Work

Contract, salary, unemployment, recognition of qualifications.

Checked on 23 October 2026

Working in Finland: finding a job, contract, probation period, pay, working time, leave and recognition of qualifications

As an EU citizen, you can work in Finland without a work permit. Job offers are published on Työmarkkinatori (Job Market Finland, the public employment portal), and since 01/01/2025 support for jobseekers has been provided by the municipalities' employment services. There is no legal minimum wage: your minimum pay, like a good part of your rights, comes from the työehtosopimus (collective agreement) of your sector; the law sets the rest (probation of 6 months at most, 40 hours per week, 2 to 2.5 days of leave per month).

Costs: No legal minimum wage: minimum set by the collective agreement of your sector
Timeframes: Probation period: 6 months at most; employer's statutory notice: 14 days to 6 months depending on length of service

Steps

Look for job offers on Työmarkkinatori (tyomarkkinatori.fi) and on EURES, the European employment portal. Once settled, register as a jobseeker with the employment services of your municipality of residence (same portal) if you are still looking.
Check whether your profession is regulated (health, teaching, law…). If so, have your qualification recognised before you start: see "Costs and timelines".
Read your contract (työsopimus). It can be oral, written or electronic, but, if your contract is indefinite or lasts more than one month, the employer must give you the essential terms in writing (duration, pay, working time, collective agreement applied…) at the latest by the end of the first pay period, unless your written contract already contains them.
Identify your collective agreement. If it is generally applicable (yleissitova), your employer must comply with it even if it is not a member of any federation. Anything in your contract that contradicts it is void.
Apply for your verokortti (tax card) before your first salary, otherwise the employer withholds 60% of your salary (see FI-IMPOTS-TOUS-001).
Think about unemployment insurance: join a työttömyyskassa (unemployment fund) from the start if you want an earnings-related allowance (see FI-TRAVAIL-TOUS-002).

Documents

Passport or identity card; henkilötunnus (see FI-NIF-TOUS-001).
Employment contract or written statement of the essential terms.
Qualifications and, for a regulated profession, recognition decision.
Form U1 from your former country if you want your unemployment insurance periods to count (see FI-TRAVAIL-TOUS-002).

Costs and timelines

Indefinite contract by default. A fixed-term contract in principle requires a valid reason, and repeated fixed-term contracts are forbidden when their number or total length shows a permanent need on the employer's part. Recent exception (law 55/2001, art. 1:3, para. 3): if this is the first contract between you and this employer in the previous five years, a fixed term without a reason is possible, for one year at most. At the end of this contract, if the employer plans to hire for the same or a similar task, it must offer you the work for a period equal to one third of the length of the contract that has ended; it may offer it to someone else if you do not reply within two weeks (art. 6:1). After six months' duration, such a contract can be terminated on the same conditions and by the same procedure as an indefinite contract (art. 6:1). A fixed-term contract concluded on the employer's initiative in breach of these rules is considered indefinite. This rule has been in force since 1 June 2026 (law 412/2026).
Probation period (koeaika): 6 months at most; extended by one month per 30 days of sick leave or family leave; for a fixed-term contract, half the length of the contract at most, without exceeding 6 months.
Employer's statutory notice: 14 days (length of service up to 1 year), 1 month (1 to 4 years), 2 months (4 to 8 years), 4 months (8 to 12 years), 6 months (more than 12 years). Employee's notice: 14 days (up to 5 years), 1 month beyond that. The contract or the collective agreement may provide otherwise, within a limit of 6 months.
Working time: 8 hours a day and 40 hours a week at most; overtime included, 48 hours a week on average over 4 months. Daily overtime paid +50% for the first two hours, +100% thereafter; weekly overtime +50%; Sunday work +100% (law 872/2019).
Annual leave: 2.5 working days (arkipäivä: every day except Sunday and public holidays, Saturday included) per full month, or 2 days if you have less than one year of length of service on 31 March. The reference year runs from 1 April to 31 March; summer leave is taken between 2 May and 30 September (law 162/2005).
Holiday bonus (lomaraha): it does not appear in the leave law; it is provided for by many collective agreements, which set its amount and conditions: look at your agreement (or your contract).
Recognition of qualifications: for a regulated profession or a public post requiring a qualification of a certain level, you need a decision from Opetushallitus (OPH, Finnish National Agency for Education) or from the competent authority for the profession. For other jobs, it is the employer who judges. OPH fee 2026: €495 per recognition application (€100 for processing and €395 for the decision, applications received since 01/01/2026); advisory statement on a foreign vocational qualification: €221 excluding VAT (€277.36 including 25.5% VAT), generally 3 to 4 months of processing; this statement helps in looking for a job but does not give access to a regulated profession.

Common pitfalls

Looking for a legal minimum wage. There is none: ask which collective agreement applies and what the minimum is for your category.
Accepting repeated fixed-term contracts. Successive fixed-term contracts covering a permanent need are forbidden; the contract is then deemed indefinite.
Resigning without respecting the notice. You would owe the employer compensation equal to the salary for the notice period (and vice versa).
Starting a health profession without authorisation. Health professionals must obtain a right to practise from the Lupa- ja valvontavirasto (LVV, the licensing and supervision agency, lvv.fi). It started on 1 January 2026 and took over, among other things, the duties of Valvira, the former health supervisory authority. It is therefore to the LVV that you apply for recognition of your qualification and your right to practise. To be confirmed on lvv.fi (page protected against automatic reading): sending the form by email to kirjaamo@lvv.fi or by post, the statutory deadline of four months from receipt of all documents, and the exact list of agencies taken over.
Forgetting the language. Depending on the sector, many employers require a certain level of Finnish or Swedish, while other fields (IT, industry, international companies) make do with English (InfoFinland). In Åland, find out about the language required: Swedish is the official language of the archipelago.

What changes by country of origin

EU, EEA and Swiss citizens: no work permit; registration of the right of residence (see FI-SEJOUR-TOUS-001). Professional qualifications acquired in the EU come under the European directive on the recognition of qualifications: each regulated profession has its competent authority (OPH for teaching, the supervisory authority for health and social care…), which tells you the procedure.
Nordic citizens: common Nordic labour market, no registration at Migri.
British citizens (Scots included): since Brexit, a residence permit that authorises work is needed (Migri), except for rights acquired under the withdrawal agreement.
Åland Islands: employment services there come under Ålands arbetsmarknads- och studieservicemyndighet (AMS, ams.ax, Åland's employment and study service), which also runs the welcome site Åland Living; Swedish is the official language of the archipelago. Finnish labour law applies there, with the same protection as in the rest of Finland, and Finnish collective agreements too (Åland Living, AMS website).

Official sources (17) ›

Checked on 23 October 2026

Unemployment in Finland: unemployment fund, work condition, earnings-related allowance, Kela's general allowance (yleistuki) and periods worked in the EU

In Finland, the earnings-related unemployment allowance (ansiopäiväraha) is paid by a työttömyyskassa (unemployment fund): you must have joined it and meet the työssäoloehto (work condition), that is 12 months of work in the last 28 months. Otherwise, since 01/05/2026, Kela pays the yleistuki (general allowance), €37.21 per day in 2026, which replaces the basic unemployment allowance and the labour market subsidy. Your periods of work in another EU country can count, with form U1.

Costs: Kela's general allowance (yleistuki): €37.21 per day, about €800.02 per month (2026); earnings-related allowance: depending on your former salary, paid by your fund
Timeframes: Waiting period: 7 working days; register as a jobseeker as soon as the contract ends

Steps

Join an unemployment fund as soon as you are hired (on the website of the fund for your sector). The law (art. 5:2, text of 16/01/2026) reserves the earnings-related allowance to members insured for at least the previous 12 months, and only months worked during the insurance count for the work condition; membership therefore cannot be retroactive.
On the day your contract ends, register as a jobseeker with the employment services of your municipality of residence, on Työmarkkinatori (Job Market Finland), and keep this registration active: if it expires, no allowance.
Apply for the allowance: to your fund for the ansiopäiväraha, or to Kela (OmaKela, or form YE 1e by post) for the yleistuki. Nothing is automatic.
Have your work abroad counted: ask for form PD U1 (called "U1" below; certificate of insurance periods) from the unemployment body of the country where you worked, preferably before coming to Finland.
Send a status report (unemployment status report) every 4 weeks (the first after 2 weeks), for the days already elapsed.
Keep a henkilötunnus and a bank account: Kela does not pay in cash.

Documents

Henkilötunnus and bank account.
Employment and salary certificates.
Form U1 (periods worked in the EU, the EEA, Switzerland or the United Kingdom); form PD U1 if Kela asks for it for holiday pay paid abroad.
For the yleistuki: copy of the vocational or higher-education qualification (translated into Finnish, Swedish or English if it is foreign), which removes the 21-week waiting time.

Costs and timelines

Work condition (employees): 12 "months of work" in the last 28 months. A month counts in full if you received at least €930 of insured salary that month, and two months between €465 and €930 count as one (law 1290/2002, consolidated text consulted in October 2026). The salary must comply with the collective agreement; with no agreement in the sector, at least €1,134 per month full time is required. For the self-employed, the reference period is 48 months.
Duration of the earnings-related allowance: 300 days if you have worked 3 years at most since the age of 17, 400 days beyond that, 500 days if the condition is met after age 58 with at least 5 years of work in the last 20 years (law 1290/2002).
Kela's general allowance (yleistuki) in 2026: €37.21 per day, 5 days a week (about €800.02 per month), taxable; aged 18 to 64; no maximum duration. It is reduced by your earned income and, above €311 per month, by half of your other income; your spouse's income does not count.
Waiting period: 7 working days of registration, none if you go directly from the earnings-related allowance to the yleistuki. Waiting time of 21 weeks for the yleistuki if you have neither a vocational nor a higher-education qualification (the general baccalaureate, lukio, is not enough); it is shortened by each full week of work that counts for the work condition and by the weeks of unemployment allowance paid in the last 2 years, and it does not apply if you apply for the yleistuki just after exhausting the maximum duration of the earnings-related allowance.
Backdating: up to 3 months for the yleistuki.
Exporting your allowance: European rule for looking for a job in another EU country: at least 3 months, up to 6 depending on the paying institution, with form U2, after 4 weeks of registration in general (Your Europe). For the yleistuki, Kela keeps it for 3 months at most and only if you meet the work condition; ask Kela or your fund for the PD U2 at least 2 weeks before leaving, and register in the new country within 7 days.

Common pitfalls

Joining a fund after losing your job. It is too late for the earnings-related allowance: you would only be entitled to the yleistuki.
Letting the jobseeker registration expire. A single break suspends payment.
Looking for the "basic unemployment allowance" or the "labour market subsidy". They no longer exist since 01/05/2026; many old pages still mention them.
Forgetting form U1. Without it, your years of work in France or elsewhere do not count for the work condition. They count with the PD U1, but only if you then worked at least 4 weeks in Finland (work that counts for the work condition), with exceptions: you had remained resident in Finland during this work abroad, you were a cross-border worker living in Finland, or you are returning from another Nordic country, provided you received an unemployment allowance from Finland, worked at least 1 week or carried out self-employed activity of at least 4 months (work that counts for the work condition) in the last 5 years (Kela, 26/09/2026). Ask for the U1 before leaving your former country.
Holiday pay. Compensation for untaken leave (even if paid abroad) is spread over time and delays the start of the unemployment allowance.

What changes by country of origin

EU, EEA, Swiss and British citizens: insurance periods from these countries taken into account with form U1; Kela also issues the U1 for your Finnish periods if you leave again.
Residence in Finland: the yleistuki requires living permanently in Finland; Kela assesses this case by case (work in Finland is another route to benefits).
Åland Islands: everything goes through Ålands arbetsmarknads- och studieservicemyndighet (AMS, ams.ax, Åland's employment and study service), not through Kela or the municipalities' employment services: you register as a jobseeker with the AMS, and it is to the AMS that you apply for the general allowance (allmänt stöd, Swedish name of the yleistuki; €37.21 per day in 2026), as Kela reminds people (AMS, 08/10/2026). The earnings-related allowance is still applied for from your unemployment fund. The AMS refers to the Finnish law 1290/2002 for the conditions: you must in particular be registered as a jobseeker with the AMS and be looking for full-time work, be aged between 17 and 64 (according to the AMS), be fit for work and available for the labour market. The AMS pages are in Swedish (the site offers automatic Google translation).

Official sources (8) ›

These guides give the general rules. Your situation can change the answer: Moovy looks at it with you and tells you when you need a professional.

Working in Finland: finding a job, contract, probation period, pay, working time, leave and recognition of qualifications

Costs: No legal minimum wage: minimum set by the collective agreement of your sector
Timeframes: Probation period: 6 months at most; employer's statutory notice: 14 days to 6 months depending on length of service

Steps

Look for job offers on Työmarkkinatori (tyomarkkinatori.fi) and on EURES, the European employment portal. Once settled, register as a jobseeker with the employment services of your municipality of residence (same portal) if you are still looking.
Check whether your profession is regulated (health, teaching, law…). If so, have your qualification recognised before you start: see "Costs and timelines".
Read your contract (työsopimus). It can be oral, written or electronic, but, if your contract is indefinite or lasts more than one month, the employer must give you the essential terms in writing (duration, pay, working time, collective agreement applied…) at the latest by the end of the first pay period, unless your written contract already contains them.
Identify your collective agreement. If it is generally applicable (yleissitova), your employer must comply with it even if it is not a member of any federation. Anything in your contract that contradicts it is void.
Apply for your verokortti (tax card) before your first salary, otherwise the employer withholds 60% of your salary (see FI-IMPOTS-TOUS-001).
Think about unemployment insurance: join a työttömyyskassa (unemployment fund) from the start if you want an earnings-related allowance (see FI-TRAVAIL-TOUS-002).

Documents

Passport or identity card; henkilötunnus (see FI-NIF-TOUS-001).
Employment contract or written statement of the essential terms.
Qualifications and, for a regulated profession, recognition decision.
Form U1 from your former country if you want your unemployment insurance periods to count (see FI-TRAVAIL-TOUS-002).

Costs and timelines

Indefinite contract by default. A fixed-term contract in principle requires a valid reason, and repeated fixed-term contracts are forbidden when their number or total length shows a permanent need on the employer's part. Recent exception (law 55/2001, art. 1:3, para. 3): if this is the first contract between you and this employer in the previous five years, a fixed term without a reason is possible, for one year at most. At the end of this contract, if the employer plans to hire for the same or a similar task, it must offer you the work for a period equal to one third of the length of the contract that has ended; it may offer it to someone else if you do not reply within two weeks (art. 6:1). After six months' duration, such a contract can be terminated on the same conditions and by the same procedure as an indefinite contract (art. 6:1). A fixed-term contract concluded on the employer's initiative in breach of these rules is considered indefinite. This rule has been in force since 1 June 2026 (law 412/2026).
Probation period (koeaika): 6 months at most; extended by one month per 30 days of sick leave or family leave; for a fixed-term contract, half the length of the contract at most, without exceeding 6 months.
Employer's statutory notice: 14 days (length of service up to 1 year), 1 month (1 to 4 years), 2 months (4 to 8 years), 4 months (8 to 12 years), 6 months (more than 12 years). Employee's notice: 14 days (up to 5 years), 1 month beyond that. The contract or the collective agreement may provide otherwise, within a limit of 6 months.
Working time: 8 hours a day and 40 hours a week at most; overtime included, 48 hours a week on average over 4 months. Daily overtime paid +50% for the first two hours, +100% thereafter; weekly overtime +50%; Sunday work +100% (law 872/2019).
Annual leave: 2.5 working days (arkipäivä: every day except Sunday and public holidays, Saturday included) per full month, or 2 days if you have less than one year of length of service on 31 March. The reference year runs from 1 April to 31 March; summer leave is taken between 2 May and 30 September (law 162/2005).
Holiday bonus (lomaraha): it does not appear in the leave law; it is provided for by many collective agreements, which set its amount and conditions: look at your agreement (or your contract).
Recognition of qualifications: for a regulated profession or a public post requiring a qualification of a certain level, you need a decision from Opetushallitus (OPH, Finnish National Agency for Education) or from the competent authority for the profession. For other jobs, it is the employer who judges. OPH fee 2026: €495 per recognition application (€100 for processing and €395 for the decision, applications received since 01/01/2026); advisory statement on a foreign vocational qualification: €221 excluding VAT (€277.36 including 25.5% VAT), generally 3 to 4 months of processing; this statement helps in looking for a job but does not give access to a regulated profession.

Common pitfalls

Looking for a legal minimum wage. There is none: ask which collective agreement applies and what the minimum is for your category.
Accepting repeated fixed-term contracts. Successive fixed-term contracts covering a permanent need are forbidden; the contract is then deemed indefinite.
Resigning without respecting the notice. You would owe the employer compensation equal to the salary for the notice period (and vice versa).
Starting a health profession without authorisation. Health professionals must obtain a right to practise from the Lupa- ja valvontavirasto (LVV, the licensing and supervision agency, lvv.fi). It started on 1 January 2026 and took over, among other things, the duties of Valvira, the former health supervisory authority. It is therefore to the LVV that you apply for recognition of your qualification and your right to practise. To be confirmed on lvv.fi (page protected against automatic reading): sending the form by email to kirjaamo@lvv.fi or by post, the statutory deadline of four months from receipt of all documents, and the exact list of agencies taken over.
Forgetting the language. Depending on the sector, many employers require a certain level of Finnish or Swedish, while other fields (IT, industry, international companies) make do with English (InfoFinland). In Åland, find out about the language required: Swedish is the official language of the archipelago.

What changes by country of origin

EU, EEA and Swiss citizens: no work permit; registration of the right of residence (see FI-SEJOUR-TOUS-001). Professional qualifications acquired in the EU come under the European directive on the recognition of qualifications: each regulated profession has its competent authority (OPH for teaching, the supervisory authority for health and social care…), which tells you the procedure.
Nordic citizens: common Nordic labour market, no registration at Migri.
British citizens (Scots included): since Brexit, a residence permit that authorises work is needed (Migri), except for rights acquired under the withdrawal agreement.
Åland Islands: employment services there come under Ålands arbetsmarknads- och studieservicemyndighet (AMS, ams.ax, Åland's employment and study service), which also runs the welcome site Åland Living; Swedish is the official language of the archipelago. Finnish labour law applies there, with the same protection as in the rest of Finland, and Finnish collective agreements too (Åland Living, AMS website).

Official sources (17) ›

Checked on 23 October 2026

Unemployment in Finland: unemployment fund, work condition, earnings-related allowance, Kela's general allowance (yleistuki) and periods worked in the EU

Costs: Kela's general allowance (yleistuki): €37.21 per day, about €800.02 per month (2026); earnings-related allowance: depending on your former salary, paid by your fund
Timeframes: Waiting period: 7 working days; register as a jobseeker as soon as the contract ends

Steps

Join an unemployment fund as soon as you are hired (on the website of the fund for your sector). The law (art. 5:2, text of 16/01/2026) reserves the earnings-related allowance to members insured for at least the previous 12 months, and only months worked during the insurance count for the work condition; membership therefore cannot be retroactive.
On the day your contract ends, register as a jobseeker with the employment services of your municipality of residence, on Työmarkkinatori (Job Market Finland), and keep this registration active: if it expires, no allowance.
Apply for the allowance: to your fund for the ansiopäiväraha, or to Kela (OmaKela, or form YE 1e by post) for the yleistuki. Nothing is automatic.
Have your work abroad counted: ask for form PD U1 (called "U1" below; certificate of insurance periods) from the unemployment body of the country where you worked, preferably before coming to Finland.
Send a status report (unemployment status report) every 4 weeks (the first after 2 weeks), for the days already elapsed.
Keep a henkilötunnus and a bank account: Kela does not pay in cash.

Documents

Henkilötunnus and bank account.
Employment and salary certificates.
Form U1 (periods worked in the EU, the EEA, Switzerland or the United Kingdom); form PD U1 if Kela asks for it for holiday pay paid abroad.
For the yleistuki: copy of the vocational or higher-education qualification (translated into Finnish, Swedish or English if it is foreign), which removes the 21-week waiting time.

Costs and timelines

Work condition (employees): 12 "months of work" in the last 28 months. A month counts in full if you received at least €930 of insured salary that month, and two months between €465 and €930 count as one (law 1290/2002, consolidated text consulted in October 2026). The salary must comply with the collective agreement; with no agreement in the sector, at least €1,134 per month full time is required. For the self-employed, the reference period is 48 months.
Duration of the earnings-related allowance: 300 days if you have worked 3 years at most since the age of 17, 400 days beyond that, 500 days if the condition is met after age 58 with at least 5 years of work in the last 20 years (law 1290/2002).
Kela's general allowance (yleistuki) in 2026: €37.21 per day, 5 days a week (about €800.02 per month), taxable; aged 18 to 64; no maximum duration. It is reduced by your earned income and, above €311 per month, by half of your other income; your spouse's income does not count.
Waiting period: 7 working days of registration, none if you go directly from the earnings-related allowance to the yleistuki. Waiting time of 21 weeks for the yleistuki if you have neither a vocational nor a higher-education qualification (the general baccalaureate, lukio, is not enough); it is shortened by each full week of work that counts for the work condition and by the weeks of unemployment allowance paid in the last 2 years, and it does not apply if you apply for the yleistuki just after exhausting the maximum duration of the earnings-related allowance.
Backdating: up to 3 months for the yleistuki.
Exporting your allowance: European rule for looking for a job in another EU country: at least 3 months, up to 6 depending on the paying institution, with form U2, after 4 weeks of registration in general (Your Europe). For the yleistuki, Kela keeps it for 3 months at most and only if you meet the work condition; ask Kela or your fund for the PD U2 at least 2 weeks before leaving, and register in the new country within 7 days.

Common pitfalls

Joining a fund after losing your job. It is too late for the earnings-related allowance: you would only be entitled to the yleistuki.
Letting the jobseeker registration expire. A single break suspends payment.
Looking for the "basic unemployment allowance" or the "labour market subsidy". They no longer exist since 01/05/2026; many old pages still mention them.
Forgetting form U1. Without it, your years of work in France or elsewhere do not count for the work condition. They count with the PD U1, but only if you then worked at least 4 weeks in Finland (work that counts for the work condition), with exceptions: you had remained resident in Finland during this work abroad, you were a cross-border worker living in Finland, or you are returning from another Nordic country, provided you received an unemployment allowance from Finland, worked at least 1 week or carried out self-employed activity of at least 4 months (work that counts for the work condition) in the last 5 years (Kela, 26/09/2026). Ask for the U1 before leaving your former country.
Holiday pay. Compensation for untaken leave (even if paid abroad) is spread over time and delays the start of the unemployment allowance.

What changes by country of origin

EU, EEA, Swiss and British citizens: insurance periods from these countries taken into account with form U1; Kela also issues the U1 for your Finnish periods if you leave again.
Residence in Finland: the yleistuki requires living permanently in Finland; Kela assesses this case by case (work in Finland is another route to benefits).
Åland Islands: everything goes through Ålands arbetsmarknads- och studieservicemyndighet (AMS, ams.ax, Åland's employment and study service), not through Kela or the municipalities' employment services: you register as a jobseeker with the AMS, and it is to the AMS that you apply for the general allowance (allmänt stöd, Swedish name of the yleistuki; €37.21 per day in 2026), as Kela reminds people (AMS, 08/10/2026). The earnings-related allowance is still applied for from your unemployment fund. The AMS refers to the Finnish law 1290/2002 for the conditions: you must in particular be registered as a jobseeker with the AMS and be looking for full-time work, be aged between 17 and 64 (according to the AMS), be fit for work and available for the labour market. The AMS pages are in Swedish (the site offers automatic Google translation).

Official sources (8) ›

These guides give the general rules. Your situation can change the answer: Moovy looks at it with you and tells you when you need a professional.

Work

Working in Finland: finding a job, contract, probation period, pay, working time, leave and recognition of qualifications

Steps

Documents

Costs and timelines

Common pitfalls

What changes by country of origin

Unemployment in Finland: unemployment fund, work condition, earnings-related allowance, Kela's general allowance (yleistuki) and periods worked in the EU

Steps

Documents

Costs and timelines

Common pitfalls

What changes by country of origin

Other topics

Work

Working in Finland: finding a job, contract, probation period, pay, working time, leave and recognition of qualifications

Steps

Documents

Costs and timelines

Common pitfalls

What changes by country of origin

Unemployment in Finland: unemployment fund, work condition, earnings-related allowance, Kela's general allowance (yleistuki) and periods worked in the EU

Steps

Documents

Costs and timelines

Common pitfalls

What changes by country of origin

Other topics