“Welcome Home” - Finland’s six largest cities invite recent arrivals to use integration services

The Finnish cities of Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa, Tampere, Turku and Oulu have teamed up to release a joint campaign designed to call attention to recent legislative changes that transfer select services to the country’s municipalities. The “Welcome Home” campaign encourages newly arrived residents to take full advantage of the respective cities’ many helpful services for newcomers. Among others, the cities’ statutory integration services can assist eligible jobseekers and people outside the labour force with adapting to Finnish society, learning the Finnish or Swedish language, and finding a job. 

The Welcome home campaign will launch on the city’s digital channels on 10 February and continue for approximately two weeks. The message will be communicated in several languages, representing the language spoken most widely in each of the participating cities. It seeks to convey to current international residents or people who are planning to move or stay in Finland that the overall responsibility for the provision of statutory integration services now lies with Finland’s municipalities. The cities in question also hope to convey that they will be reliable and respectful partners in assisting their new residents to create and enjoy a good life in their new hometown.

Every tenth resident of Finland now speaks a foreign language

In 2023, the last year for which statistics are currently available, Finland’s population grew by almost 40,000 persons – the largest increase since 1956. This was in part explained by the arrival of people of people fleeing the war in Ukraine, who became eligible for residence in that year. According to Statistics Finland, every tenth resident of Finland now speaks a first language other than Finnish, Swedish or Sámi. Among the six cities participating in the campaign, the foreign-language population is 27 per cent in Vantaa, 24 in Espoo, 20 in Helsinki, 15 in Turku, 10 in Tampere and 6 in Oulu.

Another important goal of the Welcome home campaign is for the cities to send a message that all migrants are welcome, no matter what their background or the reason for arriving. Finland’s six largest cities recognise that newcomers to the country are important for many reasons.

-The city of Vantaa wants to welcome everyone! Vantaa's employment and integration services are here for you when you need help, advice and support. We offer services in different life situations and support you when you are looking for a job or training position in your new hometown. You can also get free personal advice from us in many different languages, with a low threshold. Vantaa wants to be a good hometown for both its residents and visitors. The city is committed to promoting equality, equality and human rights in all its activities. Our goal is that everyone is at home in Vantaa, said Suvi Lindén Head of Migrant and Integration Services.

Helping newcomers forge their own path

Integration is the process of people finding their own place in their new home country. The recently renewed KOTO24 Finnish Integration Act that in part inspired the campaign defines integration more narrowly, however, as it lays out the specific statutory services society must offer to migrants to the country. It also outlines which groups are entitled to these services.

People who have come to Finland and are actively seeking work or are outside of the labour force are encouraged to contact the city and begin using statutory integration services as soon as they arrive in the country. They should have received their first residence permit less than three years ago, but the integration services specialist conducting the initial assessment can make exceptions if a need for statutory integration services can be established. For example, parents or guardians that have been here longer caring for little ones at home are often still eligible to participate.

Each of the large cities participating in the “Welcome Home” campaign naturally provide a wide range of other services to help new arrivals of all kinds settle in and enjoy a good life in their municipality. People arriving from abroad who have already secured a job or study place also have a range of newcomer services to choose from have been designed to ease their transition.

City representatives are standing at the ready to direct people to the appropriate newcomer services, as well as to answer whatever questions new arrivals may have about employment, language classes, housing issues, children’s daycare and schools, and healthcare matters. 

In Vantaa, the pages of the Welcome to home campaign can be found at www.vantaa.fi/tervetuloakotiin

The campaign is linked to Vantaa's multilingual counseling service, whose employees are happy to offer help to immigrants. In the consultation, you can get personal advice on the services of the city of Vantaa, organizations and various authorities. Integration experts give advice on, for example, filling out forms and digitization, understanding official decisions and processes, as well as work and education-related matters and guide them forward if necessary. The service languages ​​of Vantaa multilingual counseling are Finnish, Swedish, English, Estonian, Russian, Somali, Dari, Farsi, Chinese, Albanian, Ukrainian and Italian. 

You can get in touch at vantaa.fi/kvyhteystiedot