By Enrique Tessieri
The jealous and spiteful behavior of some Finns and especially politicians belonging to the Perussuomalaiset (PS) is nothing new. Even after Finland ceded for the second time Karelia in 1944 to the former Soviet Union, some Finns were very hostile and spiteful of the over 400,000 Karelian refugees that were relocated here.
After the war, some Finns not only blamed the Karelians for all the hardship the country endured during those difficult years, but were especially angered by the money the government gave them to buy land and start life anew.
A typical gripe of the anti-immigration groups in Finland is pretty much the same. They blame immigrants and refugees for getting preferential treatment and are especially angered because they get social welfare.
An interesting editorial in Kajaani-based Kainuun Sanomat states two factors propelled the PS vote in April: anti-EU sentiment, which is understandable in light of the bailouts, and immigration, which is incomprehensible.
A quote that caught my eye a while back on Twitter was by @sabergato. He put the anti-immigration sentiment in Finland in perspective from the Civil Rights era in the US: “The most racist, rural, uneducated southern whites were very jealous & spiteful of Blacks.”
Here is a good example (in Finnish) of how the PS is fuelling the same type of jealousy and spite towards immigrants and refugees in Rovaniemi.
Unless major political parties like Kokoomus and Social Democrats consider Teuvo Hakkarainen’s Viitsaari in Central Finland a key battleground for votes, Finland needs today more than ever leadership on the anti-racist front.
Cultural diversity is guaranteed in our constitution and it is the obligation of all parties, including the PS, to defend minorities.
Let’s not make a mockery of our values and let Finland go on a free-for-all Internet lynching mode against minorities.
Yes, just forget to mention most hostile was the Swedish-speaking minority, as they nimbyed all the Karelian refugees.
Finnish- or Swedish-speaking they are Finns, no? My point here is not to see who treated the Karelians the worse but to bring some similarities with attitudes today in a 2011 context. Even in the US some of the worst racist who were white were known to be jealous and spiteful of the benefits that blacks got. A connection with the present?
And why exactly should we give handouts to immigrants? They’re here to… what exactly? Live on welfare?
–And why exactly should we give handouts to immigrants? They’re here to… what exactly? Live on welfare?
Why give handouts to Finns? If people live here and have a legal residence permit, they are entitled to these rights. It’s that simple. Or do you want to create a two-teir society: those that have the right to social welfare (Finns) and those that don’t (immigrants and other minorities)?
Two-tier society sounds fine to me. It seems to be universal custom.
Allan
How is your comment about Swedish speaking Finns in any way relevant, other than as an attempt to avoid discussing the issue?
Please explain.
Why not similarly talk about how displaced Karelians were treated by left-handed people, or by cat owners?
Ricky
The factor that is obviously missing from the story that you referenced is the personal circumstances of the “immigrant” concerned.
It’s not at all clear why the reference to transferring a rent guarantee is in any way relevant, What matters is that the Board of Social Welfare had decided the impose a limit of EUR 600 on rent subsidies and the rent on this dwelling evidently exceeded that sum. This is a point that would become apparent when arranging the rent guarantee, which is normally reckoned as the rent for a certain number of months, but the rent guarantee would obviously not be a sticking point as such if the rent did not exceed the limit.
We simply do not know how the caller – who is evidently confused about the grounds for refusing his request for a rent subsidy – can nevertheless be so well informed about the personal circumstances of another person living in the building.
Instead all we have is an anonymous and internally confused complaint that Hemmo Koskiniemi evidently considers worthy of publication above the line with no further research and no proper commentary. Publication above the line under the Uusi Suomi banner opens up the question of whether this is a sufficiently serious breach of journalistic ethics to warrant an investigation by JSN.
JusticeDemon, I couldn’t agree more with you about what Hemmo Koskiniemi wrote. I think it is a perfect example of the jealousy and spite that some PS members spread. The other matter it shows is how some PS members like the fuel the fires of indifference with these types of questionable opinion-pieces.
JusticeDemon
It is a commonly known fact that Swedish-speakers didnt want to have Karelian refugees in their towns and villages since they were more conserned about the changing language situation than about their fellow countrymens well-being. I believe left-handed or cat-owning people didnt show any special negative attitudes towards the Karelian refugees.
But I think it is important to note that most Finns were NOT hostile towards the refugees since they wanted to help their fellow countrymen.
–But I think it is important to note that most Finns were NOT hostile towards the refugees since they wanted to help their fellow countrymen.
Good point. Now would you say that most Finns are not hostile towards immigrants and refugees? I would say that the majority aren’t. Why can’t these people speak out and condemn all the prejudice that has appeared in our society like something the cat brought in (Sting)? Why not condemn it and make Finland a safe and wonderful a country for everyone to live in?
Seppo
Allan was trying to arouse resentment against a minority group in order to deflect attention from an example of resentment shown towards a minority group. That’s why I challenged him to show relevance.
Why do you believe that left handed people or cat owners showed no special negative attitudes towards displaced Karelians? Isn’t this something that we should study? The Romans didn’t call these people sinister for no reason.
I have been entitled to a lot of benefits in the 3 countries I have lived outside of Finland, although I am Fnnish and have kept my Finnish citizenship.
I remember older people saying a lot of things about Karelian refugee families that now I said about mamu’s, like how they kept their apartments dirtier, or talked and laughed with too loud voices.
Historically, we were not even Finns. We were Savonians fighting Häme people.
And remember, Juha is about Finnish people. Sneaky Karelian taking an honest Häme farmer’s woman…
Sorry, my mistake: that now ARE said about… (I don¨t say those things).
It’s very typical in reading about “racism” in the USA that 1. whites are always the culprits, never the other groups; 2. “uneducated, Southern, poor” are always considered the worse culprits. What apparently is not reported sufficiently in Europe, due to the dominant leftwing media, is the extreme racism against whites by the blacks, culminating in violence, rape and murder at an astounding rate. Any “white” person who leaves Europe to live and work in the USA will quickly learn that innocent as he/she may be of any feelings pro OR con about blacks is irrelevant, for they think badly of YOU based on your skin color. It’s especially Scandanavian women and German women who are too ill-informed to protect themselves against such hate crimes and racial violence, becoming victims when local, home-grown “whites” would never dare to tread near such racist and horrible people as the black “uneducated and poor” (grand majority…) If you doubt any of this, come and live here, find out the hard way. Why do you think nonblacks, esp. Asians, cannot stand the domestic terrorism on our streets? Because it IS racist, targeting whites and Asians, esp. women !!!!
Finnish people should defend their borders. Don’t listen to leftwing claptrap that opens up your borders and destroys the nation you have built up, kept from Communism, kept from the Russians and reclaimed from the Swedes. If you don’t act now, you will have another USA.
Mary Mekko
You are hilarious. Do you keep a SS-uniform in your garderobe for special days like the birthday of Rudolf Hess?
Just curious, because you sound like one.
good luck trying to pay pensions without inmigrants. If you scare qualified immigrants away, you will not be able to pay to pensioners. you will be the next country in need from a bailout from EU.
Getting back to the economic dimension:
According to Allan only Finns should receive social benefits, not the immigrants. Enrique argues against this with legal arguments like “it’s in the constitution”. However, the constitution can be changed, and I will approach the issue a from a non-legal perspective.
The underlying assumption with Allan’s statement is that you have to deserve your social benefits, and that can be only the case if you’re a Finn because you (your parents…) have paid taxes. In many cases though immigrants (esp. of non-EU countries) become Finn pretty quickly, invalidating Allan’s assumption. I, on the other hand, am awarded the title of “ideal immigrant”. I’m immigrated from an old-EU country, paid for his own education, good job, pays his taxes and is never ill, but I’m not a Finn. And I know quite a few more immigrants like me, including people who created start-ups (and employed Finns). Hardly a logical statement to say that the above group does not deserve social security (emphasize “deserve”).
Allan, fine you have an anti-immigrant attitude, but at least make sure that your arguments are consistent or at least believable.
PS. Could someone explain me why Teuvo Hakkarainen (the real PS) accepts 400kEU support from the EU for his sawmill that has burnt down 6 times since 1997??(http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Timo+Soini+reprimands+new+MP/1135265750372)
Mary Mekko. You are very obviously one of the racist bigots who is stuck in the past and like too many others thinks that we could really turn the clocks back thirty years to a time when things were different. Wake up, we cannot do that. The world we live in today is one that is multicultural and multiracial.
The best way to ensure the survival of Finland as an entity is to embrace immigrants and be thankful for the new blood and ideas that they bring with them. Rather than being a threat to Finnish identity, immigrants actually enrich it.
As somebody living in a small town in Eastern Finland, I can see for myself how most of the population has never seen people with different skin colour and how heads turn when somebody with dark skin walks round the town. But given the chance these people will soon be incorporated into local society and bring with them new ideas, new music, new culture.
I have been following the arguments about how so many immigrants are sponging off the Finnish taxpayer. This is total propaganda, there are far more Finns who have never worked and are living on government handouts than there are immigrants in total in Finland. Most immigrants come here to work or because they are married to a Finn. There are a small minority who come here as refugees. These people have suffered horrors that we can’t imagine no matter how hard we try and we have a duty to help them recover from this so that they can become productive members of society again. Most of them want nothing more than to be able to support themselves and their families through honest work and dream of the day when they can return home. A very small minority will turn to crime, but hey, the largest single minority group in prison in Sweden are Finnish citizens!
People should grow up, realize that this is the world we are living in and embrace change for the benefits it gives to all of us.
Hi Angryfinland, welcome to Migrant Tales. I wish more Finns would see things like you. I totally agree 100%. Thank you!
Justice Demon – I just presented a fact that a minority group was the most racist against another minority group so its quite idiotic of you – but that comes naturally for you – to deny that fact.
I’m an immigrant I been here 4 years. I can’t get a job I’m a doctor I have been to countless interviews ….oh I could work as a cleaner or work in macdonlds which is the only jobs that’s available for educated immigrants. The statement by Mary mekko is racist small mined offensive and untrue….
Dear V, you are a good example of how Finland squanders the know-how that people bring to this country. it is not only a tragedy to the person but a loss to the whole country. Never loss hope.
Angryfinland – if you are so interested in new music, ideas and culture who is paying for all of that? Your small town is with no industry, no jobs and no future.
Mary Mekko
And don’t forget the threat from the space invaders hiding under your bed.
Allan
And you presented your fact out of the blue in response to a discussion in which your fact had no relevance outside of your racist mindset.
Now go back to the start and try to comment on a crime against humanity without immediately trying to find some way to blame the victim of that specific crime.
Aph “According to Allan only Finns should receive social benefits, not the immigrants. ”
Nope, actually it is “residents of Finland”. A Finn abroad like me isn’t entitled to anything from the Finnish KELA as I am a resident in the UK. And I haven’t gotten anything else but council tax bills here. However you are to the point in that “you need to contribute before you can take”. The system just does not work if there is a situation when there are more “takers” than “givers”. The pension system is a prime example – I can get on state pension in the UK when I am 74 as one needs to contribute a certain amount of years.
I fail to see any “need for immigrants” just for the sake of “ideas” “music” and “culture” if they come live off welfare and not come to contribute to the economy. “Wanting” to work is not a reason to immigrate if there are no jobs available. That is how immigration has worked previously, when you had no social safety nets.
There was an interesting documentary on BBC was it about Brits in Florida. The US government gives you an immigrant visa if you come and establish a company. Then after some years, even tenbs – if your company folds up you get deported. Not very “immigrant-friendly” is it? So I really do not see the point in all this complaining about how bad Finland is regarding the immigration legislation. The UK has its own problems with unemployment and the mass immigration influx from the East-EU that was too much too soon so the infrastructure just cannot take it. I get hugely “crimed against humanity” in the local pub on occasion but I happen to understand why the locals are annoyed.
Allan
The current arrangements for managing immigration to Finland are largely reasonable in my view, and in many respects they are far ahead of policies in Britain and even the USA. Most of the criticism aimed at the Finnish system comes from people who are poorly informed. This was illustrated superbly in the thunderous demands of the PS election manifesto calling for the Aliens Act to be … not changed at all. It also turns up again and again in comments from immigrants (this also means you, Ricky) who have not noticed how much progress has been made in reforming and modernising the immigration licensing system since they bumbled through it personally.
The immigration system in Finland is complex and not wholly intuitive, even to many officials who apply it on a daily basis. There is a severe mismatch between the competence that the system demands of administrative officials and the standard of training that these officials receive. Most immigrants also begin learning about the immigration system only at the point where it begins to affect them and bring discomfort to their lives, and very few develop a genuine interest in anything beyond achieving a quick fix to their personal problems.
In the area of migration for employment Finland applies a demand-driven format at the point of entry shifting to an integration-driven format after a certain period of years. This has been an underlying public policy theme in Finland since at least 1970, with the last byzantine cobwebs blown away in 2004.
In humanitarian migration Finland applies a series of integrated technical and practical tests that essentially examine the human rights implications and practical consequences of repatriation over roughly the same timescale as the foregoing integration-driven format. I would characterise much of the debate of the last decade on this subject as focused on the general desirability and feasibility of keeping people in cold storage pending repatriation at some unspecified future date. In the mid to late 80s asylum seekers were almost routinely held in police cells on the basis of rolling administrative detention orders, but I cannot think of a single public official who would advocate a return to such a system. It was interesting that (at least after a couple of drinks) most of the advocates of this defunct approach would eventually admit that the main aim and justification for such detention was to prevent the detainee from integrating into society at large. We view integration more positively nowadays.
Alongside this and other elements of the Finnish immigration system, we have the special arrangements governing citizens and permanent residents of other Nordic countries and EU Member States. You were able to enter and work in Britain without severe permit formalities, and people from elsewhere in the EU and Nordic countries can come to Finland on the same basis. This is a multilateral, reciprocal arrangement that should not be confused with regular migration for employment or humanitarian population displacement. These special arrangements have interesting social consequences that are best illustrated by the attitudes of many stubbornly monolingual and anglophones who have formed highly insular communities in Spain because “England is being swamped by wogs that refuse to assilimate”.
Oh yes, so funny you mentioned it [Justice Demon]. Poor Spain! it is getting full of those British and Nordic ghettos formed by the elderly! Besides, Britons are famous for that….at least in Kenya, they lived in their ghettos whilst draining all the local resources! they were incapable to develop that country!
Speaking about Finland, I am amazed that, according to research studies, this country is a leader in the integration of immigrants! I wonder whether they have examined in practice those policies. I doubt about that.
Maybe I am missing something? I am an non-eu person, married to a Finnn, who has been educated in the UK, and find literally impossible to settle in here. In the mean time, all my friends who have settled in the US, and Canada has found work, settled in there, and are contributing to their society. They never married to a local. Here, I must go under an integration plan (3 years) unable to study, work, and so on. …On the top of that they will FORCE me to live with 254 Euros per month. Does somebody live with that money here???? That is like committing professional suicide!
Oh yes, we are draining your resources Finland!
But never mind, in my country Nokia has a big big mobile business…so you are getting back from MY country more that I will get from yours!
BoredinFinland
Finland probably still scores a few points from being the first country in Europe to introduce a formal immigrant integration system at the level of an Act of Parliament. I suppose we should claim some credit for this, as the Immigration and Refugee Policy Commission was nowhere near this objective when it circulated its interim report for comments and arranged a public hearing in 1996. It was only after seeing the views of organisations like the Association for Foreigners in Finland that the idea of a national immigrant integration policy took off. The term kotoutuminen and its cognates was coined by the Commission to provide a precise Finnish equivalent to integration in English.
It’s fair to say that Finland is a leader in this policy area, but so much is still at the planning stage pending the political will to allocate the required resources. It’s a bit like residents moving into a new housing estate. The families who have already planned the layout of their garden in detail are “more advanced” than those who have already dug a few flower beds at random, even if the former have yet to stick a spade in the ground.
Your situation is not unusual, BoredinFinland. Commonly it arises when the Finnish spouse is still studying or some other reason prevents the couple from relocating. After graduation they both promptly decamp to a more favourable employment market.
On the other hand, you could look on your integration plan as an opportunity: a bit like going back to university. If the course is useless, then you can create your own course by hounding the providers through the administrative system via their funding sources. There is no better way to get first class treatment in an educational institution that by showing that you have rumbled the lies that they told to their financiers… 🙂
BoredinFinlandMay I ask which part of Finland are you living, can you speak Finnish, what did you study and do you have any working experience? Those answers usually answer why you don’t have a job.
Hei Niko,
I live in helsinki area, I am trilingual, a professional with one Master of Arts, one Master of Science, one Master of Philosophy, with six years of professional experience. I have lived in 6 different countries in America, Africa, and Europe (including the UK). I have studies in engineering and business and management.
My point here is that I must be part of this integration programme during 3 years in order to learn the local language without being able to work, study, etc, and living only with 254 Euros per month. Does it sound a reasonable integration policy? the longer you are unemployed the worst it is for you….
And the sad thing is that you need to be proficient in Finnish but also in Swedish. So I guess, it will never be enough, actually it will be a complete waste of time (and resources -mine and yours Finland!) to be part of an integration programme that focus only in teaching Finnish when majority of the vacancies in the public sector and the private sector ask you to master two Nordic languages!
Yeah, in the paper, Finland is one of the leaders, but in practice I question the impact of policies like this “integration policy” designed by Finns who, I presume, in majority of the cases, have never lived in other countries and therefore lack the knowledge to understand the issues that emigrants face anywhere in this planet.
Lest be a bit less pretentious (ja! sarcasm here) and stop saying that Finland is a leader in an area where it is not!
And you are welcome to my country Finns! no problem with that, when there is war in Europe, my continent receive most of you! Don’t worry, in my country, we don’t have fancy immigration policies, supported but dubious studies, but hei! were are receiving refugees from Somalia ( and we do not make a big fuss about that even though we have serious social problems) ; we do not have a welfare system supporting people ( and yet we are giving money to these refugees so that they can begin a life in my country)! ; if you are european (and even un-educated) you find it easily to settle there. Actually, you indeed need the native language to be able to integrate there, but guess what? it is language that is useful to learn since it is one of the most spoken languages in this planet ( it is expected it will take over English language at some point in the future in the US 😉
BoredinFinland
Where did you get the idea that an integration programme prevents you from working or studying?
Finding a job or enrolling in a university are among the most common reasons for suspending or scaling back formal immigrant integration measures.
Your attitude to a language tends to affect your motivation and aptitude for learning it. You might like to return to this idea when you begin to struggle with Finnish in particular.
Wow, that sounds unbelievable. Maybe I should recommend you to our company 😛 it sounds just strange that I have many foreigner friends who has much less experience than you and can’t even speak Finnish, but have been able to get a job…
BoredinFinland where are you from then? From your description it seems you were referring to Spanish as your native language as you mentioned it taking ‘over English language at some point in the future in the US’ but then there aren’t any Spanish speaking countries that have received a significant number of Somali refugees or Finns for that matter during or just after the World Wars so please let us know what this country is.
Actually, labour-driven immigration is subjected to the test of market demand at every permit renewal, not just at the point of entry. That’s how people who came here with good intentions and a strong will to work suddenly end up having to leave after a few years, whenever the market demand statement ends up being “too many unemployed people in that sector/profession at this time; residence permit renewal not recommended”.
Martin-Éric
I was almost expecting you to chime in. 🙂
Since 2004 the main rule for migrant workers has been eligibility for permanent residence after four years. I will admit that there were some odd cases in the first five years of the new Aliens Act, but my understanding is that these were due to a general lack of official competence, especially in one particular local employment office.
In the very last such case that came to my attention a couple of years ago this particular office bent over backwards to the point of embarrassment simply because I requested the applicant’s file. There was no need even to point out the extent of their legal exposure and the outstanding case was resolved by an entirely revised and unprecedentedly generous official view of a subsequent temporary job offer (and yes – I toyed with the idea of lodging a complaint about undue favouritism before deciding that this would just be too cruel). The alternative to this “rectifying discretion” would have been an appeal to the administrative court harpooning no fewer than four permits and eight interlinked administrative decisions at a single swipe (one for the Guinness Book of Immigration Appeal Records, breaking the previous record of four decisions all killed in a single appeal). With the benefit of experience and no need to worry about the pride of an official no longer working at the office, it was far easier to issue a new decision recognising the forest and not quibbling over the shape of the individual trees.
The process inevitably remains more comfortable for migrant workers stepping into “traditional” jobs in a “stable” industry, but on the whole I would say that the “integration” aspect begins to outweigh the purely “demand-driven” approach after a couple of years in Finland. I doubt that any competent and active advocate nowadays would have serious difficulty in buying enough time for a migrant worker to find a job, and in practice this resolves all administrative obstacles.
We are now moving towards a model in which proof of real local demand will determine the outcome of applications submitted by migrant workers. In practice this is all that local employment officials have been rubber stamping over the last 7 years anyway. Public officials with this kind of job description tend to get transferred or made redundant in the next public service efficiency drive. Watch this space.
“Finding a job or enrolling in a university are among the most common reasons for suspending or scaling back formal immigrant integration measures.”
The catch-22 is, that if you pick up studies, you might drop off all benefits, and if you find a job, you don’t get any of those highly effective “free” intergration Finnish classes (though the law is changing on this). As for motivation- the integration classes are not really geared towards someone with three masters degrees, but I do not think after three years a job will magically appear just because some integration programme finishes.
Allan
In answer to your question, I and other like minded thinkers pay for the music and culture. Some of it out of the taxes we pay, and some of it directly out of our own pockets through our own choice.
The small town I live in actually happens to contain 2 factories, both of which are going strong, as well as having a growing population. As I found out just today we have about 70 residents of immigrant background all gainfully employed out of a total population of just over 5000. Our unemployment rate is about 11% and as I said ALL our immigrants are working! ell me now who is it that is sponging off the tax payers?
I have lived all over Finland and also in the UK, I have visited several countries in Europe, including Russia mostly on work or school related trips. I have made a point of talking to people of all walks of life about immigration, and can honestly say that the small amount of immigrants in Finland really cause no problems. It is the minority of Finns who are small minded and probably never been outside of their home country who cause the problem.
BoredinFinland
Your case is all too familiar, the regulations prevent you from working until you have been ‘incorporated’. I know personally a fully qualified and experienced doctor who is living in a town with a shortage of doctors and cannot work until he has been ‘incorporated’ and then gone through a retraining period. All this will take about 6 years during which time he could and should be allowed to practice medicine. All he wants to do is work and support his family and is in a place where it would also help society, but no, the rules prevent this. Some things are just stupid beyond reason! Good luck with trying to get things sorted and don’t take any B-S from anybody.
“Your attitude to a language tends to affect your motivation and aptitude for learning it.”
http://www.iltalehti.fi/uutiset/2011052013753971_uu.shtml
Two years, starting from zero, writing 10 subjects in matriculation!?!? I think theres also a bit to do with talent, but still a remarkable achievement.
Justice Demon,
Finding a new job tends to be the easy part, especially when someone already has a job and is simply moving to a more promising one. Getting them to not invent phoney excuses to suddenly pull the carpet off from under people’s feet because there’s a few more unemployed Finns that particular year is not. As you already know, there is a tactic of shelving someone’s residence permit renewal application until the employer gives up on waiting for their employee to be legally employable and mobile again, and cancels the employment contract, at which point it becomes dead easy to deny someone their permit renewal. That is precisely why the Migration Policy Institute has repeatedly criticized the government for failing to establish maximum processing times in the Immigration Act.
Martin-Éric
I’m not sure what you just wrote made sense. A worker’s residence permit will license an immigrant to do a certain kind of work for any employer. As long as the immigrant is not foolish enough to allow the permit to expire, the job market remains entirely open.
I handled an interesting case last year in which an employee changed jobs at around the time of permit renewal and then the new employer withdrew the job offer while the permit application was pending. That withdrawal was communicated to the employment office but not to the applicant, and the applicant only heard about it when the renewal application was turned down. Now it doesn’t take a legal genius to spot the fundamental procedural error there, so I prepared the appeal and we submitted it after 29 days. That appeal is still pending today, and for the first 6 months the applicant’s status was precisely that of a permit renewal applicant with the same right to work as before. After 6 months another job offer came along and this time the permit was issued.
Incidentally the applicant also negotiated a sizable out of court settlement with the employer who had pulled the plug on the previous job offer, but this is not strictly relevant to the point that the applicant had plenty of time to look for work and was fully entitled to take up any job offer immediately and then to rely on the new employment as grounds for a new permit extension.
The trick is to turn long processing times for administrative and judicial procedures to your advantage.
The key provision is subsection 3 of section 81 of the Aliens Act:
It’s important to understand that the application is not “decided” until a decision has been duly issued and is legally final. That legal finality comes after the appeal deadline has expired and the ordinary appeal process has been completed.
Allan
Those matriculation results give the strong impression of a good general student who spent most of her time on language studies.
Unless you want to argue that “starting from zero” means that this student had lived the life of Kaspar Hauser before entering further education in Finland.
It’s also possible to read those results as an indictment of further education standards in Finland, but let’s not go down that road.
Justice Demon,
That paragraph is bolocks in practice as I and several others I’ve met know from experience. Their usual trick is to interpret the new job as a change of profession or of economic sector. I’ve even seen one case where merely having been promoted to a new position within the same company, just before the time to renew the residence permit came, resulted in a denied residence permit renewal. I’ve also seen them blatantly ignore WTO and OCDE provisions to put delegated management to a foreign company’s Finnish office outside of normal workforce availability statements.
Martin-Éric
It really doesn’t matter. If the permit application concerning the new job is turned down, then there will be another new appeal pending within 30 days. In the meantime the applicant carries on working and the entire issue of whether the original right to work covers the new job is sub judice (subject to some qualifications over manifestly unfounded and abusive interpretation). It’s then up to the court to rule on the question of whether the occupation has changed, but there is a fact of the matter one way or the other.
This is also an area in which the applicant’s trade union has a duty to get involved, as any argument of this kind will affect the scope of collective agreements. The employers’ federation has a corresponding interest as well.
The internal promotion example is an interesting case for all sorts of reasons involving potential conflicts between administrative and labour law. How did the appeal turn out?
The domestic legislative conditions for ratifying international treaties are supposed to be automatically incorporated into the Aliens Act, but sometimes it’s necessary to get KHO to insist on this. One topical example is the Association Agreement between Turkey and the European Union, which has clear material consequences for Turkish students and other temporary residents in Finland but has not yet been directly incorporated.
Finland does receive some benefits from working immigrants (i.e. taxes), but at great peril for the future. Just because people are suffering all over the world, does Finland want to take them in? Do you want some of our ghetto dwellers here who are happy to have free housing anywhere, Finland will do if we stop feeding them, since they don’t care who does the sweating to feed ’em. How about the down and out from all over South America, Mexico, Asia and Africa? Millions of mouths to fill up tiny Finland and create pensions for the old Finns! EXCEPT… many cannot or will not work, can’t speak Finnish, can’t support themselves at all, need medical care, or at least food and housing, and by the time the working Finns pay for all that, they could have kept their own money and used it for their own pensions! without wreaking havoc on their own land! Funny how Finns here are willing to throw the “racist” word around, but everyone knows that the whole planet is racist, so it’s meaningless, just a necessary accident to the essential mind called human. To move to the USA as a female Finn is to quickly learn the words “white bitch”, since that’s what nonwhites will call you. They’re not racist? We are ? Give me a break! I live here and I know what we are putting up with! Read http://www.sfgate.com just to see what is happening in the crime world here! Notice the skin color and gender of the criminals! Do you want that happening to the innocents of Finland?