Finland’s Ministry of Justice published Statute 912/2026 in the country’s official statute series (Suomen säädöskokoelma) on 20 October 2026, introducing the most substantive changes to the Aliens Act since the current government took office. The amendment transposes the EU’s recast Single-Permit Directive (EU) 2024/1233 and responds to domestic concerns about labour exploitation and slow residence-permit processing times. The headline change is a new employer obligation in section 82: companies that hire non-EU or non-EEA nationals—including posted workers—must now file an electronic notification with the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) within seven days of the employee’s start date. The notice must list the worker’s identity, employment start and end dates, agreed salary, working hours and the applicable collective agreement. If the employee fails to start work, resigns or the contract terminates, the employer has 14 days to inform Migri. Failure to comply is subject to administrative penalties and may affect future work-permit decisions, a measure legislators believe will improve labour-market transparency and curb under-payment. Section 84 introduces statutory processing clocks designed to reassure multinational businesses. Migri must issue a decision on any work-based residence-permit application within two months once biometrics are given, with an explicit one-month deadline after it receives a labour-market “partial decision” from the regional Employment and Economic Development Office (ELY-centre). In complex cases Migri may extend the timeframe to three months, but only with written justification. Start-up founders also see a major procedural improvement. Under the revised section 80 b, the public funding agency Business Finland now has a maximum of 30 days to provide its mandatory opinion on whether the entrepreneur’s business still meets the high-growth criteria. Previously, no statutory deadline existed; agency backlogs often stalled renewal applications, threatening to disrupt venture financing rounds. For global employers and relocation managers, the amendment means tighter internal compliance but faster and more predictable permitting. HR teams should review onboarding check-lists to ensure salary data and collective-agreement references can be uploaded to Migri within seven days. Companies that rely on non-EU posted workers—common on construction and ship-refit projects in Turku and Rauma—must also track assignment end-dates carefully to avoid sanctions. Meanwhile, start-ups should benefit from quicker extension decisions, supporting Finland’s Talent Boost agenda to attract 50,000 international tech professionals by 2030.
Source: Finlex – Suomen säädöskokoelma
