Over 300 Chinese workers reached Kotka site through fast-track permits

More than 300 Chinese workers were brought to the battery materials factory construction site in Kotka through a fast-track residence permit process, Yle reports. An investigation has now begun into possible work-related exploitation at the site.

Finnish staffing company Eezy Sonire is one of 66 employers granted certification by the Finnish Immigration Service, Migri. The certification gives employers a position of trust and speeds up the processing of work-based residence permit applications.

Eezy Sonire brought the Chinese workers to the site through its client companies. Chinese-Finnish Easpring Finland, which is partly owned by the Finnish state, is building an 800 million euro factory in Kotka. The plant is expected to produce cathode active material for the electric vehicle industry.

Yle reported on Monday that Chinese workers at the construction site may have faced widespread work-related exploitation. At least some problems have involved the employment contracts of a Chinese installation company.

Fast-track processing

Migri does not comment on individual employers. In practice, however, foreign workers employed by a certified company receive priority in residence permit processing.

“Certification speeds up the processing of residence permits because Migri prioritises the residence permit processes of these employers,” said Johannes Hirvelä, director of information services at Migri.

Once a work permit has been granted, a worker can enter Finland quickly with a D visa instead of waiting for the residence permit card to be mailed to their home country.

Eezy Sonire received its certification in 2023, and Migri extended it in 2025. The extension took effect just before a large number of work-based residence permit applications from Chinese workers reached Migri.

Jani Suominen, Eezy’s director of entrepreneur services, said the certification had reduced administrative work. He said it did not cover worker selection, management of the construction site or other site-specific practices.

Residence permits processed in under a month

The amendment to the Aliens Act concerning certified employers took effect at the beginning of 2023. Its purpose was to ensure that employers who fulfil their obligations properly can obtain residence permits for their workers quickly, preventing permit processes from delaying their business operations and access to labour.

The statutory target processing time is about one month. Last year, residence permit applications that received a positive decision took nearly two months to process on average. Migri said the backlog was caused by the abolition of the employment and economic development offices and the transfer of work permit duties to Migri.

This year, Migri has processed positively decided residence permit applications in about 22 days. It estimates that the average processing time for Eezy applications has been significantly shorter.

Certified employers do not have to separately prove that they have paid taxes, pension insurance contributions and other statutory payments for each application.

Otherwise, Migri says the procedure is the same as for other residence permit applications, and certification does not change the conditions for granting a permit. The authority examines the contracts under which workers are coming to Finland.

“A certified employer does not have to separately prove in each case that its employer obligations or the worker’s professional qualifications are in order,” Hirvelä said.

The employer provides these assurances when applying for certification, and they apply to all residence permit applications.

Any employer can apply

Any company or other employer can apply for certification. The employer must be based in Finland and have sound finances.

Applicants must not be subject to criminal investigations or have received serious remarks during occupational safety inspections. They must also have experience recruiting foreign labour, demonstrated by a sufficient number of granted residence permits and extensions, Migri said.

If the conditions are met, certification is initially granted for two years. An extension can be granted for three years at a time. During an extension application, Migri examines how employment relationships involving workers who entered Finland with residence permits have proceeded and whether the employer has fulfilled all its obligations.

The trial production at the Kotka factory is scheduled to begin this autumn.