Working life | The center would like more work-based immigration than is currently the case

Center wants to increase work-related immigration by at least 15,000 people per year. The goal would be to increase the number of visitors from now until the end of the decade.

This is clearly more than what the government agreed on last year. The government has set the goal of at least doubling work-related immigration from the current level by the end of the decade. The goal is therefore a total increase of at least 50,000 people. According to the government, after the turn of the decade, the increase should be at least 10,000 per year.

Center has outlined a number of means by which, in its opinion, the party’s goal could be reached. These include, among other things, the removal of the labor availability consideration at the beginning of the next election period.

Availability consideration means that when an employee from abroad applies for a residence permit, it is determined whether an employee from home is already available for the vacant position.

At the same time, the center would start developing the so-called Canadian scoring model into a model suitable for Finland.

“Willing entrants would be scored on the basis of, for example, education, language skills and income level,” says the MP from the center Joonas Könttä.

Könttä led the preparation of policies aimed at increasing work-related immigration in the party.

The conditions for immigration would still be manifold.

“The scoring model would guide immigration, which would promote Finland’s growth and also benefit research, among other things. The purpose is to favor immigration that returns well, so that we don’t repeat Sweden’s mistakes,” says Könttä.

For scoring it would also affect the sectors for which labor is needed.

“So this would not only apply to those with a higher education, but also, for example, those applying to the care sector or factory jobs could get points if there is a need for labor in the fields.”

How then could Finland adopt a model from Canada, where significantly more foreigners aspire to than to Finland?

Könttä states that Finland also has many attractive factors such as beautiful nature, stable social order, strong social security network and education system.

The opening of the center is based on the difficult situation of the labor market. Many industries suffer from a shortage of workers, and the situation seems to only worsen in the next few years, as the birth rate has remained low compared to the number of elderly people.

“Finland is by no means the only country where the number of working-age people is relatively decreasing, so we should increase our own attractiveness,” Könttä says.

Mixed companies and labor market organizations have appealed to increase work-based immigration.

For example, earlier this week the Central Chamber of Commerce published the results of its survey, according to which approximately 70 percent of its member companies suffer from a shortage of skilled labor.

According to the center, the maximum time for the processing of residence permits for immigrants coming to work should be one month. According to the party, last year the processing of an application for a work-based residence permit took an average of five months. In the party’s opinion, companies and employees do not have time for such things.

“It’s an unbearably long time,” Könttä says.

In order to shorten processing times, the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) should be split in two, according to the centre. Matters of work-related immigration would be separated from other activities.

The center has not estimated how much this change would cost.

One a factor that increases the attractiveness would be to make it easier for family members who come to work to enter the country. The party is ready to examine, for example, the income requirement. The salary required for a family member with a residence permit to enter the country could be different in different parts of the country.

“The limits should be considered more flexible so that, for example, the required salary is lower in, say, Central Finland than in Helsinki, due to the costs of living,” Könttä says.

The monthly salary required to make ends meet is determined by the composition of the family. If there are, for example, two adults and two minor children in the family, it is a total of 2,600 euros per month, according to Migri.

of families to facilitate the move, according to the center, all official services should also be available in English.

“It wouldn’t mean that every customer service person can serve in English, but that a person can be shown a route through which to get service. Just like in Swedish. I don’t feel that this is such a shocking change,” Könttä says.

The center would also extend the work and residence permit of foreigners who studied and graduated in Finland to five years, while it is currently two years.

“That would be an important factor so that people would have incentives to stay in the country and, on the other hand, easier opportunities to get a job,” Könttä says.