Services at reception centres
Social services
You are entitled to receive essential social services. The reception centre where you are registered as a customer is responsible for social services.
Either a social worker or social counsellor at the reception centre will assess your need for support. Your and your family’s individual circumstances will be considered and an assessment made of the necessity of social services.
Social services can give you guidance, advice, and support regarding
- upbringing children and young people, and parenthood
- how you can cope and look after your own well-being
- life management skills and independent living
- psychological problems or substance abuse
- special needs related to ageing
- special needs related to disability.
You can receive temporary or long-term support.
You can contact your own reception centre or the reception centre’s social services and discuss your situation. See the page Reception centres for their contact information.
Health care services
The reception centre where you are registered organises health care services for you.
An asylum seeker’s health care services are organised and produced in and outside the reception centres. There is a nurse or a public health nurse at every reception centre. If you need medical help, he or she will send you to a doctor.
When you move to a reception centre for the first time, you have the opportunity to undergo a health examination. The purpose of the health care services is to help you stay as healthy as possible, both physically and mentally, and prevent illness.
Asylum seekers who have reached the age of 18 have the right to acute and necessary medical treatment. Asylum seekers under 18 years of age have the right to get public health care services on the same grounds as children who have a home municipality in Finland.
Interpreting
Reception centre employees may book an interpreter to help you in situations where they handle important official matters that concern you. For example, information sessions organised by the reception centre will be interpreted into a language that you understand. An interpreter is often booked for your visits to the nurse, the social worker or the social counsellor.
The interpreter may not necessarily interpret into your mother tongue if there is another language that you understand sufficiently well.
The reception centre will not book an interpreter for all everyday situations. Instead, everyone should make an effort to make do without an interpreter.
Interpreters and translators always have an obligation to maintain secrecy.
You will find more information about the roles of the authorities and the interpreter in a video produced by the project At Home in Finland. The video has not been made by the Finnish Immigration Service, and therefore the practices at some of the appointments at the Finnish Immigration Service may differ from those described on the video. You will find more information about interpretation at asylum interviews in the Finnish Immigration Service’s video “Asylum interview”.
Reception allowance
If you are an asylum seeker or have applied for or been granted temporary protection, you may get reception allowance. Reception allowance is money intended for the immediate basic needs of you and your family. You can be granted reception allowance if you or your family members do not have enough income and funds to cover your immediate basic needs, such as food and clothing.
Reception allowance is not granted automatically. You can apply for the allowance from your own reception centre by filling in an application form. Your reception centre can give you the application form and instructions for applying.
The reception allowance consists of the basic component and the supplementary reception allowance.
The basic component of the reception allowance is intended for clothing, minor health care costs, expenses on the use of local transport, and telephone costs, for example. The basic component is also intended for food costs if the reception centre does not offer daily meals.
In addition to the basic component, you can apply for supplementary reception allowance for the special needs of you and your family.
Your income and funds affect the amount of your reception allowance
All income and funds that you and your family have at your disposal affect the amount of the reception allowance. Even all income and funds you receive from abroad affect the amount of the reception allowance, if you have the income and funds at your disposal in Finland.
When you apply for the reception allowance, you have a legal obligation to report to the reception centre all your income and funds. Income means any monetary income, such as salary or wages, tax refunds or money gifted to you by a relative, for example. Funds can mean, for instance, cash, savings in a bank account or any assets and property of value that you can sell.
The amount of the reception allowance is always determined individually on the basis of the needs and funds of the person or family.
Your reception centre will make a calculation of the amount of reception allowance you are entitled to. Your income and the funds you have at your disposal will be taken into account in the calculation. The calculation will regard as expenses the basic component of the reception allowance and your work-related expenses if you have a job.
Housing costs will not be covered
If you live in private accommodation, your housing costs, such as rent, electricity and water expenses, will not be paid for. Housing or organizing your housing is not financially supported.
Will travelling affect my reception allowance?
The reception allowance is meant for persons residing in Finland. Travelling abroad may affect your right to receive reception allowance. If you apply for reception allowance and intend to travel outside Finland, inform your reception centre of your trip.
Children who are in Finland without a guardian are paid spending allowance
Reception centres that are intended for children, so called units for minors, secure the living of unaccompanied minors by arranging full board and lodging for children who are in Finland without their guardian. Units for minors take care of the children’s necessary expenses and additional costs related to their special needs such as hobbies and studies. Children who live in a unit for minors receive spending allowance instead of reception allowance. The spending allowance is intended for the child’s personal expenses. It is not used to secure the child’s living.
Unaccompanied minors who live in private accommodation or in a supported housing unit for persons over 16 years of age are paid reception allowance. The amount of this reception allowance is the same as it is for adults living alone.
Monthly reception allowance and spending allowance 2026
Reception allowance
No meals offered / month |
Meals offered by the reception centre / month |
|
| Persons living alone | 300 euros | 88 euros |
| Other persons over 18 years of age | 254 euros | 72 euros |
| Single parents | 336 euros | 97 euros |
| Children aged 10–17 years living with their family | 210 euros | 60 euros |
Children aged under 10 years living with their family |
191 euros | 57 euros |
Spending allowance for unaccompanied minors
|
Full board and lodging in a unit for minors |
| Persons under the age of 16 years | 26 euros |
| Persons 16 to 17 years of age | 47 euros |
Reception allowance is primarily paid to a prepaid card or to a Finnish bank account.
Your reception centre will provide you with instructions on prepaid cards.