Working outside the EU area

Work that you have done outside the EU area (EU, EEA, Switzerland) cannot be credited to the employment condition for daily allowance, nor will it extend the employment condition review period. Posted workers have different rules.

A period of employment in another country can, however, be ‘skipped’. This requires that you have had sufficient employment or that you have been absent from the labour market for an acceptable reason while in the other country. The employment in another country must be such that it would be credited to the employment condition in Finland if performed in Finland.

Also note that the review period may be extended under the normal terms and conditions. For instance, the fact that your spouse accompanies you abroad is not in itself sufficient cause for extending the review period.

If you are absent from the labour market without acceptable cause for more than 6 months, you will lose your employment condition accrual and will not be entitled to daily allowance.

Entitlement to daily allowance after returning from abroad

In order to qualify for earnings-related daily allowance, you must be resident in Finland and covered by Finnish social security. Whether you were covered by Finnish social security while working abroad or not is irrelevant as far as unemployment security is concerned. Further information on the coverage of Finnish social security can be found on Kela’s website.

Cases in which you may receive daily allowance after returning to Finland from a country outside the EU area.

  1. You have met the employment condition, and your daily allowance was calculated in Finland before you went abroad. After your return (regardless of how long your stay abroad was), you may receive the same daily allowance as previously calculated, unless in between you have been absent from the labour market or not a member of an unemployment fund.
  2. You work abroad for a short period so that within the review period of 28 months you have at least 26 calendar weeks of employment in Finland that meets the employment condition.

In both cases, KOKO recommends that you are a member of the KOKO unemployment fund for the duration of your stay abroad.