The four-party alliance government led by Kansallinen Kokoomus (National Coalition Party-NCP) has taken an initiative to introduce an integration assistance for the newly arrived immigrants to Finland cancelling the existing general social security benefit.
The government on Thursday submitted a proposal to bring amendments to the Act on a General Social Security Benefit, the Act on the Organisation of Employment Services and the Act on the National Certificates of Language Proficiency in this regard, said an official press release.
According to the proposal, immigrants, who move to Finland but do not have employment, would no longer be entitled to the unemployment benefit like other jobseekers in the country.
The amendments are scheduled to enter into force on 1 April 2027 and the new integration assistance would only apply to people who move to Finland after the Act enters into force.
The general social security benefit would be paid as integration assistance to immigrants registered as unemployed jobseekers who do not meet the prior work requirement or have lived in Finland for less than three years and need financial support.
“The aim of integration assistance is to promote the integration and employment of immigrants in Finland. In addition to reforming this benefit, we will improve integration services and give immigrants a strong right to language training in future. Finland needs work-based and competence-based immigration, and people who come here must also have realistic opportunities and incentives to find employment. Language skills are central to finding a job,” said Minister of Social Security Sanni Grahn-Laasonen in the press release.
The level of integration assistance would be slightly lower than that of general social security benefit. It would correspond to the basic amount of basic social assistance for a person living alone (EUR 33.64 per day in 2026).
Immigrants registered as unemployed jobseekers could be paid the general social security benefit instead of integration assistance after they have demonstrated sufficient skills in Finnish or Swedish.
The employment authorities would be responsible for ensuring that jobseekers receiving integration assistance have access to services that meet their needs. These services should be organised, or a jobseeker should be referred to them, at the latest when the person has been registered as a jobseeker for a total of six months.
The intermediate-level National Certificate of Language Proficiency test in Finnish or Swedish or one of its subtests would be free of charge for those who would not participate in integration training because of their individual abilities, skills or needs.
In addition, the Act on a General Social Security Benefit would be amended so that an unemployed jobseeker in the country with a residence permit granted on the basis of temporary protection would be entitled to the general social security benefit or integration assistance subject to similar conditions as other people who have moved to Finland.
This amendment would mean that Ukrainian refugees, among other people, would be included in the scope of the general social security benefit instead of social assistance.
The government said that the aim of the integration assistance is to promote the participation of immigrants in the labour market and their access to language training within a reasonable time.
Since the labour market subsidy and basic unemployment allowance for unemployed jobseekers was replaced by the general social security benefit on 1 May 2026, the new integration assistance would be included in the Act on a General Social Security Benefit.
- New immigrants
- Unemployment benefits
Source: www.dailyfinland.fi
