International recruitment process

If an international skilled worker based in Finland already has a valid residence permit and right to work, the recruitment process will proceed in the same way as for a Finnish citizen. However, as an employer, you are obligated to check your employee’s right to work for the specific task in question. In certain residence permits, such as an employee's residence permit (TTOL) and a residence permit for seasonal work, the right to work may be restricted to a certain sector or employer. Certain professions, such as some tasks in health care and early childhood education and care, may require a qualification completed in Finland or a right to practise a profession.

All persons who have received a positive decision regarding their residence permit in Finland have a residence permit card. The easiest way to verify the right to work is to use the residence permit card, as it lists any restrictions to the right to work. If the residence permit card does not entitle the person to work in the desired sector, the person must apply for a new residence permit for working in the position.

You can check the scope of a person’s right to work by email from the Finnish Immigration Service.

Citizens of EU and EEA countries and Switzerland have an unrestricted right to work in Finland. However, as an employer, you must ensure that the person has the right to work in Finland. For example, you can check the employee’s nationality from their passport. Certain professions, such as some tasks in health care and early childhood education and care, may require a qualification completed in Finland or a right to practise a profession.

The EURES network supports employers in hiring new employees from EU or EEA countries or Switzerland by providing free support for finding, pre-selecting and hiring experts. EURES also provides additional information on the EURES Targeted Mobility Scheme, which is financial support for the relocation of an employee.

A person who is not a citizen of an EU or EEA country or Switzerland usually needs an Employee's Residence Permit or some other residence permit entitling them to gainful employment.

In the European Union's labour market area, employers must recruit workforce primarily from Finland, EU, and EEA countries and Switzerland. The application process for the most common residence permit, i.e. an employee's residence permit (TTOL) involves consideration of labour availability. When an employee applies for an Employee's Residence Permit, you, as their employer, must carry out an availability of labour assessment. In this availability assessment, you must demonstrate that you have tried to search for applicants from the EU, the EEA, and Switzerland, but did not find a suitable employee. You can demonstrate this by showing that you opened a job posting for the position at Job Market Finland for a period of at least two weeks. In the availability assessment, you must provide the job posting you prepared and why none of the applicants were suitable for the job.

If the occupational sector is included in the current work permit policy of the ELY Centre, you do not need to carry out a labour availability assessment and you can hire an employee directly from outside the EU labour market area with an employee’s residence permit (TTOL).

The consideration of labour availability and regional work permit policies only apply to an employee's residence permit (TTOL). The availability assessment must be completed before the employee can initiate their application process for a residence permit.

Instructions on the different stages of applying for an employee’s residence permit and the consideration of labour availability can be found in the 'Working in Finland – employees’ residence permit process and relocation to Finland from the employer’s perspective (in Finnish)' package.