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Finnish Immigration Service to issue certificates on asylum seekers’ right to work as of 1 September 2019

Publication date 26.8.2019 10.08
Press release

From 1 September 2019 onwards, employers will be able to request a certificate on an asylum seeker’s right to work from the Finnish Immigration Service. The Finnish Immigration Service will send the certificate to the asylum seeker, who can then present it to his/her employer.

Following this change, the employer phone service will be discontinued as of 30 September 2019.

An asylum seeker him/herself may also request a certificate on his/her right to work. A fee will be charged for this.

How can an employer check an asylum seeker’s right to work?

Employers are required by law to ensure that their employees have the right to work. Employers can verify this by asking their employees about it. An employer may also request a certificate that is subject to charge concerning an asylum seeker’s right to work.

How to order a certificate of an asylum seeker’s right to work

  1. Pay the processing fee of EUR 20. You will need to have the receipt for this payment when you place your request. Payment details are given on the request form.
  2.  Fill in the form: Request for a certificate of the right to work from the Finnish Immigration Service.
  3. Send the form and the receipt of your fee payment by email to migri@migri.fi. You may also send the form by post to PO Box 10, FI-00086 Finnish Immigration Service.
  4. The Finnish Immigration Service will send the certificate to your employee.

How can an asylum seeker find information about his/her right to work?

  • In the application process, asylum seekers are given a brochure, ‘Information on the right to work’, which tells them about when their right to work begins.
  • An asylum seeker’s right to work is also indicated on his/her asylum decision and residence permit card.
  • An asylum seeker him/herself may also request a certificate subject to charge concerning his/her right to work.
  • For further information on the right to work, see migri.fi/en/asylum-seeker-s-right-to-work

When is an asylum seeker allowed to work?

An asylum seeker can enter paid employment within three or six months after having applied for asylum in Finland.

The waiting period is three months if the asylum seeker has presented a valid passport or other travel document to the authorities, and it has been verified as genuine. The waiting period is six months if the asylum seeker has not presented a travel document.

An asylum seeker’s right to work terminates when a decision rejecting his/her asylum application becomes enforceable, i.e. when the asylum seeker may be removed from the country, or when the decision acquires legal force and can no longer be appealed.

If a decision concerning an asylum seeker has become enforceable before 1 June 2019, the asylum seeker’s right to work will terminate when the decision acquires legal force. If a decision has not been enforceable before 1 June 2019, the asylum seeker’s right to work will terminate when the decision becomes enforceable.

This customer bulletin has been translated into languages most commonly spoken by our clients: migri.fi/en/brochures-and-publications

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