Unemployment security

What to do, if you become unemployed or laid-off

1. Register as an unemployed job seeker

Register as an unemployed job seeker on your first day of unemployment at the latest. You can register as a job seeker through the Job Market Finland’s e-Service.

The unemployment fund can pay you allowance only for the time you have been a job seeker in the employment authority’s service. It is very important that you register as a job seeker and that you keep your registration valid.

2. Wait 2 weeks and in the meantime collect the necessary documents

You can submit your first application for daily allowance after you have been unemployed or laid off for at least 2 weeks.

During these 2 weeks, collect the necessary attachments for your application. Information about your situation before unemployment or layoff is always needed when processing your application. The more detailed information you provide, the more confidently and quickly your application will be processed without requests for additional information.

Check out the necessary attachments

If you are unemployed, you can find the listing of necessary attachments on page Attachments for an application
If you are laid off, you can find the listing of necessary attachments on page Lay-off

3. Send the application and its attachments

Submit the application and its attachments through eService when you have been unemployed or laid off for at least two weeks. Read the instruction for eService here.

If you are unemployed, you can find more detailed instruction on page Application instruction and forms
If you are laid-off, you can find more detailed instuction on page Lay-off

4. Update you contact information and communication settings

Communication related to the processing of your application takes place mainly electronically, so it is important, that your contact information is up to date. In eServices under heading “Messages and letters” you can choose whether you want to be notified of incomming messages by email or text message.

If you are also a member of a union, notify the union of your unemployment. For privacy reasons, the unemployment fund cannot disclose your information to the union, so make sure the union is up to date on your situation.
Contact information for unions can be found here.

After submitting the application

1. Respond to request for additional information

Respond to any requests for additional information as quickly as possible. You will receive notifications about requests for additional information when you have updated your communication settings in eServices under heading “Messages and letters”.

2. Follow the processing status of your application

We aim to process applications within two weeks of receiving them at the fund, but the processing time may vary and may be shorter or longer than two weeks.

You can follow the processing time of applications from the processing time bulletin, which is displayed on the homepage of the website (Daily allowance applications currently being precessed). The processing time bulletin allows you to estimate how long it will take to process your application. You can also follow the status of your own application from the e-Services “Application monitoring” page.

When your application has been processed, the decision and payment notification will be issued primarily in electronic form, meaning that the information is available in eServices. If your contact information is up to date and you have selected email or text message notifications in the eServices communication settings, you will be notified of the decision in the manner you have chosen.