Finland rejects 103 work-based permit applications from asylum seekers

Finland’s Immigration Service has refused to examine 103 applications for residence permits based on employment because the applicants had previously sought asylum, Yle reports. The policy has left a Russian couple in Kaskinen facing removal despite both having jobs.

Katja and Sergei Arapov fled Russia for Finland in September 2022, after mobilisation began. They waited two and a half years for a first asylum decision. The Finnish Immigration Service rejected their application in January 2026, and the Helsinki Administrative Court upheld the decision in August.

The couple has been ordered to leave Finland and is currently undocumented. Their right to work ended immediately after the court decision. Katja had to leave her job in early childhood education with the city of Kaskinen, while Sergei lost his job at a construction company in nearby Kristinestad.

Their situation is linked to an amendment to Finland’s Aliens Act that entered into force in September 2024. The amendment banned asylum seekers from switching to an employment or study-based residence permit application while their asylum process was ongoing.

According to statistics provided to Yle by the Finnish Immigration Service, 103 employment-based applications have been rejected without examination since the amendment took effect because of the applicants’ asylum backgrounds.

Johannes Hirvelä, director of information services at the Finnish Immigration Service, said the agency had no discretion in such cases. The employer’s need for the applicant or the applicant’s efforts to integrate into Finland do not affect the decision, he said.

The Arapovs rent a terraced-house apartment in Kaskinen and live on savings accumulated from work during their four-year asylum process. They say returning to Russia would be dangerous.

Katja says Russian authorities contacted her before the couple left Finland, asking about her participation in an international children’s education programme funded by the United Kingdom and Norway. She also donated money to Ukrainians and took part in the Finnish Association of Russian-Speaking Democrats, which is considered an unwanted organisation in Russia.

Sergei transferred money to OVD-Info, a Russian human rights organisation that Russia classified as an extremist organisation in the summer, according to official receipts seen by Yle. Under Russian law, providing even limited financial support to the organisation can result in a prison sentence of three to eight years.

The city of Kaskinen and the couple’s employers have appealed to the authorities to allow them to stay, arguing that they help address the local labour shortage.

The law was introduced by Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s government to prevent the asylum system from being used as a shortcut to employment-based immigration. During the legislative process, the Confederation of Finnish Industries opposed the ban, saying it was unreasonable to take workers away from companies facing labour shortages.

Interior Minister Mari Rantanen has defended the policy, saying the asylum system is intended only to provide protection and not to enable employment.