Centre Party chair and PM-designate Juha Sipilä said on Wednesday afternoon that his future government sees work-based immigration in a positive light. The three-party coalition will aim to keep the number of quota refugees at the same level as in recent years, he told reporters in Helsinki.
According to Sipilä, the next government intends to advance labour-based immigration that strengthens Finland’s employment picture, its public finances, the internationalisation of its economy and the ratio of working-age people to the swelling ranks of pensioners.
“We see work-based immigration as a positive thing. We will retain the option of means tests of labour coming from outside the EU. It should be easier for companies that hire specialists to bring those with special know-how into the country,” said Sipilä, the former CEO of an information technology firm.
A position paper on immigration released on Wednesday also states that the new cabinet wants to adopt tuition fees for university-level students from outside the EU or European Economic Area.
It adds: “We will encourage graduates to remain to work in Finland through tax deduction rights, for instance. We will advance the domestic employment of international students who have studied in Finland, with an emphasis on Finnish language skills.”