New rules seek to help foreign students avoid poverty trap

A second legislative package aimed at preventing international students from falling into financial difficulties is being prepared by the government for public consultation – part of broader reforms aimed at balancing the country’s need to attract top international students, and ensuring that those students can support themselves and secure well-paid work upon graduation.

In a 30 April press release, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment said the new rules would mean that the family of a student would be able to apply for a residence permit in Finland only after the student has been in Finland for one year.

“In this way, the student would have a realistic idea of the income level required for living in Finland in advance,” the press release states.

“The income requirement for students would be clarified and provisions on the required income in euros would be laid down in an act and decree,” it adds.

It goes on to say that a language proficiency requirement would be added to the residence permit for studies in order to prevent abuse in cases where the student’s language skills are not sufficient for studying in Finland.

“Furthermore, the grounds for denial of the Aliens Act would apply to upper secondary students and all their family members. This would make it easier to monitor the granting of permits and combat any challenges in advance,” it notes.

Second legislative package

This is the second legislative package introduced this year relating to foreign students. It follows a proposal, sent for public comment in January and presented to parliament at the end of April, that will make it easier for authorities to revoke the residence permit of any foreign student who, unable to support themselves, seeks social (financial) assistance from the state.

“The majority of international students in Finland are doing well and able to make ends meet, as is required by their residence permit. However, we must make sure that students do not end up in a vulnerable position and that they meet the conditions of their residence permit. This is in the interest of everyone studying here,” Minister of Employment Matias Marttinen is quoted as saying.

As reported previously by University World News, the Finnish Immigration Service processed over 37,000 residence permits between September 2023 and December 2025 and recorded 333 cases of student applications for social assistance.

“The proposed change in legislation is expected to further reduce the number of people applying for social assistance,” the ministry said.

“Resorting to social assistance may indicate income challenges, in which case cancelling the permit may, under the current rules, be considered. In future, however, receiving social assistance would be a specific ground for cancelling the permit. In other words, drawing social assistance even once would, as a rule, lead to permit cancellation,” the ministry noted.

The changes would apply to students in higher education and upper secondary education from outside the European Union and European Economic Area countries and come into force in autumn 2026.

Misrepresentation by agents

According to Finland’s national broadcaster YLE, both sets of proposed legislative packages form part of a wider effort by Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s (NCP) government to tighten migration rules and reduce public spending on social benefits.

The moves follow an investigation by YLE’s investigation unit MOT in December last year which uncovered evidence that third-party agents were spreading false and misleading information to prospective fee-paying students, particularly those from South Asian countries such as India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. Agents would tell prospective students they could easily find work and earn a living wage in Finland – even without any Finnish language skills.

According to MOT, while unscrupulous agents exploit Finland’s image as the world’s happiest country, the “reality is quite different” because of Finland’s unemployment crisis. The YLE article based on the investigation argues that such misrepresentation has serious consequences, with many students finding themselves relying on handouts to survive.

Asked to respond to the MOT allegations, some of the universities of applied sciences who were represented by some of the agents agreed that the agents had misrepresented reality and undertook to look into the issue.

Some of the affected foreign students interviewed as part of the MOT investigation said they try to make ends meet by accepting food handouts from churches and local charities.

Sonja Jakobsson, the university chaplain of the Helsinki Parish Union who was interviewed for the MOT story, described the foreign students who joined foodbank queues as “victims of international education recruitment” and added that a new “poor underclass” has emerged in Finland as a result of the education agents’ deceit.

She questioned the ethics of a situation which made many students vulnerable to exploitation in the labour market or even to sexual abuse and called for Finnish educational institutions to stop using the services of third-party agents.

Jakobsson told MOT the roots of the problem lay in a change to Finland’s education laws introduced in 2022 by the government of Sanna Marin – which had, she alleged, created a “poverty trap”.

Those reforms meant that students from outside the EU were granted a continuous residence permit for the duration of their studies, instead of having to re-apply for the permit every year, as had previously been the case, and could bring their families with them.

Spouses were eligible to receive state support such as unemployment benefits and housing allowance, even though students themselves are not.

According to the article, the situation encouraged Finnish universities and universities of applied sciences to increase the number of English-language degree programmes as a means of attracting fee-paying students from outside the EU, which resulted in the arrival of a large number of students and their families, especially from South Asia.

Retention challenges

The challenge of attracting top international students and retaining them in Finland after graduation was discussed at a joint Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment and Ministry of Education and Culture roundtable last November under the theme: “Employment of international students requires more tailored language support and stronger links to working life”.

According to a press release from the event, international higher education students – only just over half of whom were able to find employment in Finland after graduation – were seen as having the potential to drive greater economic growth and innovation.

Marttinen and Minister of Science and Culture Mari-Leena Talvitie “invited businesses, cities, higher education institutions and students to find solutions to improve international students’ employment prospects in Finland”, said the press release.

Some of the ideas proposed included tailored language training and use of technology in multilingual workplaces; broader and new meeting points for connecting international students with SMEs/start-ups; sharing of best practices for strengthening students’ links to the world of work; more support for spouses’ career development; and improving society’s receptiveness to international graduates.

“International students have engaged with Finnish society, picked up Finnish or Swedish, embraced the culture and even adjusted to our climate. They want to find jobs or start businesses. We need agile forms of cooperation between higher education institutions, companies and municipalities so that businesses and international students can connect more easily,” Talvitie was quoted as saying.

Supportive environment

In an email to University World News, University of Helsinki Vice-Rector Kai Nordlund said his university emphasises the importance of recruiting and educating international experts. “To facilitate this, it is essential that students have their livelihoods secured before and during their studies, allowing them to focus entirely on their academic pursuits.”

Nordlund said the University of Helsinki “openly inform” applicants at various stages of the application process of their responsibility to cover their own costs in Finland and ensure that their financing is in order before leaving their home country.

He said the university was concerned about potential conflict between receiving social benefits and the proposed residence permit regulations, which could discourage students from seeking necessary assistance.

“The university is critical about the somewhat uncoordinated proposals for legislative changes affecting international students, as this complicates communication of the guidelines and creates uncertainty among students. Coordinated management of these amendments is crucial for creating a supportive environment and realistic prospects for our students,” he said.

A question of priorities

National Union of Students in Finnish Universities of Applied Sciences (SAMOK) higher education policy special advisor Samuli Leppämäki told University World News Finland’s image would “benefit more from allocating state resources towards improving overall residence permit processing times rather than developing costly automated inspection systems”.

Leppämäki said the number of international students relying on social assistance was marginal, and expediting permit revocations did not address the root causes of their income difficulties.

“Furthermore, there has been limited evaluation of the broader societal impacts of this monitoring. It remains unclear how much new demand this system might create for alternative forms of support, potentially shifting the burden to third-sector organisations, churches, and food aid charities.

“Ultimately, focusing immigration resources on functional, efficient, and welcoming entry processes serves both the students and Finnish society more effectively,” Leppämäki said.

However, he said SAMOK were in favour of any efforts in ensuring international students’ financial wellbeing. To that end, stricter ethical guidelines for recruitment agencies were “legitimate”.

“Many of the current issues among the most vulnerable international students stem from misleading marketing done by recruitment agencies, including legally grey procedures regarding their services.

“We would encourage the government to focus on constructing clearer guidelines for how the agencies operate in partnership with Finnish higher education institutions and providing help for those who are in the most financially vulnerable situations,” he noted.