Kela announces online-service outage on 22 October—possible delays in benefit registrations for new movers

Finland’s Social Insurance Institution (Kela) issued a notice on 21 October 2026 that its online portal OmaKela will be unavailable on 22 October between 06:00 and 08:00 due to planned maintenance. While only two hours long, the downtime could affect foreign employees who had scheduled that window to submit residence-based benefit applications such as child allowance or reimbursements for moving costs. Kela advises users to upload supporting documents either before 06:00 or after 08:00; timestamps will reflect the actual upload time, which may be relevant for benefits calculated from the date of application. Employers coordinating relocations should inform assignees arriving this week and, if necessary, adjust their onboarding checklists. Paper forms remain an option but extend processing times by roughly one week. The maintenance will introduce an updated interface compatible with the EU Digital Wallet framework, paving the way for eIDAS 2.0 cross-border authentication once Finland implements the regulation in 2027. A real-time service-status page is available on Kela.fi; users can subscribe to SMS alerts for future outages.