The Centre for Occupational Safety.
- Work in Finland. Suomi.fi.
- Employer’s responsibilities. Suomi.fi.
This website is part of the European Commission's Your Europe portal. Did you find what you were looking for?