Are you coming from the United Kingdom?
The United Kingdom completed its withdrawal from the European Union on 1 February 2020. The withdrawal is commonly referred to as Brexit.
Brexit affects the way you can get benefits from Kela when you move from the United Kingdom to Finland.
After Brexit, UK citizens are no longer EU citizens. For this reason, UK citizens who live and work in Finland must have a residence permit in Finland to get the right to benefits from Kela. Apply for a residence permit from the Finnish Immigration Service (migri.fi).
United Kingdom includes Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Move from the United Kingdom to Finland in or after 2021
If you moved to Finland from the United Kingdom in 2021 or thereafter, your right to social security benefits is determined on the basis of the EU-UK partnership agreement.
After the withdrawal agreement between the EU and the United Kingdom, the EU and the United Kingdom have negotiated a new agreement, a so-called partnership agreement.
The partnership agreement secures the social security rights of people who have moved between Finland and the United Kingdom for the first time in or after 2021.
Can you get Kela benefits?
If you have moved with your child from the United Kingdom to Finland in or after 2021, you can get child benefit (lapsilisä) or child home care allowance (kotihoidon tuki). If your child has stayed in the United Kingdom, child benefit or child home care allowance cannot, as a rule, be granted.
Pregnancy allowance (raskausraha) and parental allowance (vanhempainraha) can be granted on the same grounds as to persons who move from an EU country.
Contact Kela’s customer service to verify whether you can get benefits for families with children.
If you have moved from the United Kingdom to Finland in or after 2021, your right to medical care is determined in the same way as before Brexit.
If you are staying in Finland temporarily, you can prove your right to medical care and to reimbursements for medical expenses by presenting
- a European Health Insurance Card issued in the United Kingdom or a certificate provisionally replacing the card
- a certificate resembling the European Health Insurance Card which proves your right to medical care (web pages for partner organisations, in Finnish).
By presenting the card or the certificate, you can visit a public healthcare provider to get necessary medical care during a temporary stay in Finland at the same price as the local residents. You can also get reimbursement for the costs for private healthcare services, medicines prescribed by a doctor and travels in connection with medical care.
When you apply for general social security benefit (yleistuki) from Finland, your periods of employment in the United Kingdom can count towards the work requirement (työssäoloehto).
If you work part-time or sporadically in the United Kingdom but live in Finland, you cannot get general social security benefit from Finland. If you are paid adjusted unemployment benefits during your part-time or sporadic work, it will be paid from the country of employment.
If you work part-time or sporadically in Finland but live in the United Kingdom, you cannot get unemployment benefits from the United Kingdom. If unemployment benefit is paid at an adjusted rate for the period of part-time or sporadic work, the benefit is paid from the country of employment.
When you apply for an unemployment benefit from the United Kingdom, the employment periods in Finland can be taken into account in connection with the unemployment benefit from the United Kingdom.
Move from the United Kingdom to Finland before 2021
If you moved to Finland from the United Kingdom before 2021, you and your family members are, in the main, covered by the same EU provisions on social security as before Brexit. You can get more information about Kela benefits from our website at kela.fi or by calling us.
The withdrawal agreement protects your social security rights for life or for as long as your circumstances warrant the application of the withdrawal agreement.
The EU and the United Kingdom negotiated a withdrawal agreement which has been applicable since 1 February 2020. The agreement contains provisions on a transition period that lasted until the end of 2020.
The agreement secures your social security rights based on the EU legislation, if you moved from the United Kingdom to Finland to live, work or study before 2021.