Finland’s National Coalition Party (NCP) wants stricter asylum rules, tougher family reunification requirements and tighter access to social security as part of a proposed shift towards a more selective immigration policy.
The party’s parliamentary group published its new immigration policy guidelines on Friday, setting out proposals intended to give Finland greater control over who enters the country, the conditions under which people can stay and the requirements they must meet to remain.
The proposals were prepared under the leadership of NCP MP Atte Kaleva, who has headed the work since January. Among the main measures are moving asylum processing outside the European Union, linking immigrants’ eligibility for unemployment benefits to their employment history in Finland and making it harder to qualify for certain pension benefits.
“This means that Finland must be able to decide under all circumstances who is allowed to enter the country and under what conditions, as well as who is allowed to remain here,” Kaleva said.
One of the most significant proposals would move asylum processing entirely to reception and return centres outside the EU. The parliamentary group also wants to restrict repeated asylum applications considered unfounded and improve the efficiency of returns.
Kaleva argued that the asylum system should focus on protecting individuals who genuinely need international protection rather than serving as a route for large-scale migration.
“Asylum has been misused as a channel for mass migration, which it was never intended to be. We are returning to protecting individual people who are in need of protection. This also removes the market for people smuggling,” he said.
The programme also proposes allowing serious or repeated criminal offences to lead to the revocation of a person’s residence permit and subsequent deportation.
For quota refugees, the party wants authorities to consider not only protection needs but also the individual’s prospects for integrating into Finnish society and culture. Kaleva said Finland’s democratic principles, individual freedoms, equality, women’s and girls’ rights, and minority rights should remain central to decisions about immigration.
“If a person is unable to adapt to these values, then of course they cannot be accepted into Finland,” he said.
The proposals extend beyond asylum policy to the social security system. Under the suggested changes, immigrants’ eligibility for unemployment benefits would depend on their work history in Finland, with the level of support varying according to how long they had been employed.
The group also wants stricter eligibility conditions for the national pension and the guarantee pension, which provides a minimum level of pension income to eligible people whose other pensions are small.
Family reunification is another area targeted for change. The party proposes requiring people who bring family members to Finland to demonstrate that they can support them through employment or business activities.
The NCP says it wants to encourage immigration linked to employment while preventing the growth of a low-wage labour market that relies on workers being paid insufficient salaries.
“We cannot create a cheap labour market in Finland, where people come here to work for companies that do not pay a sufficient salary,” Kaleva said.
The programme also places primary responsibility for integration on immigrants themselves, while recognising that employers have a role to play.
The proposals are outlined in the parliamentary group’s immigration policy programme, titled “Towards Selective Immigration” (“Kohti valikoivaa maahanmuuttoa”). The programme sets out the party’s preferred direction for immigration policy, but the published proposals should not be confused with changes that have already entered into force.
The programme was published by the NCP parliamentary group in a press release in Finnish.
