Obligations of the employer in international recruitment

Obligation to ensure the right to work

As an employer, you must check that your employee has the right to reside and work in Finland. You can check your employee’s right to reside and work by checking their passport if they are a citizen of an EU or EEA country or Switzerland, or by checking their residence permit card if they are from some other country.  Remember to ensure that the right to work is valid throughout the employment relationship.

An employee’s residence permit (TTOL) may contain sector-specific restrictions, so make sure that your employee has the right to work in the position in question.

Notification obligations 

Notification of a foreign employee 

If you hire a person who is not a citizen of an EU or EEA country or Switzerland, or a family member of an EU or EEA country citizen or a Swiss citizen, you must notify the Finnish Immigration Service of their hiring. Notify the Finnish Immigration Service without delay giving the name of the person, the duration of the employment relationship, their pay and the applicable collective agreement.

You can enter the information electronically into the Enter Finland for Employers online service. If you cannot use the online service, submit the information using the paper form titled Employee announcement.

In addition, you must notify the shop steward, elected representative, and occupational safety and health representative at the workplace of the name of the person and the applicable collective agreement.

You do not need to report the employment relationship information to the Finnish Immigration Service again if you have participated as an employer in applying for a residence permit for a person and submitted the information as part of the application process.

Notification of termination of employment 

You must submit a notification of termination of employment if the employment contract of a non-EU or EEA citizen who is residing in Finland with a work-based residence permit ends prematurely. 

You must notify the termination of employment if: 

• the employee has not started work, 
• the employee’s employment relationship has ended or will end, or 
• the employee has stopped working for another reason before the expiry of the residence permit granted on the basis of employment. 

The notification must be submitted within 14 days from the date on which the employee should have started work but did not. The notification must also be submitted when the employment relationship has ended or the employee has stopped working for another reason. If you fail to submit the notification of termination of employment, the police may impose a sanction. 

Obligation to keep information

As an employer, you must keep records on all your foreign employees and the grounds for their right to work. The occupational safety and health authority enforces the right of foreigners to work in Finland, and you must be able to present this information if necessary. For example, you can take a copy of an employee’s passport if they are a citizen of an EU or EEA country or Switzerland or a copy of their residence permit card if they are a citizen of some other country.

You can find more information on the employer’s obligations on the Foreign employee page of the Occupational Safety and Health authority's website Työsuojelu.fi.