Insurance for work abroad

As an employer, you are responsible for ensuring your employee's pension security, regardless of whether they work in Finland or abroad. This also applies to situations where you are hiring an employee from abroad to work in Finland.

Insurance for work abroad is regulated by both Finnish and the host country's legislation, EU regulations, and social security agreements Finland has entered into. The country in which the employee's pension and other social security are arranged depends, among other things, on the country of employment and the duration of the employment.

When your employee goes abroad from Finland to work, determine well in advance which country's legislation you need to follow and arrange pension security accordingly.
The employee is generally insured in the country where they work. Similarly, those working remotely are primarily covered by the social security of the country where they perform remote work. In such cases, you pay social security contributions to the country of employment, and the right to social security benefits is determined by the legislation of that country.
An exception to the principle of the country of employment is an employee you temporarily send abroad, who may remain under Finnish social security during their time working abroad. In this case, they need an A1 certificate to demonstrate their continued coverage under Finnish social security.

You are responsible for arranging your employee's pension and social security when hiring them from abroad to work in Finland. Generally, your employee is insured under Finnish employment pension laws if they come directly to work for a Finnish employer and sign an employment contract with a Finnish employer.

An exception to this rule is employees sent to Finland from abroad who have received a posted worker certificate from their home country. If your employee is sent to Finland from an EU or EEA country, Switzerland, or another agreement country and has received a certificate from their home country, they remain under that country's social security during their time working in Finland. In such cases, your employee cannot be insured for pension purposes in Finland. The insurance for employees working simultaneously in multiple countries must also be resolved, and they may receive a posted worker certificate depending on the situation.

Read more about insuring employees coming to Finland from abroad on the Finnish Centre for Pensions website

An entrepreneur's work is generally insured in the country of employment. Similarly, an entrepreneur working remotely is primarily covered by the social security of the country where they perform remote work. An exception for temporary work abroad can be sought by applying for a posted entrepreneur's A1 certificate from the Finnish Centre for Pensions. In this case, the entrepreneur seeks the right to remain under Finnish social security and also arranges their employment pension insurance in Finland.

You can reach our experts at 020 694 727.
Learn more:

• Elon instructions for applying for a pension from abroad
• Finnish Centre for Pensions' guidelines on pension insurance in international situations
• Kela's guidelines for international situations
• More information from the Employment Pension Act Service