Advisory services relating to seasonal labour from abroad have moved to the TöitäSuomesta (‘WorkfromFinland’) service.

Advisers at the TöitäSuomesta service will answer questions concerning the quarantine, transport and mobility of seasonal workers and multicultural workplace communities on weekdays from 8.30 to 16.00.

Please first give the identifier “advice on coronavirus and seasonal labour by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry” (“MMM korona- ja kausityöneuvonta) or send a text message, and the adviser will contact you.

+358 45 155 4113 (Tuomas Männistö, fi, en)

+358 40 158 0644 (Maarit Tiittanen, fi, en)

+358 40 258 8451 (Sirpa Pekkarinen, fi, en)

+358 44 342 5425 (Heidi Paasanen, fi, en, sv)

+358 40 502 6810 (Marko Mäki-Hakola; flights and quarantine)

Multicultural workplace communities:

+358 44 420 9000 (switchboard)

+358 44 431 4105 (Henriikka Suvinen, fi en)

+358 43 825 4984 (Inkeri Taurula, fi, en)

Assistance in finding labour and in employment issues is available at www.te-palvelut.fi and  www.töitäsuomesta.fi

Seasonal employees who are in an employment relationship with a Finnish employer have the right to use Finland’s public healthcare services in the same way as other municipal residents, regardless of whether they come from a member state of the European Union or from outside the EU. Seasonal employees pay the regular client fees for using public healthcare services. Care and treatment of generally hazardous communicable diseases, including testing and care related to the coronavirus, is free of charge. 

Having arrived in Finland, seasonal employees should contact the Social Insurance Institution Kela without delay. Kela establishes their right to healthcare and issues a certificate concerning this to the employees, to be presented when using public healthcare services. If authorised by the seasonal employee, the employer may also request Kela to establish the employees’ right to healthcare. If a seasonal employee who does not have this certificate becomes ill, public healthcare services may also contact Kela to establish the person’s right to healthcare.

A seasonal employee who uses private healthcare services, buys prescription medicines or has travel expenses relating to care for illness may apply to Kela for reimbursement. Kela issues a health insurance card (Kela card) to employees covered under the National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme of Finland. 

In the coronavirus situation, seasonal workers are unable to arrive in Finland and therefore unable to fulfil their key obligation, i.e. obligation to work.

Employers can report vacancies in seasonal work. This is necessary to secure sufficient labour force.  Access to foreign labour has become more difficult in the coronavirus situation because Finland’s borders have been closed. In cases where entry into Finland is granted, the two-week quarantine must be taken into account. The situation may be different for work performed in the late autumn.

Every effort is made to allow labour force already in Finland to become employed in sectors affected by labour shortage. Following lay-offs and dismissals, there is a significant amount of labour force available in the labour market at the moment. Many young students will have no summer jobs this summer.  In addition, foreign students and other foreigners looking for work in Finland should be considered potential employees. Information about job opportunities should therefore be offered in English. The exceptional situation also severely affects the ability of sole entrepreneurs and, for example, tourism entrepreneurs to employ themselves when there are hardly any customers.  This group also represents potential workforce which is worth keeping in mind.

Vacancies in agriculture, forestry and horticulture should be posted on the TE Services website 

Vacancies can also be advertised on the Central Union of Agricultural Producers and Forest Owners MTK’s  Töitä Suomesta (Work in Finland) website

Personnel service companies can offer help in finding and recruiting employees and in temporary employment. Your local TE Office can provide contact information for personnel service companies that can help you find seasonal workers.

TE services

Personal service companies

The emergency conditions do not affect immigrants with valid residence permits. The Finnish Immigration Service and the TE Offices and ELY Centres that make partial decisions are now prioritising work-based residence permit applications considered essential for security of supply or the activities of specific sectors. Applications for extended permits will also be processed.

At the moment, the Centre for Economic Development in Uusimaa (ELY Centre) where partial decisions regarding residence permits for entrepreneurs are centrally processed, only processes permits for entrepreneurs who work as health care professionals, care workers for the elderly, in goods transport, or in other duties considered essential (for example for the security of supply). Applications for extended permits will also be processed. Granting of residence permits for entrepreneurs is always based on an overall consideration of each individual case, which involves the ELY Centre making an assessment of the conditions for profitable business and income security. The effects of the coronavirus on business activities will be taken into account when a partial decision is made. In the assessment, more weight may be given to accounting information for a period before the acute impact of the coronavirus on business activities. Future outlook will also be assessed.

For now, the Talent Boost action programme will focus on measures taken in Finland. We are monitoring the situation and will adjust measures as necessary.

Pilot projects that were to be implemented abroad to boost international recruitment and attract international talent will be postponed. The international recruitment pilot projects of EURES that were in their early stages will be postponed.  However, EURES experts may continue to contact companies that have job vacancies and prepare assessments of situations in companies. Efforts will be made to complete the ongoing recruitment and coaching programmes online.

Companies and other employers are encouraged to use instruments such as Talent Explorer financing to recruit international experts living in Finland. Action to promote diversity in working life is taken through the Successful Multicultural Company campaign, the Talent Boost metrics and the Global Talent communications campaign.

The residence permit will remain in effect for the duration of the layoff. An extended permit may be granted on condition that the employee has had secure means of subsistence while the previous permit was in effect. More information on working and unemployment benefits while laid off  is available the websites of Kela and the TE Office.

More information on the Finnish Immigration Service’s website

No. The current legislation does not allow reimbursement of the application processing fee.

No. The current legislation does not allow reimbursement of the application processing fee.

The main rule is to restrict unnecessary travel. According to the Border Guard’s guidelines, third-country nationals who have been granted a residence permit may enter Finland starting from 1 May 2020. Residence permits for seasonal workers are not included in this category. They are treated as their own special group. To be allowed to enter Finland, a third-country national with a residence permit for seasonal work entering Finland for the first must be included in the seasonal worker quota of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.

The TE Office publishes vacancies on its website. The employment administration actively targets different jobseeker groupswith campaigns on seasonal work in agriculture. Key target groups of the campaigns are holders of work permits already in Finland who are able to accept other work in the emergency conditions;young Finnish and international students, upper secondary school students, asylum seekers who have the right to work, those who are about to complete their integration training, and all jobseekers and persons who have been laid off for more than three months.

Educational solutions offered by the TE Services can also help employers gain access to skilled labour. TE Services organise customised vocational training courses, including intensive short courses, planned together with the employer. More information is available from the TE Office and the ELY Centre in your region.

Vacancies on the TE Services website

Contact information for TE Offices

Contact information for ELY Centres

 

 

Employers can hire a person in Finland to replace a worker arriving from abroad. This type of temporary job contract can be signed on condition that the contract expires once the foreign worker who is being replaced arrives in Finland and takes the job.

• Frequently asked questions about the coronavirus situation on the website of the Social Insurance Institution of Finland (Kela)
• Current information on the TE Services website
• TE Services: If you are laid off
• TE Services: Instructions for employers regarding layoffs (in Finnish)

 

The purpose of the restrictions and recommendations in force during the coronavirus epidemic is to slow down and prevent the spread of the coronavirus in Finland, to safeguard the resource capacity and resilience of our healthcare system throughout the country, and to protect people, especially those who are the most at risk.

The Government decided on 7 May to extend the temporary restrictions on border traffic in Finland until 14 June 2020. The decision follows on from the decision made by the Government on 19 March to restore border control at internal borders, close certain border crossing points and restrict traffic across external borders.

More information on border traffic during emergency conditions is available in the Border Guard guidelines.

The Government is closely monitoring the development of the disease and is prepared to change the decisions on border traffic if necessary.

 

Entry into Finland as foreign seasonal workers is permitted to citizens of the Schengen area, other EU countries and the United Kingdom under the same conditions as travel for contractual or assignment-based employment. 

The Finnish border authorities will allow entry into Finland of 3,000 seasonal workers, in addition to the previously decided 1,500, who are citizens of third countries outside the Schengen area, other EU countries and the United Kingdom to meet the labour needs in the spring and early summer. The Border Guard will monitor the number of citizens of third countries entering into Finland for critical primary production tasks in the spring and early summer.

More detailed information on border traffic during emergency conditions is available in the Border Guard guidelines.

Seasonal workers who are citizens of third countries (e.g. Ukraine, Belarus, Thailand) are allowed to enter the country if they have the necessary permits for entry into the country and for working, and their employer has filled in the form proving the necessity of their entry into the country.

More frequently asked questions concerning seasonal workers can be found on the coronavirus page of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.

To prevent the spread of the coronavirus epidemic, the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health have jointly prepared the following guidelines and recommendations:

A person arriving in the country must restrict unnecessary close contacts and enter self-isolation for 14 days. Under self-isolation, movement is restricted to travel between the workplace and place of residence, and other essential movement.

Persons arriving to work in healthcare and social welfare must agree with their employer on any special work arrangements. The employer must assess the risk of infection and, if necessary, make changes to the employee’s duties for 14 days from arrival in the country in order to ensure client and patient safety and the safety of the workplace.

The self-isolation requirement does not apply to first response and emergency service personnel or to employees of the Border Guard and Customs. However, these persons must follow the general guidelines of the authorities on good hygiene practices, maintaining a safe distance and avoiding physical contact in order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease.

Anyone who experiences respiratory symptoms should contact healthcare services immediately. Further instructions on the 14-day period of self-isolation will be distributed upon arrival in the country.

According to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Finnish missions do not currently accept visa and residence permit applications, but the situation will be reassessed if necessary. Similarly, interviews related to residence permit applications have been suspended for the time being.

Press release: Finland suspends the reception and processing of ordinary visa and residence permit applications in the missions

However, even though immigration-related customer services have been suspended, missions will make every effort to hand over the residence permit cards in their possession to customers. Applicants of residence permit cards are advised to contact the missions directly, but they should bear in mind that the delivery of cards from Finland to Finnish missions abroad may be delayed.

Missions also accept applications for visas and residence permits if the applicant needs them to perform tasks that are essential for security of supply or critical for a specific sector. Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health have provided separate guidelines regarding seasonal work.

List: Tasks essential for security of supply or critical for sector operations

Any changes in the missions’ situation will be announced on the website of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the missions.

The Finnish Immigration Service, TE Offices and the Centre for Economic Development in Uusimaa (ELY Centre) continue to process pending applications for residence permits normally.

Food supply is an important part of the security of supply operations that are being managed in cooperation between the public and private sector in all circumstances. Security of supply in the food sector means that the population has access to the same amount of nutritional energy as in normal conditions (2,800 kcal, i.e. 11.7 MJ per day). Securing the food supply is strongly founded on national agricultural production. 

The latest updates of the situation can be found on the website of the National Emergency Supply Agency (in Finnish) (https://www.huoltovarmuuskeskus.fi/huoltovarmuuskeskuksen-nakemys-koronaviruksen-vaikutuksista-logistiikkaan-ja-huoltovarmuuteen).  

According to the National Emergency Supply Agency, the retail sector works as normally at present. There have been no disturbances in logistics, manufacturing and processing industry, or deliveries. The rapid change in people’s purchasing behaviour may have caused temporary shortages at retail stores. The retail outlets are entitled to place restrictions on the volumes purchased to ensure a good customer experience. We are monitoring the situation very closely in cooperation with the food supply sector. Joint action is taken by the central government, trade and industry, primary production and logistics operators to secure reliable functioning of the markets. 

Even if the people are understandably worried, it is good to remember that there is no need to buy more food or hygiene products than usually. All you have to do is make sure that you have enough food and other essential supplies to last for three days. Guidance (in Finnish) on what this means can be found e.g. on the website of the Martha Organization.  

The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and Ministry of Social Affairs and Health have given recommendations to water supply plants, municipal health protection authorities supervising these and Centres for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment to secure water supply and sanitation during the coronavirus epidemic. 

According to current knowledge, it is not considered likely that the new coronavirus could spread via drinking water. The virus is also not considered to cause any particular risks to those working at wastewater treatment plants. 

The instructions do not mean any new obligations to water supply plants but their preparedness is based on the current legislation, mainly the Water Services Act and Health Protection Act. 

The Water Services Act obliges water supply plants to ensure access to water supply and sanitation services for properties in emergency situations as well. Water supply plants must draw up plans on their preparedness for disruptions and keep these up to date, and take the necessary measures on the basis of the plans. 

According to the Health Protection Act, health protection authorities must cooperate with other authorities and agencies and draw up a plan to prepare for disruptions affecting the environment where the people live. 

The functioning of water supply and sanitation must be secured to be able to maintain the basic functions of society also during the state of emergency caused by the coronavirus epidemic. Especially large population centres and operations that require a lot of clean water, such as those in healthcare centres, hospitals and food industry, are highly vulnerable to any disruptions in water supply and sanitation services. 

If the epidemic caused by the coronavirus expands, it is important that water supply plants and municipalities, together with the other water supply plants of the region, authorities and key customers using water services, make sure that their plans for disruptions and the instructions included in these are up to date. 

A situation that may threaten the functioning of water supply and sanitation is one where a large percentage of the staff falls ill at the same time. This is why water supply plants are urged to ensure sufficient resources for managing the critical water supply and sanitation tasks, making use of the plans for disruptions. 

Water supply plants are also urged to prepare for possible disruptions in the operations of service providers, including laboratories and suppliers of chemicals. 

Inquiries: 
Jarkko Rapala, Ministerial Adviser, Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, tel. +358 2951 63315, firstname.lastname(at)stm.fi 
Katri Vasama, Ministerial Adviser, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Natural Resources and Water Management Unit, tel. +358 50 595 5317, firstname.lastname(at)mmm.fi 

According to current knowledge, the virus is not transmitted via food, including fish. This means that the primary producers and processors of fish and operators in the supply chains can work as usually, as long as they take particular care of hygiene and of the preservation of fish. Consumers can also use fish and fish products as normally. A key issue for both operators in the fisheries sector and consumers is that the precautionary measures to prevent the spread of the virus are followed with care. It is important to maintain a functioning and viable value chain for fish so that we will have fish and fish products available also in future. Read more about the coronavirus and food on the website of the Finnish Food Authority (in Finnish). Read more about support for the fisheries sector available under the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund and State aid schemes on the website of the Maritime and Fisheries Network at merijakalatalous.fi/en/. 

The new coronavirus is transmitted directly from human to human. According to current knowledge, there is no evidence that the SARS-CoV-2 virus would spread or be transmitted to humans via food or via pets or farmed animals. E.g. in Belgium, France and Germany pets that have been in close contact with humans suffering from the coronavirus disease COVID-19, especially cats, have been reported as infected with the virus. In some cases the cats had shown no symptoms of the disease. Pets are considered to have no role in spreading the disease, but in all cases the virus had been transmitted from humans. Despite these quite rare and isolated cases considering the extent of the pandemic, pets can and must be cared for in the same way as usually, taking care of regular, good hand hygiene.

Besides pets, minks on four mink farms in the Netherlands have been found to carry the disease. In all these cases staff members caring for the animals had shown respiratory symptoms indicative of COVID-19.

Based on genetic analyses, it has been concluded that the coronavirus COVID-19 would originate from bats because its close relative has been found in Rhinolophus bat (horseshoe bat) populations. Studies on how the coronavirus was transmitted to humans are under way. The hypothesis is that the coronavirus would first have been transmitted from bats to an intermediate host where it had mutated into one that can be transmitted to humans.

Read more:
UN Food and Agriculture Organization FAO

We can and must still go to forest and enjoy the coming spring in our natural environment. However, we may wish to avoid the most popular hiking destinations and give preference e.g. to a forest close to our home. On Metsähallitus website, you will find guidance for hikers relating to the coronavirus. Metsähallitus wishes to remind that the same rules apply in the natural environment as in urban areas and shopping centres:  two-metre safety distance and good hand hygiene is always required, including in campfire and rest sites.

See also Nationalparks.fi: Guidelines Concerning Coronavirus

 

 

Advisory services relating to seasonal labour from abroad have moved to the TöitäSuomesta (‘WorkfromFinland’) service.

Advisers at the TöitäSuomesta service will answer questions concerning the quarantine, transport and mobility of seasonal workers and multicultural workplace communities on weekdays from 8.30 to 16.00.

Please first give the identifier “advice on coronavirus and seasonal labour by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry” (“MMM korona- ja kausityöneuvonta) or send a text message, and the adviser will contact you.

+358 45 155 4113 (Tuomas Männistö, fi, en)

+358 40 158 0644 (Maarit Tiittanen, fi, en)

+358 40 258 8451 (Sirpa Pekkarinen, fi, en)

+358 44 342 5425 (Heidi Paasanen, fi, en, sv)

+358 40 502 6810 (Marko Mäki-Hakola; flights and quarantine)

Multicultural workplace communities:

+358 44 420 9000 (switchboard)

+358 44 431 4105 (Henriikka Suvinen, fi en)

+358 43 825 4984 (Inkeri Taurula, fi, en)

Assistance in finding labour and in employment issues is available at www.te-palvelut.fi and  www.töitäsuomesta.fi

Seasonal employees who are in an employment relationship with a Finnish employer have the right to use Finland’s public healthcare services in the same way as other municipal residents, regardless of whether they come from a member state of the European Union or from outside the EU. Seasonal employees pay the regular client fees for using public healthcare services. Care and treatment of generally hazardous communicable diseases, including testing and care related to the coronavirus, is free of charge. 

Having arrived in Finland, seasonal employees should contact the Social Insurance Institution Kela without delay. Kela establishes their right to healthcare and issues a certificate concerning this to the employees, to be presented when using public healthcare services. If authorised by the seasonal employee, the employer may also request Kela to establish the employees’ right to healthcare. If a seasonal employee who does not have this certificate becomes ill, public healthcare services may also contact Kela to establish the person’s right to healthcare.

A seasonal employee who uses private healthcare services, buys prescription medicines or has travel expenses relating to care for illness may apply to Kela for reimbursement. Kela issues a health insurance card (Kela card) to employees covered under the National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme of Finland.