Finland invites Indian tech professionals during global layoff season

Finland has invited Indian techies to migrate there for work, offering opportunities as global tech companies lay off thousands of employees.

Finland aims to double work-based migration and triple study-based migration by 2030. “We are happy to welcome talent from India to Finland. Finland offers career opportunities in a myriad of professions like IT, health tech, clean tech, hydrogen and battery industries, manufacturing, hospitality & tourism and health sector,” said Laura Lindeman, senior director, Work in Finland, a government-backed group.

Business Finland, a government organisation for innovation funding and trade, travel and investments, in December 2022 signed a memorandum of understanding with the Confederation of Indian Industry for talent mobility. Finland’s government wants to attract new talent and skilled workers to increase tax revenue and fight population decline.

“We see mutual benefits in building strong cooperation between our countries in talent mobility and wish to offer Indian talents opportunities for professional growth in Finland,” said Lindeman on Monday.

This comes a month after Finland's employment minister, Tuula Haatainen, visited India. Finland has reduced the time for issuing permits for faster movement in the country, Haatainen had said in December. In an interview with Wion News, the minister said then the country needed 130,000 professionals at different levels in the technology and IT sectors.

“We are confident India's tech professionals and startup entrepreneurs will appreciate how we emphasize equality and diversity in the workplace. We believe that treating everyone with equal worth is a key factor in how our local tech ecosystem has become globally competitive," said Gitta Perez, head of Talent Boost in India for Business Finland.

According to the latest Finnish Immigration Services statistics, more than 10,000 Indians live in Finland for work and education. Just in the last 12 months, over 7,500 Indians have applied for a resident permit. Leading tech employers in the country include Microsoft, Nokia, elevator engineering firm Kone, hardware manufacturer IQM Finland, and health tech major Oura.

In a recent event conducted in India, Business Finland saw interest from more than 3000 talent, entrepreneurs and students who want to move to Finland to pursue their careers. As per the Work in Finland official website, a foreign employee in Finland has the same rights and responsibilities at work as a Finnish employee, even without having a residence permit.