If you are going abroad to work, please contact us to find out how to maintain your entitlement to unemployment security. We will also advise you on matters related to the membership in the fund.
If, on the other hand, you are job-seeking in an EU area, i.e., an EU/EEA country or Switzerland, you should first contact the TE Office to find out the conditions for continuing your entitlement to a daily allowance.
You are considered to be resident in Finland if you are permanently residing in Finland, even if you work in another EU country. If you reside in another EU country, that country is considered to be your permanent place of residence, even if you work in Finland.
When determining your place of residence, we will, among other things, check your permanent address, how often you visit your country of residence and where your family is living. In addition, we will look at the quality of your employment. The determination of the place of residence is always examined on a case-by-case basis in connection with the daily allowance application. The unemployment fund cannot give a decision on the place of residence in advance.
You must join your local unemployment fund to insure yourself against unemployment.
If your employment ends and you become unemployed, you are covered by unemployment security in your country of residence.
Insure yourself against unemployment in the country of employment, as you are, as a rule, covered by unemployment security in the country of employment. You can carry insurance periods with you when moving within the EU, from one country to another. Concerning insurance, it does not matter whether you live in the country of employment.
In the EU, you are insured against unemployment on the basis of employment. Sweden and Denmark have the same unemployment fund systems as Finland. In these countries, you must join your local unemployment fund to insure yourself against unemployment.
If your employment ends and you become unemployed, you are covered by unemployment security in your country of residence. The country of residence is usually the state in which you are a permanent resident. A prerequisite for receiving unemployment security is that you are available for the labour market in the country in which you are applying for unemployment benefit.
If you return to Finland after the end of your employment, you can exceptionally join an unemployment fund also as unemployed. You must join within one month of the expiry of your unemployment insurance in another EU country.
Work performed in the EU can, under certain conditions, be taken into account in Finland's employment condition. You can carry your accrued periods of employment and insurance to Finland using the U1 form. The U1 form is an intra-EU form for transferring periods of employment and insurance from one country to another. You no longer need to request the U1 form yourself, but the authorities in your current country of residence can send a request for a form to the authorities in your previous country of employment, via the electronic RINA system.
A condition for receiving an earnings-related daily allowance is the fulfilment of the employment and membership conditions. If necessary, employment in another EU country can be taken into account when considering these conditions. Work performed in the EU can be taken into account when the unemployment fund has received the U1 form. Your application cannot be processed until the unemployment fund has received the form. Remember that you must apply for the daily allowance within 3 months.
Be sure to save all documents related to employment.
At the end of your employment in another Nordic country, you can join the Open Unemployment Fund A-kassa, even if you are unemployed.
You must join the fund within one month of the end of unemployment insurance in the previous country.
Sweden and Denmark have the same unemployment fund systems as Finland. The work you do in these countries may be taken into account in the employment condition of an earnings-related daily allowance, if you have been a member of the unemployment fund of the country in question.
Unemployment funds in Sweden (in Swedish)
Unemployment funds in Denmark (in Danish)
In Norway and Iceland, you are insured against unemployment on the basis of employment. In these countries it is not necessary to separately join an unemployment fund in order for work to be taken into account in the employment condition of an earnings-related daily allowance. Before starting your employment, always check the unemployment security requirements with the authorities of the country in question.
At the end of your employment in another Nordic country, you can join the Open Unemployment Fund A-kassa, even if you are unemployed. You must join the fund within one month of the end of unemployment insurance in the previous country. For a Nordic returnee, the joining deadline is eight weeks. In Sweden and Denmark, unemployment insurance ends with the expiry of membership in a local unemployment fund. In Norway and Iceland, unemployment insurance ends with the expiry of the employment under insurance.
Work performed in the Nordic countries can be taken into account in the Finnish employment condition when submitting a U1 form to the fund. Your application cannot be fully processed before submitting the form. However, remember to apply for a daily allowance within three months, if you are unemployed.
In addition, work can be included in the employment condition in Finland when you have been working in Finland after your return for at least four calendar weeks that meet the employment condition (does not apply to a Nordic returnee). Employment is not required if you have lived in Finland while working.
You are a Nordic returnee if you have lived in another Nordic country and have worked or received a basic daily allowance or an earnings-related daily allowance from Finland during the last five years.
If you are laid off or partially unemployed, apply for a daily allowance in the country in which you work.
If you become completely unemployed, apply for a daily allowance in your country of residence.
You are a frontier worker if you live in Finland, work in another country, but return to your country of residence at least once per week. If you are a frontier worker, you are insured under the unemployment security system of the country in which you work (In Sweden and Denmark this is the unemployment fund).
If you are laid off or partially unemployed, apply for a daily allowance in the country in which you work. If you become completely unemployed, apply for a daily allowance in your country of residence.
Work outside the EU area (EU/EEA countries and Switzerland) cannot be taken into account in the employment condition of the daily allowance, and the period does not extend the reference period of the employment condition. This requires that you have worked sufficiently or been outside the labour market for an acceptable reason while in another country.
Work in another country must be such that, if carried out in Finland, it would be taken into account in Finland's employment condition.
If you are outside the labour market for more than six months without an acceptable reason, you will lose the employment condition you have previously accrued, and you will not be entitled to a daily allowance.
You are a posted worker if your employer sends you to another country to work, but the insurance contributions paid from your salary are still paid to Finland. You must be covered by Finnish social security throughout your employment.
The membership of the unemployment fund must also be valid for the entire duration of the employment. Since the insurance contributions are paid to Finland, the work is comparable to the work in Finland, and therefore membership in the unemployment fund must be maintained in Finland.
The decision on whether you are covered by Finnish social security must be applied for in advance, before moving to the country in which you intend to work. The decision on the matter is issued by the Finnish Centre for Pensions or Kela. The decision is to be applied for from the Finnish Centre for Pensions when you are going to work in a country with which Finland has a social security agreement (e.g. the EU region, Australia, Chile, Canada and the USA). A decision is applied for from Kela when Finland does not have a social security agreement with the country of employment (e.g. China, Russia).
If your employment ends and you become unemployed, the amount of the daily allowance is calculated on the basis of the salary for insurance purposes paid to you. The salary for insurance purposes is the salary from which the employer has paid statutory insurance contributions to Finland. A salary for insurance purposes may differ from a salary paid to you abroad, so you should always check the salary that the employer has reported as the basis for your insurance contributions.
You must notify the TE Office of your departure for job-seeking.
You can seek work in EU countries and receive an earnings-related daily allowance from Finland for a maximum of three months. The prerequisite is that you have been an unemployed jobseeker at the TE Office for four weeks before your departure. A four-week period also elapses when participating in services promoting employment.
You must notify the TE Office of your departure for job-seeking. The TE Office issues a statement on the matter to the unemployment fund. Ask for a U2 form from us at least two weeks before you start your job-seeking. You can prove your entitlement to job-seeking with the U2 form.
Register as a jobseeker in the country in which you are seeking work within seven days of leaving the Finnish labour market and entering the labour market of the country in which you are seeking work. In this case, an earnings-related daily allowance can be paid from the date of departure. The last date for registration is indicated on the U2 form. If registration takes place later, the daily allowance can only be paid from the date of registration.
Once you have been registered as a jobseeker, the authority of the country in which you are seeking work will send us a SED U009 Registration Notice form. We will notify the TE Office of the form we have received. The payment of your earnings-related daily allowance will be interrupted when you start seeking work, until the day before your departure, until the reception of the SED U009 form. We will pay the daily allowance based on the SED U009 form and the application you submit, unless there are other obstacles preventing payment.
If you find employment during your job-seeking, notify your local employment services and send an application for a daily allowance to the fund as usual. You will be paid a daily allowance until the day before the start of the employment and again after the end of employment, if the employment is full-time employment lasting more than two weeks. The daily allowance is paid on an adjusted basis if the employment is part-time or full-time employment lasting no more than two weeks. Remember to send all work-related documents as an attachment to the application to the fund.
When you return from job-seeking, register as an unemployed jobseeker with the TE Office in Finland during the validity ofthe PD U2 form, so that the daily allowance can be paid after your job-seeking. Otherwise, the daily allowance cannot be paid until you have been working in Finland or in training indicated by the TE Office for at least four weeks.
The EU and the UK entered into a partnership agreement applicable for 15 years. The transfer of periods of employment and insurance between the UK and the EU continues, and job-seeking is still valid under certain conditions.
Postal address:
Hakaniemenranta 1
PL 116, 00531 Helsinki
