Hiring a foreign employee in Finland: the employer's checklist

Karma Accounts · Published 10 November 2026

To hire an employee from abroad, a Finnish company first checks the right to work: a citizen of the EU, the EEA or Switzerland needs no permit, anyone else needs a residence permit for the work, decided by the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri). For a third-country national you notify Migri within seven days of the start. The employee normally pays a flat 35 % tax at source if the stay lasts six months or less, otherwise tax by a normal tax card. The work is insured in Finland from the first day, and the pay is reported to the Incomes Register, with a foreign identifier if there is no Finnish personal identity code.

Hiring from abroad: the checklist at a glance

Step	EU, EEA or Swiss citizen	Citizen of any other country
Right to work	no permit; registers with Migri (Nordic citizens with DVV) if staying over 3 months	residence permit before the work starts
Notices to Migri	none	start within 7 days; early end within 14 days
Tax	tax at source for 6 months or less; tax card if longer	the same
Insurance	TyEL, unemployment and accident insurance in Finland	the same
Incomes Register	foreign identifier and home address if no Finnish code	the same

The rest (accident insurance before day one, written terms, occupational health care) is as for any hire: see our checklist for a first employee.

1. Check the right to work

EU, EEA and Swiss citizens. An EU national generally needs no work permit anywhere in the EU. If the employee stays in Finland over three months at a time, they register their right of residence with Migri, for 53 euros in 2026, once the employment has begun. Nordic citizens register with the Digital and Population Data Services Agency (DVV) instead.

Everyone else. The usual route is the residence permit for an employed person. The employee applies, online in Enter Finland, normally from abroad for a first permit; you complete the terms of employment in Enter Finland for Employers. Work may start only once the permit is granted. In 2026:

Pay must follow the applicable collective agreement, or the usual pay for similar work if there is none, and be at least 1 600 euros gross a month; zero-hours contracts do not count.
Migri decides the whole application. For this permit the TE Office's partial decision ended on 1 January 2025, when employment services moved to the municipalities; the elinvoimakeskus still makes a partial decision only on entrepreneur permits.
Labour market testing. Migri checks whether suitable workers are available in Finland or the EU/EEA. No test is needed for occupations in the regional guideline of the Economic Development Centre (elinvoimakeskus), each set for about six months. The Uusimaa guideline of 27 May 2026 lists only healthcare occupations, so for most Helsinki-area jobs you first advertise on Job Market Finland (tyomarkkinatori.fi) for two weeks.
Fee and time: 750 euros online, 950 on paper; positive first decisions took 21 days on average in September 2026.

Specialists and the EU Blue Card. Expert work, usually with a higher education degree, paying at least 3 937 euros a month in 2026 qualifies for the specialist permit or, for work lasting at least six months, the EU Blue Card (both 530 euros online); neither has a labour market test. Both can use the fast track, which aims at a decision in two weeks: the employee applies and pays online in Enter Finland and proves their identity within five working days, and you add the terms of employment within two working days.

Seasonal work in agriculture, forestry and tourism has its own certificate (under three months) or permit (three to nine months).

2. Your duties under the Aliens Act

Section 82 of the Aliens Act (301/2004), amended from 27 October 2026, requires the employer to:

Verify the right to work of every foreign employee, before they start and while they work.
Notify Migri of a third-country employee's (not an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen's) employment, duration, pay, working hours and collective agreement within seven days of the start, in Enter Finland for Employers.
Tell the shop steward, elected representative and occupational safety representative, where there are any, the employee's name and the collective agreement, within the same seven days.
Notify Migri within 14 days if a third-country employee never starts or leaves before the permit expires.
Keep records of foreign employees and their right to work at the workplace for the occupational safety authority, and for two years after the employment ends.

Employing someone without a right to work, giving false information about the job or neglecting these duties can be fined as an employer's aliens offence (section 186).

3. Tax card or tax at source

Stay in Finland	Tax status	How you withhold
6 months or less	non-resident	tax at source 35 % after 510 € a month or 17 € a day
More than 6 months	resident from arrival	percentage on the tax card

Tax at source (lähdevero) is a final tax. The 510-euro deduction is given only if the employee hands you a tax at source card that shows it; they apply with form 5057. A non-resident who lives in an EEA country or holds a researcher's residence permit can instead ask to be taxed progressively, with a non-resident's tax card (forms 5057 and 6148). That claim needs a Finnish personal identity code, registered at a tax office with form 6150.

A stay over six months, counted from arrival and not by calendar year, makes the employee a resident from the start, with a Finnish personal identity code and a normal tax card.

Your duty as payer is to check the tax status. With no tax card at all you withhold 60 %. If the employee has Finnish health insurance, their health insurance contribution is withheld on top of tax at source and you pay the employer's contribution, 1.91 % in 2026. Withheld tax is due by the 12th of the following month, or the next banking day.

4. TyEL, insurance and Kela

Whatever the nationality, someone with a contract with a Finnish employer is not a posted worker: you arrange TyEL pension cover, unemployment and accident insurance as for anyone. An A1 certificate matters only when the person stays in another country's scheme, typically when a foreign company posts them here; see hiring in Finland without a Finnish company.

Kela benefits follow from work in Finland paying at least 800.02 euros a month, once any residence permit needed has been granted.

5. Reporting a foreign employee to the Incomes Register

The earnings payment report is due within five days of payday (Incomes Register reporting). For a foreign employee add:

No Finnish personal identity code: the foreign personal identifier, plus name, date of birth, sex and address. An identifier the Tax Administration has issued is reported with the foreign one.
Non-resident: "Non-resident taxpayer: Yes", the country of residence, its Tax Identification Number and the address there.
Tax at source: income types 404 Tax at source and 405 Tax at source deduction, and 412 for a separately withheld health insurance contribution.

A worked example: two hires in December 2026

From Tuesday 1 December 2026 a Helsinki Oy hires an Estonian tester for four months at 3 200 euros a month and a permanent Indian developer at 4 200 euros with a specialist permit. Both work only in Finland; payday is Thursday 31 December. The developer's 25 % tax card rate is assumed.

Step	Estonian tester	Indian developer
Right to work	no permit; registers with Migri (over 3 months)	specialist permit before 1 December
Notices	none	Migri and staff representatives by Tuesday 8 December
Tax status	non-resident, 4-month stay	resident from arrival
Tax withheld	(3 200 − 510) × 35 % = 941.50 € with a tax at source card	4 200 × 25 % = 1 050.00 €
Incomes Register	non-resident, EE, Estonian identifier; 404, 405 and 412	Finnish personal identity code

Both are insured in Finland, so the tester's own health insurance contribution is withheld on top of the tax at source and the employer pays its contribution for both. For both, the report is due by Tuesday 5 January 2027 and the tax by Tuesday 12 January 2027. Employer contributions on top are in employer costs in Finland.

What we do

Karma Accounts runs payroll for employers in Finland, in English or Finnish, including employees on tax at source and without a Finnish personal identity code: payslips, Incomes Register reports and what to pay when. Permit applications stay with the employee and you. See our payroll services or request a quote.

Frequently asked questions

How do I hire an employee from abroad in Finland?

Check the right to work, apply for the permit where one is needed, notify Migri within seven days for a third-country national, insure the work in Finland and withhold tax by tax card or tax at source.

Hiring a temporary employee from abroad: what changes?

Mainly the tax: a stay of six months or less means 35 % tax at source after the 510-euro monthly deduction. TyEL and the other insurances apply from the first day. Third-country nationals doing seasonal work in agriculture, forestry or tourism need a seasonal work certificate or permit.

What taxes apply when hiring your first employee?

You withhold income tax by tax card or tax at source and pay it, with the employer's health insurance contribution of 1.91 % in 2026, by the 12th of the following month. Pension, unemployment and accident insurance are invoiced separately; see employer costs.

How to hire in Finland without a local entity?

This article is for Finnish companies. A foreign company can use an employer of record, register as a foreign employer or set up a subsidiary: see hiring without a Finnish company and our foreign employer page.

Can I outsource recruitment in Finland?

A recruiter can find candidates, but your company stays the employer with the Aliens Act duties above. Payroll can be outsourced separately: see outsourcing payroll in Finland.

Sources

Please note: this is general information about Finnish rules, not advice for your own situation, and the rules change. Ask us before you act on it.

Payroll from the first hire

Payslips, the Incomes Register report within five days and the amounts to pay by the 12th worked out, for 15 € a payslip plus VAT. See payroll services.

Request a free introduction

Please don’t send bank credentials, personal identity codes or other sensitive data by email.

All articles