A number of young Ukrainians who came to Finland for various reasons, including Russia’s war, have left the country because they couldn’t find jobs.
Yle’s Ukrainian news unit spoke with four people who have found themselves in similar situations.
One of them was Vladislava Onufrienko, a 25-year-old who has lived in Vantaa.
She first worked as a freelance makeup artist and then as a university canteen worker. However her last job ended due to renovations and she has been out of work for about six months.
“Since then, I haven’t been able to work anywhere. Even though I have all the hygiene certificates, qualifications to serve alcohol, and I speak four languages,” Onufrienko said.
“Unfortunately, my life in Finland was not successful. I tried to do everything I could. I feel like this country doesn’t want me here,” she said.
After considering Spain as a possible destination, Onufrienko has decided to move to Estonia.
‘I can’t live like this’
Meanwhile, Joutsa resident Andrii Kaminskyi has also decided to leave the country.
“I’m looking for a job, but I can’t find anything. Even on farms, Finnish is required, English is not enough. I send dozens of applications every week, and I don’t even get a negative response to most of them,” Kaminskyi told Yle Novyny, Yle’s Ukrainian-language news unit.
After his home in Russian-occupied Mariupol was destroyed and being detained in a Russian internment camp, Kaminskyi eventually made his way to Europe.
Open image viewer
Andrii Kaminskyi. Image: Andrii Kaminskyi
“First I went to Estonia, where Ukrainians were accommodated on a ship, four people to one cabin. I found work right away,” he said.
But having studied civil engineering, Kaminskyi thought that Finland could offer a better standard of living and more suitable job opportunities.
He arrived in Finland a year ago in April, settling at the reception centre in Joutsa and managed to find summer employment at a flower farm for a month and a half.
“Now I’ve decided to go back to Estonia. I can’t live like this – without work, without prospects, without a future,” he explained.
Onufrienko came to Finland before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and secured a work-related residence permit. But the situation Kaminskyi and most other Ukrainians left in Finland is more uncertain.
The rights of Ukrainians receiving temporary protection in Finland is set to expire in about a year, and it remains to be seen whether that special status will be extended.
According to results of a survey by the Finnish Ministry of the Interior last year, 66 percent of Ukrainians with the temporary protection status do not plan on returning to Ukraine.
Temporary protection up in the air
According to Tuuli Tuunanen, the chief specialist at the ministry’s immigration unit, temporary protection is by nature a temporary status and does not offer a permanent solution to remain in the EU.
“If you want to stay in Finland more permanently, it is necessary to find a job or study place,” Tuunanen explained.
However, there are obstacles in finding work, as Finland has the highest unemployment rate in Europe, and employers almost universally require proficient Finnish skills when they hire people.
Securing a study place will also be a bit more difficult in August, as Finland is set to charge tuition fees to students from non-EU and EEA countries to attend university, for example.
Ukrainians will not be subject to those tuition fees, at least at first, but it also remains to be seen whether this exemption will continue next year.
Like Kaminskyi, many Ukrainians are choosing to move to Estonia — and not just for the job opportunities.
Estonia’s rules are different
The time spent under temporary protection in Estonia counts toward the required period of residence to obtain a permanent residence permit. However, Finland does not offer such an arrangement.
Finland’s requirements are roughly as strict as in Hungary, but the employment rate for Ukrainians in Hungary stands at about 71 percent, according to the UN’s refugee agency UNHCR.
In Finland, the employment rate of Ukrainians is about 40 percent.
Ukrainian Hanna Didkivska fled the war with her two children in October 2024. She had lived in the Donetsk region. However, after six months of unsuccessful job-seeking, she left Finland for Hungary.
“I liked Finland, a beautiful country, nice people. But I couldn’t find a job,” Didkivska explained, adding that she found a job at a car factory shortly after she moved to the Hungarian city of Gyor.
Marianna Kojokar came from Ukraine to Finland last year with her two children, receiving accommodation at a reception centre in Muurala, Lapland.
However, the location was remote, she said.
Open image viewer
Marianna Kojokar. Image: Marianna Kojokar
“There was only forest around us, it took 30 minutes by public transport to reach civilisation,” she said.
But people who receive temporary protection in Finland cannot choose the location of the reception centre in which they live. That decision can only be made after a year of residency.
“I couldn’t live like that. I had to find something for the children to do and find a job for myself, “Kojokar explained.
She and her children moved to Copenhagen, Denmark two months ago. Even though she hasn’t landed a job yet, Kojokar said she is happy with her life there.
40,000 have already left
Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale attack on Ukraine more than four years ago, Finland has granted temporary protection to a total of around 90,000 Ukrainians.
Currently, around 50,000 of them remain in Finland.
The remainder have moved to other EU countries or returned to Ukraine, according to the interior ministry’s Tuuli Tuunanen.
In order to obtain new temporary protection in another European country, they need to cancel their protected status in Finland.
The Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) offers a web-based form to carry out the process. It also offers advice about how to properly destroy residence permit cards.
“Cut the card’s chip into four parts – first into two parts vertically and then horizontally. Put the parts in the mixed waste bin, preferably in several different bin bags,” Migri’s website explained.
This is a translated and slightly condensed version of an article by Galyna Sergeyeva, a journalist at Yle’s Ukrainian news unit, Yle Novyny.