Statutory integration services in Finland and Espoo

The integration period usually lasts no more than two years. The initial integration plan is usually drawn up for one year. It can then be extended by another year. In this case, the integration plan is reviewed every six months.

In some cases, the integration period can be extended by a maximum of two years. Due to the strict criteria laid out in the Act, expert evaluation is needed. The grounds for the extension may include:

• low level of education or illiteracy;
• serious illness or injury
• pregnancy and parental leave
• caring for a child at home with a home care allowance and participating part-time in Koto-Espoo’s services
• being a victim of human trafficking.

Together with an Employment Services expert, you will fill out an assessment of competences and integration service needs. Its purpose is to determine your study and work history, language skills and other matters affecting integration and employment. The assessment may include language proficiency testing and literacy testing.

Based on the assessment, you will prepare an integration plan together with an Employment Services expert. It supports your integration in Finland. The plan outlines, for example:

• your Finnish or Swedish studies and
• your participation in suitable services that promote employment.

An Employment Services expert will help you choose the services that best suit your skills and study capabilities. For example, it is often agreed in the integration plan that you will start social orientation and integration training.

In integration training, you study Finnish or Swedish. You will also study other skills needed in society and working life. You cannot apply for integration training independently, but an Employment Services expert will direct you to a suitable course.

Before starting the training, you will participate in language level testing so that you can start in a suitable training group. You may have to wait a while for a training place. Integration training is free of charge, and you can receive financial aid during it (unemployment benefits).

You can also search for language training yourself, for example on the Finnishcourses.fi website. However, always talk to your assigned Employment Services expert first. In this case, the language courses you have found can be added to your integration plan and you can receive unemployment benefits when you are studying.

Read more about studying Finnish and Swedish.

The purpose of social orientation is to provide basic information about Finnish society in a language that you know well. The course deals with the following themes, for example:

• Finnish society and its values
• Housing, everyday life and services in Finland
• Family life and children
• Working life and studying
• Health and ageing
• Finnish laws, your rights and obligations

Courses include discussions and sharing experiences with other participants.

Currently, Espoo Employment Services offer social orientation courses in Albanian, Arabic, English, Farsi/Dari, Russian and Somali. The course combines on-site teaching and distance learning. The course lasts 70 hours and is also suitable for illiterate people.

The best time to participate in the social orientation is as soon as possible after the integration plan has been drawn up. You can participate in the course, for example, when you are waiting for a place in integration training.

Together with an expert from Koto-Espoo, you will fill out an assessment of competences and integration service needs. Its purpose is to determine your study and work history, language skills and other matters affecting integration and employment. The assessment may include language proficiency testing and literacy testing.

If you need social welfare and health care services, an employee of the Western Uusimaa Well-being Services County can join the assessment. The Western Uusimaa Well-being Services County offers social welfare and health care services to Espoo residents.

Based on the assessment of service needs, you and the Koto-Espoo expert will draw up an integration plan together. It will support your integration in Finland. The plan may include, for example:

• studying Finnish or Swedish
• participation in the social orientation course
• participation in suitable organisational activities.

The integration plan is drawn up for a maximum of one year at a time, and it is updated at least every six months. It is often agreed in the integration plan that you will start studying Finnish or Swedish.

For working-age customers, the most important objectives of integration are usually language learning, employment and learning new skills for working life.

You can take a Finnish or Swedish course through Koto-Espoo. There are many different courses, and you will be selected together to suit your life situation.

Skills in Finnish or Swedish help you find employment and a place to study. You are better able to manage everyday matters and, for example, support your children’s school attendance.

Koto-Espoo offers Finnish language courses for home parents at the Espoo Centre and Matinkylä. Basic and advanced courses are available. One course usually lasts for a maximum of six months, and there are two or three days of teaching a week at a time. The courses involve visits to different locations. In addition, many courses strengthen the skills needed in working life.

The Finnish courses in Koto-Espoo provide childcare for children over the age of 1 who are not in a day-care centre.

You can participate in Finnish language courses in resident parks with a baby-aged child or a child older. They are organised in different parts of Espoo. One course lasts the spring or autumn.

The parents of children under the age of 1 have courses for studying the basics of Finnish using music and play. The course is organised once a week. The child participates in the course with their own parent.

If Koto-Espoo’s own language courses are not suitable for you, you can be directed to another course. Many parties organise different language courses in Espoo. During the integration period, Finnish or Swedish courses are free of charge.

You can search for language courses yourself on the FinnishCourses.fi website.

• Read more about studying Finnish and Swedish.
• Read more about different language courses on the FinnishCourses.fi website.(external link, opens in a new window)

The purpose of the Tervetuloa Suomeen course is to provide basic information on Finnish society in a language that you know well. The course deals with the following themes, for example:

• Finnish society and its values
• housing, everyday life and services in Finland
• family life and children
• working life and studying
• health and ageing
• Finnish laws, your rights and obligations

Social orientations include discussions and sharing experiences with other participants. The course lasts 70 hours and is also suitable for illiterate people. The course may include both on-site and remote teaching.

The best time to participate in the social orientation is as soon as possible after the integration plan has been drawn up.

Social orientation courses are organised according to the languages demanded. Ask your assigned Koto-Espoo employee for more detailed information about the upcoming Tervetuloa Suomeen courses.

Tervetuloa Suomeen courses provide childcare for children over the age of 1 who are not in a daycare centre.

Koto-Espoo offers you career guidance and coaching that will help you move to working life. You will learn to verbalise your competence and strengths. In career counselling, you can consider your goals and wishes related to working life. Koto-Espoo also offers information on different study opportunities.

Koto-Espoo shares information on different family services and leisure opportunities in Espoo. Parents of young children can familiarise themselves with Finnish early childhood education and care. The parents receive information on how to apply for a place in a day-care centre for a child.

Koto-Espoo courses have childcare so that parents of young children can also participate. A child can participate in a club if they are over the age of 1 and they are not yet in a daycare centre. Parents of children under the age of 1 are offered courses that can be attended together with the baby.

Children’s club employees are professionals in early childhood education and care. At the club, children learn Finnish and meet other children. Children learn important skills that they need later, for example in day care centres and schools. Children practice at the club how to be away from their own parent and how to communicate with others.

The integration period refers to the period during which the person has a valid integration plan. In this case, they are entitled to statutory integration services.

The integration period begins when the first integration plan is drawn up for the person. The first integration plan can be drawn up if less than three years have passed since the first residence permit was issued. In other words, apply for services in the early stages of entry when you have the right to statutory integration services!

The integration period usually lasts two years. Sometimes the integration period can be extended. The grounds for the extension may include, for example:

• low level of education or illiteracy.
• serious illness or injury.
• pregnancy and parental leave.

If you care for children at home with a child home care allowance and participate in integration services in Koto-Espoo part-time, you may receive an extension to the integration period.

If you are a victim of human trafficking, the integration period can be extended. The maximum extension is two years.

When you start as a customer of Employment Services or Koto-Espoo, you will fill out an assessment of your competence and integration service needs together with an expert. Its purpose is to determine your study and work history, language skills and other matters affecting integration and employment.

The expert will help you identify your strengths and assets related to working life and studying. The assessment may include language proficiency testing and literacy testing.

If you need social welfare and health care services, an employee of the Western Uusimaa Well-being Services County can join the assessment. The Western Uusimaa Well-being Services County offers social welfare and health care services to Espoo residents.

Based on the assessment, you and the expert will also draw up an integration plan together.

The integration plan is an individual plan aimed at promoting the integration of a person in Finland. The authority and the person who moved to Finland create the plan together. In the plan, they agree on the customer's goals and the services that the customer will use.

The purpose of the integration plan is to promote

• proficiency in Finnish or Swedish.
• knowledge and skills needed in working life.
• opportunities to participate in society as an equal member.

The customer must comply with the integration plan in order to be entitled to unemployment benefit or social assistance. The integration plan can be updated as necessary.

In order for the City of Espoo to draw up an integration plan, the immigrant must have a municipality of residence in Espoo or Kauniainen, along with one of the following:

• a residence permit,
• registration of right of residence
• a residence card
• a municipality of residence and registration of population data.

Integration training is a service aimed at developing an adult immigrant’s Finnish or Swedish skills. Integration training also promotes other skills needed in Finnish working life and studies. The training also supports the participation of immigrants in society.

Multilingual social orientation is a course offered to people who have recently moved to Finland. The social orientation course provides participants with information about Finnish society in their mother tongue or a language in which they are fluent. Participants will be informed of their rights and obligations in Finland. The course discusses and shares experiences.

Who is a victim of human trafficking?

If you have to work in conditions that are not legal in Finland, this may be human trafficking. Human trafficking is a serious crime. Its forms include forced labour, sexual exploitation and coercion into criminal activities. In human trafficking, the offender wants to obtain financial benefits at the victim's expense and controls their activities.

• Read more about human trafficking and forced labour on the InfoFinland website(external link, opens in a new window).
• Learn how to identify exploitation at work.