Finland Goes After Foreign Students Exploiting the Country

Finland has introduced a proposal to cancel student residence permits for non-EU students who receive basic social assistance during their stay.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment opened a public consultation on the draft legislation on January 16.

The plan aims to ensure that international students meet the existing requirement to support themselves financially while studying in Finland.

Under the proposal, authorities will introduce an automated monitoring system to track whether students receive benefits from Kela, Finland’s social insurance agency.

The system will share data directly with the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri), allowing officials to review cases more efficiently.

The new rules will apply specifically to students from outside the European Union and European Economic Area who hold residence permits for studies.

Officials say the measure seeks to close a loophole that has allowed some students to continue receiving social assistance without consequences for their visa status.

“Automated post-decision monitoring would be used regularly to determine whether a student receives social assistance,” the ministry said in a statement.

The proposal forms part of Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s government program, which focuses on tightening education-based immigration and reducing reliance on public benefits.

Between September 2023 and December 2025, Migri reviewed more than 37,000 residence permits. During this period, 333 students received basic social assistance, but none had their permits revoked because current rules do not allow cancellation of one-time payments.

If the law is approved, even a single instance of receiving social assistance could lead to withdrawal of a student’s residence permit.

Finland hosted around 76,000 international students last year. The planned changes will only affect those coming from non-EU and non-EEA countries.

The ministry will accept public feedback on the draft until February 27 through the Lausuntopalvelu.fi portal.

The government aims to present the bill in parliament during the spring session and implement the new system soon afterward.