Around 20 food couriers share a Helsinki apartment building

About 15 to 20 Bangladeshi food couriers live in one stairwell of a Helsinki apartment building, often sharing crowded flats, Yle reports. Many work 10 to 12-hour days to make ends meet.

The building’s entrance is busy throughout the day as couriers come and go. Around 20 electric bicycles can be seen outside the building or in its parking garage. The residents say all the couriers live in shared apartments with several people.

The building is in an area with many restaurants, allowing couriers to accept orders from home. That was one reason why the two flatmates interviewed by Yle, using the pseudonyms Rakib and Karim, moved there.

Yle has not published the men’s real names or the exact location of the building. They said revealing their identities could cost them their jobs or homes, while publishing the address could expose them to losing their accommodation or to harassment.

Six people share three rooms

At 9pm, Rakib says he has just completed a typical 12-hour shift as a Wolt courier. He shares the flat with five other Bangladeshis. Five of the residents work as food couriers, while the sixth has recently arrived in Finland and is being housed by the others until he finds a home.

The six men share three rooms and a kitchen. The apartment has few furnishings. Three beds have frames, while the others sleep on mattresses on the floor.

Rakib and Karim say they originally came to Finland from Bangladesh after reading in a newspaper that Finland was the happiest country in the world.

Finding work is particularly difficult for young people in Bangladesh, they say. The two men decided to apply to study in Finland, a process that required considerable financial support. Their families helped them, while Karim also worked as a software engineer and saved money himself. He hoped that a master’s degree in the field would create new opportunities.

To study in Finland, they needed visas, which they had to apply for in India, where Finland has an embassy. The process took a long time because relations between India and Bangladesh had been poor for an extended period.

Both men eventually received visas. Rakib began studying for a Master of Science in Technology degree in 2022, while Karim started his studies in 2023.

Karim graduated with a master’s degree this summer. Rakib says he had to discontinue his studies after the coronavirus pandemic, residence permit problems and the mental strain caused by several issues made studying difficult.

Language limits job opportunities

The men say finding work in Finland outside food delivery feels nearly impossible. They are surprised that the employment situation is difficult in Finland as well as in Bangladesh.

Neither Karim nor Rakib speaks Finnish, and none of their flatmates speaks the language either. They believe this affects their employment prospects.

Karim has just started a Finnish language course. Rakib is not interested in studying the language because he does not see his future in Finland. He is considering returning to Bangladesh and becoming an entrepreneur if his residence permit, which expires at the beginning of next year, is not extended.

Public debate on immigration policy has resumed in Finland as the spring 2027 parliamentary elections approach. The Social Democratic Party has said immigrants should commit to the key values and practices of Finnish society. The party is also considering linking immigrants’ social security benefits to language study.

Saturday sauna brings couriers together

The couriers usually work every day and have little free time. They also have limited privacy. When one person is trying to sleep, another may just be arriving home from work.

In the evenings, the flatmates spend time together at home. One of them may cook rice and lentil sauce. On Saturdays, they share a sauna in the building’s communal facilities upstairs.

“We have a sauna here every Saturday,” Karim says.

They also meet other couriers who live in the building. Karim says the residents always greet one another and help each other in times of need.

Although Karim and Rakib speak little Finnish, they know how to use the sauna. Karim says Finnish people were surprised when they first saw the men using it, asking whether “people like this” also go to the sauna. Both men find sauna bathing relaxing.