I took part in a very interesting seminar in June on foreigners in Finland. Here are some conclusions from that seminar on what real challenges Finland faces with respect to its aging population and luring foreign workers to the country. 1) It will be VERY difficult for Finland to attract qualified labor from other countries….
Turning naivety on Finland into action
Like many second-generation Finns that lived abroad, I too hoped to move back to live in Finland one day. While the decision to move back was an easy one, I encountered my first setback when I applied for a residence permit. In the late-1970s, Finland had a pretty draconian view of who was and was…
Some reasons behind Finland’s strong anti-immigrant stance
Having lived in Finland on and off for 30 years, I have come to some explanations why some Finns feel so strongly about immigration. I could give you the usual explanations: Finland has had few immigrants, the climate, difficult language, the culture, lack of jobs etc… These are the most common explanations that make us…
When in Finland do as the Finns do…
I read an interesting post in Svenskfinland titled, “When in Rome, do as the Romans,” and it set me thinking. The post continues: “…in other words, that integration should mean that migrants to Finland so quickly as possibly forget their own background and take on entirely a Finnish lifestyle – essentially abandoning or replacing their…
Towards an effective immigration policy in Finland
It is very easy to complain about why Finland should be reticent or more open about foreigners moving to the country to plug the ever-growing labor shortage and arrest the aging process of the Finnish population. If I could lay the foundations of Finland’s new immigrant policy, I’d make the following recommendations: 1) Decide once…
Finnish immigration policy is lost in time
Every country has a sensitive nerve. Find and touch it and you will hear pain – or outrage. In the US it is Washington’s unilateral approach to foreign policy, accepting that it was a crime against humanity to drop two atom bombs on Japan, in Spain it is the pillaging of Latin America from the…
In memory of Eila Kännö
For those of you who had the opportunity to move to Finland in the 1970s or early 1980s, will certainly remember Eila Kännö, the head of the then-Aliens’ Office. Has anyone counted how many times the name of the immigration office has changed since the 1970s? Ihave lost track.
The future human landscape of Finland
While we can debate how many foreigners will come to live in Finland in the next decade and if they’ll come to live in the country, what will Finland’s human landscape look like in the next and following decades as the country become more multicultural? By multicultural I am referring to Canada’s novel immigrant policy…
“It paid to be Alfredo Stroessner’s son”*
María Eugenia Heikel, 57, the former wife of the late Paraguayan dictator Alfredo Stroessner’s son Gustavo, is just one victim of the ruthless regime that ruled one of Latin America’s poorest countries for 35 years. (Click to see Spanish version of the article in El País of Madrid). Even though the Stroessners fled the country…
How immigrant-friendly is Finland?
If we look at the unemployment figures (20% jobless among foreigners) and the motives of non-Finns that moved to this country according to their residence permit applications, we are still faraway from being an immigrant-friendly country. According to the Finnish Immigration Service, last year 6,196 (32%) residence permit applications were for employment followed for studies…