Finland’s wild-berry sector faces a labour crunch after the Ministry for Foreign Affairs revealed on 23 July that it had approved only 123 of the more than 2 100 seasonal-work visa applications submitted by Thai pickers this year. Nearly 90 percent of the green-lighted applicants will work for a single firm, Pohjola Foods, which agreed to cover all travel, insurance and visa costs up-front – a move officials said reduced the risk of debt-bondage. The decision follows a series of court cases in which recruitment agents and berry-company executives were convicted of exploiting foreign pickers. Consular chief Jussi Tanner noted that for the first time officers used labour-monitoring reports and trafficking-risk indicators when assessing visa files. “We will not hesitate to refuse visas if there is a credible suspicion that pickers could be mistreated,” he said. For Finland’s export-oriented berry industry the tighter scrutiny could push raw-material prices up by 15-20 percent, as firms scramble for local labour or pay higher wages to Ukrainian and Finnish freelancers. Employers that want to hire non-EU pickers must now demonstrate transparent remuneration, paid travel and accommodation, and proof they are not under human-trafficking investigation. Global mobility teams that rely on Finland’s seasonal-work channel – for example in agriculture, forestry or tourism – should expect closer background checks and longer processing times at Finnish embassies. The case also signals that the Foreign Ministry is ready to use visa policy as an enforcement tool for labour standards, a trend corporate relocation programmes will need to monitor.
Source: Yle News
