Finland’s anti-immigration policies scare away foreign talent, survey finds

The anti-immigration policies of the Finnish government, which includes the far-right True Finns party, are undermining the Nordic country’s ability to attract and retain foreign experts in technology, according to a survey published on Tuesday.

In the survey, conducted by the Finnish Association of Engineers and Architects (TEK) and the Engineers’ Union, a total of 1,044 foreign experts living in the Nordic country gave their opinions on issues such as Finland’s immigration policy, their own career opportunities and employment discrimination.

The survey results reveal that the 89% of these highly qualified workers believes that the debate on immigration launched by the Executive is worrying and the 81% believes that the situation of foreigners will worsen in the next five years.

Likewise, just a 52% of those surveyed would recommend Finland as a place to live and work, a figure that highlights the growing disillusionment of foreign skilled workers living in the Nordic country.

Regarding workplace discrimination, the 41% of men and the 43% of women admitted to having experienced it, especially during the hiring process, with a higher incidence among professionals from Africa and Asia.

The most common reasons for this discrimination, according to the survey, are a lack of knowledge of Finnish and the fact that the country’s labour market does not sufficiently value academic studies and work experience acquired abroad.

“The situation is unsustainable. Finland is expelling the very people who are creating future economic growth here.”lamented Juhani Nokela, director of Public Affairs at TEK, in a statement.

Many Finnish companies, especially in the technology sector, have publicly lamented that the government is not doing enough to attract highly qualified foreign workers in one of Europe’s countries with the highest rate of ageing.

“There is a lot of competition in the labour market for experts. You cannot participate in it by looking at foreigners with suspicion. The ability to attract and hire international experts is essential.”said Maria Jauhiainen, a lawyer for the Engineers’ Union.

The Finnish government, at the initiative of the far-right True Finns party, is tightening immigration and asylum policies to limit the arrival of migrants and refugees, especially from outside the Schengen area.

Among other measures, it aims to cut the reception subsidy that refugees receive and to extend the minimum period of residence required to obtain Finnish citizenship from five to eight years.

But the legislative change that has raised the most concerns among foreign experts, still under consideration in Parliament, is the possibility of being expelled from the country if they lose their job and do not find another within three months, a measure that would affect non-European citizens.