Human trafficking | Yle: Migri granted work permits to Thai women for massage work, authorities fighting human trafficking are not aware

Immigration Office (Migri) is Mightily has granted work permits to Thai women for massage work, and the authorities fighting human trafficking have not been aware of it.

According to Yle’s news, the permits came to the attention of the police when the Lapland police conducted a surveillance raid on Thai massage parlors in the area. However, the majority of the employees checked in the control raid had a permanent residence permit in Finland.

Between 2011 and 2022, a total of 11 permits for massage work have been granted to Thais, of which seven have been granted this year. The Finnish Immigration Service does not comment on whether permits have been issued to Thai massage parlors that advertise on porn websites.

Mightily interviewed by the manager responsible for employee residence permits Tuuli Huhtilainen The Immigration Office says that selling possible sex services is not in itself an obstacle to a residence permit, because selling sex is not illegal in Finland.

Human trafficking and pimping are, however, and the police have suspected over the years that this has happened in some Thai massage parlors. According to Yle, Thai massage shops are also excluded from the labor protection supervision of the regional administration office, because many of the people working in the shops are in the position of independent entrepreneurs.

According to Yle, neither the Ministry of Justice, which coordinates the work to combat human trafficking, nor the equality commissioner’s office was aware of the permits granted for massage work.