By Our Reporter
Finland has announced plans to tighten education-based immigration. The new rules could lead to non-EU international students losing their residence permits if they receive state welfare support.
In line with this plan, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment began a public consultation on January 16 about a draft law. The law would let authorities automatically check if foreign students are getting basic social assistance from Kela, Finland’s social insurance agency.
The proposal applies to students from outside the European Union and the European Economic Area who are in Finland on study-based residence permits. Under existing rules, these students must demonstrate they can financially support themselves throughout their stay.
The draft law seeks to tighten enforcement by introducing automated post-decision checks after residence permits are issued. If a student is found to have received basic social assistance, designed as a last-resort benefit for essential needs such as food and housing, their permit could be revoked.
This marks a shift from current practice. Although Finnish immigration authorities reviewed over 37,000 permits between September 2023 and December 2025 and identified 333 cases where students received social assistance, no permits were cancelled because one-off payments were not considered sufficient grounds for cancellation.
If passed, the new law would allow even a single instance of receiving social assistance to trigger permit cancellation. Public feedback is open until February 27, after which the government plans to submit the bill to parliament in the spring, with implementation expected soon after.