Hiring Cleaners from Abroad in Finland: Employer Guide (2026)

6 min

Is there a genuine shortage of cleaners in Finland?

Cleaning and facility maintenance companies in Finland face persistent recruitment challenges. Demand is concentrated heavily in major urban centers such as the Helsinki metropolitan area (Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa), Tampere, and Turku, as well as seasonal hospitality hotspots like Lapland during the winter tourism peak. While local hiring remains the primary route for entry-level tasks, many domestic service providers struggle to maintain full shift coverage due to high staff turnover and shifting candidate expectations.

Hiring non-EU workers for cleaning roles is fully legal, but it is not an instant shortcut. In Finland, cleaner and housekeeper roles fall under ISCO occupation group 9112 (Cleaner and Helpers in Offices, Hotels and Other Establishments). In some Finnish regions, local employment authorities apply a labor-market test (tarveharkinta) before approving a work permit for non-EU candidates. This test checks whether an qualified worker already residing in Finland or the EU/EEA is available for the position. However, several regional ELY Centres (Elinkeino-, liikenne- ja ympäristökeskus) periodically place cleaning personnel on regional shortage lists, which waives or simplifies the labor-market test for employers in those specific areas. You should check the current regional alignment on Työmarkkinatori before initiating an international search.

The legal process: Permits, TE Office, and Migri

To employ a cleaner from outside the EU/EEA, the primary permit route is the Residence Permit for an Employed Person (Työntekijän oleskelulupa, or TTOL). This is a two-stage application process involving two Finnish government authorities: the Employment and Economic Development Office (TE Office / TE-palvelut) and the Finnish Immigration Service (Maahanmuuttovirasto, known as Migri).

The process follows a strict sequence driven jointly by the applicant and the employer:

Step 1: Signing the contract. You reach a preliminary employment agreement with the candidate. The terms must comply with Finnish labor laws and sector-specific binding standards.
Step 2: Candidate application. The worker initiates their residence permit application online using the official e-service portal, Enter Finland.
Step 3: Employer verification. You log into Enter Finland for Employers (Enter Finland työnantajalle) to fill in the official employment terms, including exact salary, work hours, job location, and applied collective agreement.
Step 4: Partial decision by TE Office. The TE Office evaluates whether the wage meets statutory standards, whether the employment conditions align with Finnish laws, and whether regional labor-market testing applies.
Step 5: Final decision by Migri. If the TE Office issues a positive partial decision, Migri conducts identity, security, and general entry checks before issuing the residence permit card.

Always verify current procedural requirements directly on the official Migri and Työmarkkinatori websites, as regional processing policies can be updated.

Timeline: From decision to the worker starting

Employers should plan for a realistic timeline of 2 to 4 months from the moment you sign the employment contract to the worker's first day on site. Processing times vary depending on the workload at Migri and the specific regional TE Office handling the partial decision.

Key stages in the timeline include:

Contract signing and submission (Weeks 1 to 2): The candidate submits their application online and books an identity verification appointment at a Finnish embassy or VFS Global application center in their home country. You submit the job details in Enter Finland for Employers.
TE Office partial decision (Weeks 3 to 7): The regional TE Office reviews the employment conditions and local labor availability.
Migri final decision (Weeks 8 to 11): Migri reviews security factors and processes the final permit approval.
Card delivery and travel (Weeks 12 to 14): The physical residence permit card is manufactured and delivered to the overseas embassy. The worker collects the card, books travel, and enters Finland.

Delays occur most frequently when the employment contract details submitted by the employer do not match the figures entered by the worker, or when embassy appointment slots in the worker's home country are fully booked weeks in advance.

Pay, collective agreements, and housing requirements

In Finland, minimum employment conditions are established by universally binding collective agreements (yleissitova työehtosopimus). For cleaning and housekeeping workers, you must comply with the Collective Agreement for the Facilities Services Sector (Kiinteistöpalvelualan työehtosopimus), negotiated between the employer union Kiinteistötyönantajat ry and the employee union Service Union United PAM.

Key mandatory requirements include:

Pay rates: Wages are categorized into pay groups (palkkaryhmät) based on job complexity and required experience. For entry-level cleaning tasks (Pay Group 1 or 2), basic hourly rates typically range between 11.30 EUR and 13.00 EUR per hour. Monthly full-time salaries generally fall between 1,800 EUR and 2,100 EUR before taxes. Paying below the applicable collective agreement minimum will result in an immediate rejection of the permit by the TE Office.
Working hours and allowances: Standard full-time work is 37.5 hours per week. You must pay statutory allowances for evening shifts, night work, Sunday shifts, and overtime as outlined in the PAM agreement.
Qualifications and trade regulation: General cleaning and housekeeping are not regulated professions in Finland, meaning foreign formal diplomas do not require official recognition by the Finnish National Agency for Education (Opetushallitus). However, if the job involves cleaning commercial kitchens or food production facilities, the worker may need to obtain a Finnish Hygiene Passport (hygieniapassi) from the Finnish Food Authority (Ruokavirasto) after arrival.
Housing obligations: Employers are not legally required to provide free housing for cleaning staff. However, finding rental accommodation in Finnish metropolitan areas or remote resort areas can be a significant barrier for new arrivals. Employers who assist incoming workers by securing temporary accommodation or acting as a lease guarantor experience far higher retention rates.

What this costs you, roughly

Hiring non-EU workers involves direct administrative costs and setup expenditures. Below is a breakdown of typical cost lines for an employer in Finland:

Migri permit processing fees: 0 EUR for the employer. The candidate pays the electronic application fee (approximately 470 EUR for a residence permit for an employed person), though some employers choose to reimburse this fee as an onboarding incentive.
Employer portal access: 0 EUR. Submitting job details on Enter Finland for Employers carries no government fee.
Travel costs: 300 EUR to 800 EUR per worker, depending on the country of origin. While not legally mandatory to pay unless stipulated in a specific recruitment agreement, employers often cover initial flight bookings.
Initial housing setup: 500 EUR to 1,500 EUR per worker in refundable rental deposits or temporary lodging support if provided by the employer.
Orientation and language support: 200 EUR to 500 EUR per worker for basic occupational safety orientation materials and introductory Finnish language resources.

Ethical recruiting and worker protection

Under Finnish legislation and international labor standards, a job candidate must never be charged recruitment fees, placement charges, or documentation processing fees by an agency, broker, or employer. Legitimate employers bear all business-related recruiting costs themselves.

If a candidate is forced to pay a third party to secure a job offer in Finland, they are being defrauded. Utilizing unethical intermediary agencies exposes your company to legal liability, reputational damage, and potential sanctions from Finnish labor inspectors (Työsuojelu) and Migri for modern slavery or labor exploitation. You must ensure that every foreign worker you hire enters Finland through a transparent, direct, and fee-free recruitment path.

Finding candidates on the Workuro registry

Workuro offers a direct alternative to traditional recruitment agencies. It is a registry where foreign workers create public profiles declaring their experience, language skills, and desire to relocate to specific destination countries, including Finland.

Employers in Finland can use the Workuro registry to search specifically for cleaner and housekeeping candidates who are ready to work abroad. You can filter profiles by past professional background, physical location, and sector experience. Once you find suitable candidates, you contact them directly to conduct interviews and negotiate job offers.

Workuro is not a recruitment agency. We do not charge per-hire commissions, we take no fees from workers, and we do not act as an intermediary in your hiring decision. You conduct the selection and file the necessary employment forms yourself. Please note that our registry is young and growing. While candidate numbers are expanding steadily, you will find an honest, direct representation of workers who want to establish their careers in Europe without paying illegal placement fees.