The Finnish Immigration Service is investigating the realisation of the terms of employment of wild-berry pickers from Thailand

For the first time, Thai berry pickers needed a work-based residence permit for the berry season this summer. Earlier, they entered Finland with a visa. One of the reasons for the change were the suspicions of serious offences related to trafficking in human beings during previous harvest seasons.

The Finnish Immigration Service received approximately 1,300 applications for residence permits from Thai wild-berry pickers. A positive decision was made on about 900 applications and a negative decision on about 400 applications.

As this is a new client group for the Finnish Immigration Service that was previously subjected to exploitation, the agency decided to collect analysis data on how the terms of employment reported at the application stage had been complied with during the summer.

A new kind of operational follow-up was targeted at the permits granted to Thai berry pickers. The monitoring was carried out at the airport in close cooperation with the Finnish Border Guard. With the help of the Border Guard, the Finnish Immigration Service collected information from approximately 150 berry pickers.

“Follow-up monitoring would not have been possible without the executive assistance of the Border Guard. I would like to thank them for their close collaboration, which enabled the Thai people to be heard when they were leaving the country,” says Tirsa Forssell, Director of the Control and Monitoring Department.

Most of the data was collected through a questionnaire on two separate days. Thai berry pickers often lack a common language with Finnish authorities, so the availability of interpreters affected which methods were selected. On the second day, experts from the Finnish Immigration Service also interviewed berry pickers with an interpreter.

“The berry pickers were happy to answer the questions. We also learned a lot of practical matters about how to organise follow-up monitoring at the airport. The new form of monitoring was successfully implemented on a fast schedule,” says Forssell.

The berry pickers were asked about, for example, pay, accommodation and meals. Next, the Finnish Immigration Service will review the material collected from Thai berry pickers. The authorities will use the collected analytical data to prepare for introducing a new method of entry into Finland: next year wild-berry pickers will need a seasonal work permit.

Follow-up monitoring is mostly carried out using automation

The Finnish Immigration Service performs regular follow-up monitoring of residence permits covering changing target groups based on a specific theme or phenomenon. Thematic and phenomenon-based follow-up monitoring can detect various abuses and develop the permit system by intervening in them.

In any case, automation has enabled much more comprehensive and efficient follow-up monitoring. The Finnish Immigration Service has used automation to carry out follow-up monitoring of selected residence permits since September 2023. In automated follow-up, the agency’s system carries out register checks at regular intervals to see whether the customer continues to meet the requirements for the permit granted.

For example, the Finnish Immigration Service checks whether a senior specialist has been paid a salary that meets the requirement for sufficient financial resources or whether a student is progressing in his or her studies. If the follow-up reveals that the requirements for the permit are not met and that withdrawing it can be considered, an official of the Finnish Immigration Service will contact the customer and investigate the matter further.

In the case of wild-berry pickers, it was not a question of withdrawing permits. The Finnish Immigration Service only aimed to collect analytical data.

“In the case of wild-berry pickers, normal follow-up monitoring was not possible because, due to their short residence in the country, no entries on the workers have accumulated in official registers as usually happens. They don’t open bank accounts in Finland due to their short residence and employment relationship. In addition, some employees may receive their pay in cash,” says Forssell.

Further information for the media

• Press release 16 July 2024: Wild-berry pickers are applying for a residence permit for the first time – all applications have been processed (migri.fi)
• Press release 25 October 2024: Migration to Finland increasingly seamless and controlled | Maahanmuuttovirasto (migri.fi)