Unemployment benifit during integration plan?

[Zoll]

Do every immigrant get unemployment benifit (labour market subsidy) when he gets integration program and attending it or only immigrants with qualification and professional experience get it?

[cors187]

Thats been a question here before.
http://www.kela.fi/in/internet/english. ... enDocument

Unemployment

If you become unemployed or finish school and do not have a job, contact the employment office as soon as possible to register as an unemployed job seeker. Once registered, you are eligible for

Unemployment Allowance (basic or earnings-related allowance) or
Labour Market Subsidy.

Earnings-related Unemployment Allowance is claimed from your unemployment fund. It is available to members of an unemployment fund only and can be paid for up to 500 days. For more information about the earnings-related Unemployment Allowance, see the website of the Federation of Unemployment Funds in Finland or contact your unemployment fund.

Basic Unemployment Allowance and Labour Market Subsidy are claimed from Kela. To qualify for the Basic Unemployment Allowance, you must meet a specific condition regarding your employment history (i.e., you must have been employed for at least 8 months during the two years preceding the unemployment). Basic Unemployment Allowance is paid for a maximum of 500 days.

If you do not meet the condition, you may be eligible for Labour Market Subsidy. It is payable to unemployed job seekers who enter the labour market for the first time or otherwise have no recent work experience It can also be paid to long-term unemployed persons who have exhausted their 500-day eligibility for the basic or earnings-related Unemployment Allowance.

Unemployed immigrants are paid Labour Market Subsidy in the form of Integration Assistance for the first 3 years of their residence in Finland.

During participation in labour market training, unemployed persons can be paid either Labour Market Subsidy or Unemployment Allowance in combination with a maintenance allowance.

Aging unemployed persons who satisfy the condition regarding previous employment are eligible for an extended Unemployment Allowance and can avail themselves of a kind of unemployment path to retirement. Persons born before 1950 can seek an Unemployment Pension.

Kela may have a secret formula to determine the exact eligibility.

Labour Market Subsidy

The purpose of the Labour Market Subsidy is to provide financial assistance for

unemployed job seekers who enter the labour market for the first time or otherwise have no recent work experience
long-term unemployed persons who have exhausted their 500-day eligibility for the basic or earnings-related unemployment allowance.

The Labour Market Subsidy is a means-tested benefit. This means that any other income that the unemployed person or, if they live in the same household as the unemployed person, his or her parents may have decreases the amount of the subsidy.

[faronel]

I will expand Cors' answer. It is easier to become a client at TE-toimisto (abrv. TET) and once you get your integration plan, TET will issue a political statement to KELA that TET is not against it if KELA paid the immigrant the unemployment benefit (which, in terms of integration plan, is called kotoutumistuki). However, KELA will then make the final decision.

How KELA makes the decision:

a) First, you have to file a general application for social insurance coverage under KELA (application' number Y 77, "e" stands for English version)
http://www.kela.fi/in/internet/english. ... enDocument
This is basically to get a reply if KELA recognizes you as a member of its system or not. In a nutshell, if KELA says yes, then you can try applying for different benefits, provided you meet the requirements to receive those benefits; if no, then there is no coverage at all.
In general, KELA is obliged to make a decision based on Social Security Legislation (chapter 2): http://www.finlex.fi/en/laki/kaannokset ... 931573.pdf
However, as much as I understand it (I maybe wrong), the legislation allows KELA to have some leeway in considering incoming applications (i.e. "has other links to Finland" - as far as I am concerned, this could mean anything). This is where those "secret formulas" come in. I think, the better your application looks on paper, along with your current activities in Finland (what have you done already here), the better the chances.

b) Then, if KELA accepts the Y 77 application, then an immigrant can apply for unemployment benefit (in his or her case here, the kotoutumistuki). For that, you would be needing to file another application (TT 1):
http://www.kela.fi/in/internet/english. ... enDocument
Here, KELA will consider your eligibility to receive the unemployment benefit. The basic info is provided by Cors already. To add, starting from 2013, the Labour Market Subsidy is NOT affected by the spouse's income (e.g. if TT 1 gets approved and you get 32.46 euros per day for entire 2013, it will be exactly that minus tax % calculated by VERO (without additional re-calculations for spouse income).

[Tom_Campbell75]

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[Tom_Campbell75]

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[Upphew]

It looks like the days on Labour Market Subsidy do not tick away. I don't see the real advantage of Basic Daily Allowance or even why they are two separate forms of benefit still. Hauskaa vappua!

Big wheels turn slowly...

[Adrian42]

I don't see the real advantage of Basic Daily Allowance or even why they are two separate forms of benefit still.

Basic Daily Allowance is not means-tested.

[Adrian42]

I don't see the real advantage of Basic Daily Allowance or even why they are two separate forms of benefit still.

Basic Daily Allowance is not means-tested.

I understood that means-testing was removed from the Basic Daily allowance from the start of 2013? There was another thread on here somewhere about this same thing in December.

Wasn't the Basic Daily allowance always not means-tested?
(Same goes for the money from your unemployment funds you get when you are a member.)

The main change in 2013 is that the income of the spouse is no longer considered for the means-tested labour market subsidy (making it more attractive for Finns to import spouses from third-world countries...).

[Tom_Campbell75]

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[cors187]

of Basic Daily Allowance or even why they are two separate forms of benefit still. Hauskaa vappua!

It could be thought about the 2 forms ,
One is of the system and one is in the system.

[onurhan1]

Hello, I would like to make one point clear about the unemployment benefit during integration plan-

I recently received a letter from work office! Even though I am a recent immigrant who is participating in integration plan and the odds for me getting the unemployment benefit is high I was denied for the reason that my university studies back in my home country is still valid. I am not a registered student and I have no relation to the university, but apparently it is a must that the break FROM STUDIES is AT LEAST 12 MONTHS before you can get the unemployment benefit KEEP IN MIND PLEASE

[Upphew]

Hello, I would like to make one point clear about the unemployment benefit during integration plan-

I recently received a letter from work office! Even though I am a recent immigrant who is participating in integration plan and the odds for me getting the unemployment benefit is high I was denied for the reason that my university studies back in my home country is still valid. I am not a registered student and I have no relation to the university, but apparently it is a must that the break FROM STUDIES is AT LEAST 12 MONTHS before you can get the unemployment benefit KEEP IN MIND PLEASE

Yup. Students aren't unemployed, they are students.

[Piet]

Hello, I would like to make one point clear about the unemployment benefit during integration plan-

I recently received a letter from work office! Even though I am a recent immigrant who is participating in integration plan and the odds for me getting the unemployment benefit is high I was denied for the reason that my university studies back in my home country is still valid. I am not a registered student and I have no relation to the university, but apparently it is a must that the break FROM STUDIES is AT LEAST 12 MONTHS before you can get the unemployment benefit KEEP IN MIND PLEASE

Yup. Students aren't unemployed, they are students.

There is some twisted rule in kela rules that assume when you did not finish your studies, you are still a student. So whenever you apply for unemployment benefits and they ask you if you finished your studies, answer yes, but not graduated (in case you didn't finish). Otherwise they automatically assume you will continue your studies and for that reason you are still a student by their rules.

If you have this problem already, you can contact social office (go there to the office and when you are there...make an appointment for another day, if you try calling them to make an appointment, you will be waiting on the phone for half a day, making an appointment cannot be done by email).
Social office will help to correct this, otherwise they have to pay you the money you get below official minimum living standards = toimeentulotuki (, they will not want to do this but they have too if you have no other financial resources. Of course this will only work if you have acquired a permanent residence permit. Beware, social office wants all of your bank slips and payment slips of the past 3 months of the whole family (you your wifes and your at home living kids), and you have to apply for this income support every month, it does not automatically renew every month (depending on the decision they made).

There are some strict rules for eligibility to toimeentulotuki, for example things that might prevent you from getting the toimeentulotuki can be: owning an "expensive" car (especially when it is still from the bank), have big loans that needs monthly payments, or own a house.

Being in an integration (f.e. language) course with permission, or organized by TE office which is at least 4 hours a day, TE- office / Kela will grant you an extra 9€ for that day that is not taxed or deducted from any other benefit you receive. If you need a public transport card for this and you are already client at Social office, there might be a possibility to get this public transport card refunded by Social office on the basis of a month-card, but this depends on what your counsellor decides, based on the provided information. (They might argue that the received 9 euro a day, is for that purpose... and they would be right ).

Also Health care costs are refunded in full in most cases, when you receive "toimeentulotuki", so all bills you get from the hospital you can deliver to them and they pay them (if your right for toimeentulotuki is in the same month as the last payment date on the bill).
For your Terveys asema bills, take your Kela paper every month with you when you go visit the doctor and no bill will be sent. (Have this processed at the patient-desk, not the doctor!)
Most of the time all medicine at the apteeki are free in that same month you receive toimeentulotuki, you will get a paper from the social office for that, which can be delivered at your apteeki, beware ..medicine are then only free at this apteeki that has the paper form social office.

So that is Social office in a nutshell (with thanks to a Dutch friend of mine for the information )

http://stm.fi/en/income-security/social-assistance
(in Finnish: http://stm.fi/toimeentulotuki)

Good luck to you all

[betelgeuse]

Social office will help to correct this, otherwise they have to pay you the money you get below official minimum living standards = toimeentulotuki (, they will not want to do this but they have too if you have no other financial resources. Of course this will only work if you have acquired a permanent residence permit. Beware, social office wants all of your bank slips and payment slips of the past 3 months of the whole family (you your wifes and your at home living kids), and you have to apply for this income support every month, it does not automatically renew every month (depending on the decision they made).

There's no permanent residence permit required for income support (toimeentulotuki). It is available for everyone without income or assets to support themselves.

There are some strict rules for eligibility to toimeentulotuki, for example things that might prevent you from getting the toimeentulotuki can be: owning an "expensive" car (especially when it is still from the bank), have big loans that needs monthly payments, or own a house.

If you have assets you need to liquidate them before you get income support. However, this does not apply to own house/apartment. Loans are irrelevant for income support.

[Piet]

Social office will help to correct this, otherwise they have to pay you the money you get below official minimum living standards = toimeentulotuki (, they will not want to do this but they have too if you have no other financial resources. Of course this will only work if you have acquired a permanent residence permit. Beware, social office wants all of your bank slips and payment slips of the past 3 months of the whole family (you your wifes and your at home living kids), and you have to apply for this income support every month, it does not automatically renew every month (depending on the decision they made).

There's no permanent residence permit required for income support (toimeentulotuki). It is available for everyone without income or assets to support themselves.

There are some strict rules for eligibility to toimeentulotuki, for example things that might prevent you from getting the toimeentulotuki can be: owning an "expensive" car (especially when it is still from the bank), have big loans that needs monthly payments, or own a house.

If you have assets you need to liquidate them before you get income support. However, this does not apply to own house/apartment. Loans are irrelevant for income support.

I will forward your information, do you have a source for me? I found this myself and believe the mistake that you refer to is:

"Permanent residence permit" should have been "a residence permit" (so not everyone like you said either I know... just semantics)

To summarize, if you do not have a residence permit, you have no right to be in Finland and therefore no right to any financial aid either.
Of course a lot of residence permits are connected to work contracts or study contracts, so if these end, your permit to stay ends as well.


And as you can read about the remark about the house and the loans, the words "might prevents" are used because if you have a house of worth 1 million euro, there is for sure no way you can get toimeentulotuki, because this toimeentulotuki will not be enough to cover the heating / electricity / tax / maintenance expenses for this house so you will be forced to sell it anyway. The same counts for loans, if these loans are the reason for your below standard financial situation, you are out of luck here, the state will not pay your loans or your mortgage, they will however help you resolve your Financial problems by counselling and mediating and help you make payment plans with your debt collectors.
At the meanwhile you might get temporarily some leniency regarding your monthly expenses like housing costs, but for continued support you will be urged to take action like f.e. moving to a cheaper housing solution that fits your family composition (instead of a 6 bedroom apartment with a yard of 500m² and to indoor parking places for 2 adults and 1 kid, to a 2 bedroom apartment in a social housing apartment).

And again, this is based on the information I got from someone else, so if there is any mistakes, I would love to read the official papers and rules that seem to be hard to find online..... so betelgeuse, can you help me out here, can you provide me a source for these "assets" rules? thanks in advance..