Unemployment

1. Register with the TE Office as an unemployed jobseeker

• Register as an unemployed jobseeker even before the start of unemployment
• You can start your job-seeking in the TE Services' eService
• Keep your job-seeking valid throughout your unemployment.
• You can register with the TE Office as an unemployed jobseeker even before the start of unemployment or at the latest on the first day of unemployment.
• Your job-seeking is valid from the date of the enrolment.
• You can start your job-seeking in the TE Services' My Services with your online banking credentials.
• Keep your job-seeking valid as agreed with the TE Office throughout your unemployment.
• If your job-seeking is interrupted for example due to occasional employment, remember to register as an unemployed jobseeker again after the end of employment no later than on the first day of unemployment.

2. Fill in the earnings-related daily allowance application in the eService

Apply online for an earnings-related unemployment allowance in our eService.

• Fill in the first application for two full calendar weeks from Monday to Sunday
• Follow-up applications must be filled in for four calendar weeks or for periods of a calendar month.
• You can fill in the first application for two full calendar weeks from Monday to Sunday.
• If your unemployment starts in the middle of the week, fill in the application until the end of that week and also for one full calendar week.
• Fill in the follow-up application retrospectively for four calendar weeks or in periods of a calendar month.
• If you work part-time with a monthly salary during unemployment, apply for daily allowance for a calendar month. Read more about applying for an earnings-related daily allowance during part-time work here
• You can also fill out a paper application, which you can find here

3. Add attachments to the application

Add attachments to the application in our eServices. You can send an application even if you do not have all the attachments available. However, we will not be able to process your application before you have submitted all the necessary attachments:

• Copy of the notice of dismissal
• Revised tax card for benefit if you want to change your tax rate.

Attach the necessary information to your application for processing. If there are any changes in your circumstances affecting your entitlement to daily allowance, please notify us promptly. You do not have to submit original attachments. Copies are acceptable. We will also accept, for example, a picture taken with a mobile phone of an attachment, if it is legible.

Send the attachments to us as soon as you receive them. Attachments sent through eServices will arrive immediately. Our processor will contact you if we need more information in order to process your application.

Send as an attachment to your first application

Notice of dismissal or pink slip
If your open-ended employment has ended, please send us a copy of the notice of dismissal.

In addition, where appropriate

Tax card 

We receive your tax card information directly from the tax authority. We recommend that you apply for a revised tax card for the benefit, in which case tax will be withheld according to the information in the tax card. If you use your tax card for wage income when applying for a benefit, the withholding tax is always at least 25 per cent. You can order a revised tax card for the benefit from the Tax Administration's MyTax service. In the MyTax service, you can send the revised tax card electronically directly to us by selecting the Open Unemployment Fund as the payer of the benefit.

Personal tax decision

If you have a business, please provide us with a personal tax decision on the most recently confirmed taxation. Also submit the breakdown part of the tax decision if you are a shareholder in a limited liability company or cooperative, or a partner in a general or limited partnership. If you are a shareholder in an estate, in addition to the personal tax decision, also submit the tax decision for the estate.

Social benefits

If you receive a social benefit that affects the amount of your daily allowance (for example home care allowance, partial disability pension or partial care allowance), submit the decision on granting the benefit to us. Be sure to also report any changes in the amount of the benefit. If the social security benefit has been granted by Kela, a simple notification of the benefit, for example, in the additional information in the daily allowance application, is sufficient.

Salary information 

You do not need to send a payslip, as we receive salary payment data directly from the Incomes Register. However, if the Incomes Register data is incomplete, we may ask you, for example, for a payslip or a salary statement.

4. Submit your application at the end of the application period

An earnings-related daily allowance cannot be applied for in advance.

• You can submit an application for daily allowance at the end of the application period.
• Remember to submit an application no later than three months after the start of the lay-off.
• For example, if you fill out an application for four calendar weeks, you can submit it no earlier than the Sunday of the fourth calendar week.

Example: If you are applying for a daily allowance for four calendar weeks from 5 April to 2 May 2021, you can send the application to the cashier no earlier than Sunday 2 May 2021..

• Remember that the application must be received by us no later than three months after the start of the lay-off. The three-month application period also applies to applications for further daily allowance, child increase and reimbursement of expenses.
• You can send a paper application form to the following address: Open Unemployment Fund, P.O. Box 116, FI-00531 Helsinki

5. Provide missing information

Our processor will contact you if we need more information in order to process your application. Please submit any missing attachments or additional clarifications we have requested through our e-Services.

6. Notify us of any changes

Remember to notify us of any changes affecting your entitlement to daily allowance and any changes in your personal and contact information.

Changes affecting the daily allowance

Notify us promptly of any changes affecting your entitlement to daily allowance and the payment of daily allowance in your situation. You should also keep your information up-to-date for the processing of your application. You can report changes through eServices, or by post. You can also provide some of the information by calling our service number.

Child home care allowance

If you or your spouse are paid child home care allowance, please indicate this in the application. If your spouse receives child home care allowance, include more detailed information on your spouse's possible employment and studies and on the person caring for the child. You should also notify us of any changes in child home care allowance or the discontinuation of the allowance. Decisions on child home care allowance do not need to be sent to us.

End of employment or start of part-time employment

If your employment ends, notify us of this in your daily allowance application and to the TE Office. If your full-time employment becomes part-time at the initiative of the employer, please send us a copy of the employment contract.

End of unemployment

Please notify us in your application if you no longer apply for daily allowance in the future. If you start full-time employment lasting more than two weeks, notify the TE Office. Also notify us of the start of employment with your latest daily allowance application.

Old-age pension or other benefits

If you retire on an old-age pension or have been granted another benefit that prevents you from receiving the daily allowance, please notify us at the latest in connection with your last application for a daily allowance. If you wish, you can retire on an old-age pension already after the age of 62, if you have been paid a daily allowance for additional days.

You will need a certificate for the pension company from the fund about the additional days paid. Ask for a certificate when you are applying for a daily allowance for the month before your pension. We cannot write the certificate earlier, because the pension company needs information about the additional days of the month preceding the pension.

Partial disability pension

Send the decision on granting the pension to us either through eServices or by post. You do not need to send a new decision annually on the size of the pension resulting from indexation. The data is submitted to us directly from the Incomes Register. If you receive a partial early old-age pension, the decision on granting the pension does not need to be sent to us. A partial early old-age pension does not affect the payment of an earnings-related daily allowance.

Illness

If you fall ill and your illness lasts more than ten days, you can claim sickness allowance from Kela. Report your illness via an application. Also indicate on the application whether you have claimed sickness allowance from Kela. The waiting period for qualifying for sickness allowance is the first day of illness plus the following nine days (including Saturdays). In the event of an accident or the same illness within 30 days, the waiting period is one day.

We can pay an earnings-related daily allowance for the waiting period of the sickness allowance if you have received unemployment benefit just before the illness. Read more about falling ill during unemployment here.

Changes in personal information

Account number 
You can provide a new account number in eService, notify it in your application or send it in writing by post. You cannot provide a new account number over the phone.

Information on children 

Please inform us of the dates of birth of your dependent children under the age of 18 for which you are applying for a child increase. You can receive a child increase retroactively for a maximum of three months. For a child under the age of 18 living in the same household (of your cohabiting partner or spouse), you are entitled to a child increase from the date on which you move. If you separate, please notify us without delay. You are entitled to a child increase for your own dependent child until the child reaches the age of 18.

Contact details 

You can notify us of a change of address or a new phone number in eServices, by entering the information in, the additional information section of the follow-up application or by calling the service number. Back to the top