Employer’s announcements on employment relationships

In certain situations, an employer is legally obliged to notify the Finnish Immigration Service when an employee’s employment relationship begins or ends.

On this page, you will find information on the situations in which you as an employer must submit an employee announcement or an announcement about end of employment. We will also explain how an announcement is made.

The following links will take you directly to the different sections of the page:

• Employee announcement
• Announcement about end of employment

Employee announcement

YAs an employer, you must submit an employee announcement if you hire a person who comes from outside the EU/EEA area and already has a valid right to work and a valid residence permit, such as a permanent residence permit or a permit granted on the basis of family ties. You must submit an employee announcement also if you hire a person who comes from outside the EU/EEA countries and who is working in Finland without a residence permit for a maximum of 90 days. For more information, see the page Working without a residence permit.

Submit an employee announcement also in situations where the citizenship section in your employee’s residence permit card contains a three-letter code beginning with XX (for example XXY, meaning citizenship unknown). You must also submit an employee announcement if you employ an asylum seeker who is not an EU/EEA citizen.

How to submit an employee announcement?

If you cannot use Enter Finland for Employers, use the form Employee announcement (pdf). If you use a paper form to make the announcement, it must be submitted within 10 days of the start date of the employment relationship. The online service Enter Finland for Employers is, however, the preferred option.

Note the following when submitting the employee announcement

When an employee is doing temporary agency work or on-demand work under a framework agreement, you do not need to inform us separately of the fixed-term contracts made with the employee under the framework agreement. You only need to submit the framework agreement details to the Finnish Immigration Service. Select the option ‘Framework agreement (temporary agency work/on-demand work)’. If the framework agreement is continuous, indicate only the date of commencement of the agreement.

If the employment relationship continues without gaps, you do not need to submit a new employee announcement. If there are gaps between the employment relationships, you must submit a new employee announcement.

When is an announcement not required?

• Your employee is only now applying for a residence permit and you have already added or will add the terms of employment to the employee’s application.
• Your employee is a citizen of an EU/EEA country or a family member of a citizen of an EU/EEA country.
• Your employee is residing in Finland with a Brexit permit.
• Your employee is a posted worker, that is, a worker of a foreign company who is temporarily working in Finland.

Announcement about end of employment

As an employer, you must submit an announcement about end of employment if the employment contract of a non-EU and EEA national residing in Finland with a residence permit on the basis of work ends prematurely.

You must submit an announcement about end of employment if:

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

If you do not submit an announcement about end of employment, the police may impose a sanction on you.

If a work-related residence permit has been issued on the basis of several employment relationships and even one of these ends, the notification obligation applies to the employer that has terminated the employment relationship. If the employment relationship with employer A ends and the employee starts working for employer B, employer A must submit an announcement about end of employment. Employer B, on the other hand, must submit an employee announcement at the beginning of the employment relationship. If the employment relationship with employer B ends, employer B must also submit an announcement about end of employment.

Submit an announcement about end of employment also in situations where the citizenship section in your employee’s residence permit card contains a three-letter code beginning with XX (for example XXY, meaning citizenship unknown).

An announcement about end of employment can be submitted by the employer’s attorney or counsel. Before submitting the announcement, a power of attorney or other reliable proof of authorisation must be presented. Enter Finland for Counsels and Representatives is an online service intended for attorneys, counsels, legal guardians and representatives of applicants. For more information, see the page Enter Finland online service.

How to submit an announcement about end of employment?

When is an announcement about end of employment of an employee from outside the EU/EEA area not required?

• The employee has a permanent residence permit.
• The employee has a seasonal work permit or a residence permit for a startup entrepreneur.
• The employee has a residence permit for studies or a residence permit for a researcher, a residence permit on the basis of temporary protection or a residence permit on the basis of family ties.
  • You have, for example, hired an employee who is not an EU/EEA citizen but who is already in Finland and holds a residence permit on the basis of studies to work for you in a fixed-term employment relationship for the summer and the employee resigns mid-contract. You do not need to submit an announcement about end of employment because the employee’s residence permit is not a work-based residence permit.
• The employee is a posted worker, that is, a worker of a foreign company who is temporarily working in Finland.
  • However, an announcement about end of employment must be submitted if the employee has come to Finland from a company located outside the EU with a residence permit based on intra-corporate transfer and the posting ends.
• The additional work done by the employee ends, but the actual employment relationship on which his or her residence permit is based continues.
• The employee is laid off.
• You have hired the employee for a fixed-term employment relationship and stated the duration of the employment relationship in the residence permit application. The employee was granted a residence permit for an employed person for the duration of the employment relationship. The work ends on the day that you have stated in the terms of employment. At the same time, the employee’s residence permit expires.
  • You do not need to submit an announcement about end of employment, as the employment relationship has ended in accordance with the residence permit issued on the basis of work.