Working abroad

You can apply for earnings-related allowance on the basis of work done in another EU or EEA country if the following conditions are met: 

• you have worked in Finland for at least four weeks or been self-employed in Finland for at least four months immediately before becoming unemployed and 
• you have joined an unemployment fund within one month of moving to Finland or of the end of your employment relationship. If your employment relationship in your country of departure ended before you moved and you have not been a registered jobseeker after this, the one-month period is counted from the end of your employment relationship. If your absence from the labour market has been due to, for example, looking after a child under the age of 3 years or illness or studies, the one-month period is counted from the time of your move. 

Four weeks of employment or four months of self-employment in Finland are not required, however, if:

• you have continued to live in Finland during your employment and have become fully unemployed or
• you are a so-called five-year remigrant, meaning you have most recently worked in a Nordic country and during the last five years you have worked in Finland or received unemployment allowance in Finland. In this case you have to join a Finnish unemployment fund within eight weeks instead of one month. 

If you have conducted business activity in a country where self-employment entitles you to unemployment security, such periods can also be counted towards the self-employed persons’ work requirement in Finland. 

If you have most recently worked in Finland or you are a five-year remigrant as described above, the amount of your earnings-related allowance is calculated from your earnings in Finland. If you have lived in Finland while working in another EU country, the amount of your earnings-related allowance is nonetheless calculated from your employment income in the other EU country. 

If you apply for earnings-related allowance in Finland after returning from abroad, you can speed up the processing of your application by requesting form U1 from your country of departure detailing your periods of employment. The fund can also request the information directly from the authority in the country of departure. 

Work done abroad as a posted worker for a Finnish employer does not differ from work done in Finland in respect of unemployment security. So the employment requirement for earnings-related allowance accrues for the period of employment and no period of employment in Finland is required for the work to be counted.In these situations you need to apply for certificate A1 in advance from the Finnish Centre for Pensions.

Work done outside the EU countries other than as a posted worker does not accumulate the work requirement at all.

Working in a country other than your country of residence (cross-border workers) 

A cross-border worker is a person who works in an EU country other than their country of residence. For cross-border workers, entitlement to earnings-related allowance is affected by whether you are in an employment relationship or fully unemployed. 

1. If you are in a part-time employment relationship or partly laid-off, unemployment security is paid by the institution in your country of employment. 

2. If you are fully unemployed, unemployment security is paid by the institution in your country of residence. 

If you are a cross-border worker, you can apply for earnings-related allowance on condition that you have registered as a jobseeker in the country in which you apply for earnings-related allowance. 

Right to earnings-related allowance if you go abroad to look for work

If you move abroad, you can also apply for earnings-related allowance from the unemployment fund for three months if you have been a jobseeker with the TE Office for at least four weeks and you are not in an employment relationship.  

If you are considering moving abroad to find work, contact the TE Office. The TE Office will check if you are entitled to earnings-related allowance during your job search trip, and tells the fund when the conditions are met for earnings-related allowance for the period of your job search trip abroad. 

To be able to get earnings-related allowance for the period of a job search trip abroad, register with the local labour authority in the country of destination within seven days of your departure. Apply for earnings-related allowance from your Finnish unemployment fund in the same way as you applied for daily allowances before you left. If you register in your country of destination later than within seven days, earnings-related allowance is only paid from the date of registration.