Social security benefits

In different life situations, you may have different needs for social security benefits, such as public healthcare, social services, child allowance, sickness allowance, medicine expense reimbursement or pension.

When you work remotely from Åland for an employer in another country, your right to social security benefits is primarily based on your work, secondarily on where you permanently reside.

There is one basic rule

The basic rule is that you have the right to social security in Finland if you are physically in Finland and work, even if the work takes place at a distance, from Åland for example. Then you earn an employment pension in Finland and are entitled to residence-based social security benefits from FPA as long as your income exceeds the income limit.

Your foreign employer also needs to ensure that your social security complies with Finnish law, for example by:

  • taking out pension insurance
  • taking out insurance to cover accidents at work and occupational diseases
  • submitting your earned income to the income register in Finland.

For detailed information on social security benefits, visit Fpa.fi

Visit tyoelake.fi for detailed information on pensions in Finland

More information on statutory social insurance information in Finland can be found at the Finnish Centre for Pensions

Exceptions to the basic rule

However, there are some exceptions to the basic rule, for example, when you are employed by a foreign employer and only work temporarily in Åland.  Or if you work remotely part-time from Åland and also regularly work in another EU country. Then it is up to you and your employer to determine where you have the right to social security.

Among other things, your social security depends on:

  • in which country you are a permanent resident
  • from which country you came to Finland to work
  • in which country your employer is located
  • n which country besides Finland you may be working.

At the Finnish Centre for Pensions, you can read more about work in several EU countries

Here’s what you do if you are working temporarily in Åland: 

  1. You and your employer should contact the social security authorities in your country of origin to find out if you can still be covered by social security in that country.
     
  2. If necessary, apply for a certificate of social security (A1 certificate within the EU).

If you work remotely from Åland and physically in another EU country, do the following:

  1. You should contact the social insurance authorities in your country of residence (in this case Finland) to find out where you are entitled to social security.
  2. Apply for a certificate of social security (A1 certificate within the EU).

Useful information about social security benefits

Here you will find more information about social security benefits for those who work remotely from Åland for an employer in another EU/EEA country or Switzerland.

Remote working and the A1 certificate

If you and your employer in another EU/EEA country have agreed that you will work remotely temporarily from Åland, the employer can apply for an A1 certificate in another EU/EEA country. The certificate shows which country’s social insurance system you belong to.

It is your employer who applies for an A1 certificate on your behalf from the Swedish Social Insurance Agency or the corresponding authority in the country you are moving from.

If you:

  • have an A1 certificate, you are entitled to social benefits from the country you are moving from and the right to things like healthcare in Finland as well.
     
  • do not have an A1 certificate, all charges on your salary must instead be paid to Finland. Then it is the size of your income that determines whether you are entitled to residence-based benefits.

If you work in two or more EU/EEA countries or Switzerland, you must apply for an A1 certificate in the country where you are a permanent resident. If FPA receives a benefit application in which they see that you work in two countries and do not have an A1 certificate, they will ask you to apply for the certificate. Remember that it may take time before you receive a response to your benefit application because the right to an A1 certificate must first be determined.

Read more about A1 certificates at the Swedish Social Insurance Agency in Sweden (in Swedish)

Read more about A1 certificates at the Finnish Centre for Pensions

More information

Here you can read more about working in a country within the EU/EEA or in Switzerland (in Swedish):