I’m moving abroad

An unemployed jobseeker registered in Finland may travel to another EU/EEA country or Switzerland for up to three months to look for work and receive unemployment allowance in accordance with Finnish legislation during the job search period. For more detailed information about job search trips abroad, please contact the employment authority.

Before you go

• Notify the employment authority of your plan to go on a job search trip. The unemployment fund needs a statement from the employment authority regarding your job search trip.
• Request the U2 form for a job search trip from the unemployment fund well in advance before your departure. For the purpose of issuing the certificate, please provide the unemployment fund with your first name, any previous surname, personal identity code, destination country, and exact departure date.
• During the job search trip, you will continue to apply for your benefit from Finland through Unemployment Fund Ote. The easiest way to apply for the benefit is electronically via Otenetti on our website.

In the target country

• Register as a jobseeker within seven days of the date on which you left Finland.

• Present the U2 form you have received to the authorities in the country of destination.

• During the job search period abroad, you are required to be available to the labour market of the country where you are seeking work. For example, you must respond to job offers, and refusing work may result in a sanction period without benefit, in the same way as if you refused work in Finland.

• The unemployment fund needs confirmation from the employment authority in your country of destination that you have registered as a jobseeker and that you are available to the labour market. This confirmation is provided to us through the so‑called U009 document. The document is transmitted electronically between authorities, and the employment authority in your job search country should send it directly to us based on the information in your U2 form. In case of any problems, please contact us.

• Apply for earnings-related unemployment allowance. The allowance can be paid for the period of job search abroad only after your application has been received by the unemployment fund and we have received the U009 notification from the authorities in your job search country.

• You must return to Finland within three months. If you do not return within three months, earnings-related unemployment allowance cannot be paid until you have accumulated one month of employment condition. The three-month time limit may be exceeded only if you have been unable to travel due to illness or another force majeure obstacle.

When you return

• Register immediately as an unemployed jobseeker with the Finnish employment authority. If your unemployment continues, you may continue applying for the allowance according to your normal application schedule.

Did you forget to request the form in advance?

If you have informed or agreed on a job search period abroad with the employment authority before your departure, but you have not requested or had time to receive the U2 form for your trip, proceed as follows:

• Register as a jobseeker with the employment office in the country where you are seeking work, and inform them that you have arrived for a job search period in accordance with the EU social security regulations.
• Request that the employment authority in your job search country asks Finland — Työttömyyskassa Ote — for the information related to your job search period abroad using the U007 form. Provide the authority with our full postal address.
• Submit your unemployment benefit application to the unemployment fund as described above.

In all other respects, proceed as previously described, including compliance with the return deadline.

If you do not return

If you do not return to Finland after your job search period abroad, please contact us regarding your membership and the transfer of your insurance periods, so that we can advise you on how to proceed.

Remember to inform your insurance institution that you have been insured against unemployment with Työttömyyskassa Ote in Finland (Unemployment Fund Ote, Finland). You may also present the contact details recorded on the U2 form you have received to the insurance institution.

If you are going to work in an EU/EEA country or Switzerland, you must contact us before your departure to ask for more detailed advice on how to proceed regarding your unemployment fund membership. You should also contact the unemployment fund if you continue to live in Finland but work in another EU/EEA country or Switzerland.

If you work for a Finnish employer as a so‑called posted worker, you will remain covered by the Finnish unemployment security system. In this case, your membership in the unemployment fund must be kept valid for the entire period of work abroad. In such situations, a certificate (A1) must be applied for in advance from the Finnish Centre for Pensions.

When working in Sweden or Denmark (not as a posted worker), earnings-related unemployment security accrues only if you personally join a local unemployment fund. You must contact the local unemployment fund and request more detailed advice. It is advisable to do this before starting work, as the timing of the transfer of fund membership can be crucial for entitlement to unemployment benefits.

In other EU/EEA countries apart from Sweden and Denmark, there is a general unemployment insurance system that usually does not require any specific actions from the employee during employment. When working abroad other than as a posted worker, you w

If you have worked in another EU/EEA country or Switzerland and become unemployed while registered as a jobseeker in your country of employment, your entitlement to earnings-related unemployment allowance will be determined in accordance with the legislation of that country. However, insurance and employment periods completed in Finland may be taken into account if necessary.

In such cases, Työttömyyskassa Ote will issue a certificate for the benefit-paying authority regarding insurance and employment periods completed in Finland (formerly the U1 form). As a rule, this information is transmitted electronically between the authorities of EU/EEA countries and Switzerland via the JINA system.

Check with the authorities in your country of employment whether you need the certificate already when starting work or only if you later become unemployed. The authorities in your country of employment can submit a request for the certificate to Työttömyyskassa Ote electronically through the JINA system.

You may have insurance and employment periods completed in another EU/EEA country or Switzerland taken into account in Finland. If you become unemployed before the employment and membership conditions required for receiving earnings-related unemployment allowance have been fully met in Finland, entitlement to the allowance may be established on the basis of work completed in another EU/EEA country or Switzerland.

From Sweden and Denmark, only insurance and employment periods accrued while you were a member of an unemployment fund in those countries can be taken into account for earnings-related unemployment security.

As a rule, the information is transmitted electronically between the authorities of EU/EEA countries and Switzerland. If necessary, we will request insurance and employment period information from your most recent country of employment (formerly the U1 form) electronically via the JINA system.

Taking employment and insurance periods accrued in another EU/EEA country or Switzerland into account for the employment condition for earnings-related unemployment allowance in Finland requires that:

• while being a member of a Finnish unemployment fund, you have worked in Finland immediately before becoming unemployed for at least one employment-condition month, and
• you have joined a Finnish unemployment fund within one month of the end of insurance in your previous country of employment.

However, employment in Finland for one employment-condition month is not required if:

• you continued to live in Finland during your employment abroad and became fully unemployed, or
• you are a so‑called five‑year Nordic return migrant, meaning that you last worked in a Nordic country and, during the past five years, you have either worked in Finland or received unemployment allowance in Finland.

If you are a five‑year Nordic return migrant, you have eight weeks, instead of one month, to join a Finnish unemployment fund.

If you last worked in Finland or if you are a five‑year Nordic return migrant as described above, the amount of earnings-related unemployment allowance is calculated on the basis of earnings received in Finland. If you lived in Finland while working in another EU/EEA country or Switzerland, the allowance amount is calculated on the basis of earnings received in that other EU/EEA country or Switzerland.

A frontier worker is a person who works or has worked in an EU/EEA country other than their country of residence, or in Switzerland.

If the employment relationship is still valid but the frontier worker is, for example, temporarily laid off, working part‑time, or employed on an on‑call basis, unemployment benefits are paid by the country of employment. In such cases, the person must register as a jobseeker in the country of employment.

If a frontier worker has worked in an EU/EEA country other than their country of residence, or in Switzerland, and becomes fully unemployed, unemployment benefits are paid by the country of residence. For this reason, the worker must register as a jobseeker in their country of residence. The worker may also register as a jobseeker in the country of employment if they wish, but as a rule, unemployment benefits are paid by the institution of the country of residence.

A frontier worker may also have insurance periods completed in a previous country of employment, such as Finland, taken into account.

If you have worked in a country other than an EU/EEA country or Switzerland and become unemployed in that country, your entitlement to unemployment benefits is determined under the legislation of the country where you worked. Work performed in Finland will most likely not be taken into account when assessing your entitlement to unemployment benefits in that country.

If you return to Finland after working in a country other than an EU/EEA country or Switzerland (so‑called third countries), insurance and employment periods accrued in another country cannot be taken into account.

You may become entitled to earnings-related unemployment allowance after returning to Finland from outside the EU/EEA or Switzerland if:

• You met the employment condition and your daily allowance amount was calculated in Finland before you left the country.
  After returning to Finland, you may receive this same previously calculated allowance, provided that your membership in an unemployment fund has not been interrupted and that you have not been absent from the labour market for more than six months without an acceptable reason.
• You worked abroad for such a short period that, within the 28‑month review period, there are at least 12 calendar months that meet the employment condition based on work performed in Finland or in another EU/EEA country or Switzerland.

In other situations, you may receive earnings-related unemployment allowance only after fulfilling the employment condition again as a member of an unemployment fund following your return from a third country.

However, if you have worked abroad as a posted worker sent by a Finnish employer, your unemployment security is handled as if you had worked in Finland.

The United Kingdom and the EU have concluded a partnership agreement lasting 15 years, which entered into force on 1 January 2021. As a result of this agreement, the transfer of employment and insurance periods between the United Kingdom and the EU continues.

It should be noted that when a spouse moves abroad to accompany a posted worker, the move alone does not constitute an acceptable reason for the spouse to be absent from the labour market. Acceptable reasons for absence from the labour market include, for example, incapacity for work, full-time studies, research funded by a grant, and caring for a child under three years of age.

If an absence from the labour market without an acceptable reason lasts for more than six months, the employment condition must be fulfilled again in full before earnings-related unemployment allowance can be paid after the period of absence.