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7.7.2026 | The Ministry for Foreign Affairs has received approximately 2,200 seasonal work visa applications this year for the purpose of wild-berry picking in Finland. To date, a majority of the applications have been processed, approximately 1,600 applications in total. The processing has revealed indications of a risk of worker exploitation, as well as shortcomings in employers’ compliance with their statutory obligations. The majority of the applications, approximately 1,400, have been refused.

2.7.2025 | About 2,600 wild-berry pickers were granted a seasonal work visa for Finland for summer 2025. About 60 applicants received a negative decision.

10.10.2024 | The amendments aim to safeguard a sufficient level of income for foreign pickers and improve monitoring to ensure the rights of pickers are realised. The wild berry sector will be brought into line with other sectors requiring seasonal labour.  

19.2.2025 | Following legislative amendments that entered into force on 17 February, wild-berry picking carried out by foreign nationals is treated as seasonal work. Companies must hire foreign berry pickers for a contractual employment relationship to enable them apply for an entry permit to Finland. In future, berry pickers will apply for a seasonal work visa for stays up to three months.

15.5.2024 | The ministerial working group on employment and entrepreneurship decided on 15 May 2024 to prepare amendments to the Seasonal Workers Act and Decree. The primary route for wild berry picking will be seasonal work in an employment relationship. The aim is that the changes will enter into force for the harvest season of 2025.

15.3.2024 | The Ministry for Foreign Affairs has decided to suspend the reception of wild-berry pickers’ visa applications in Thailand. The suspension applies to all applicants in countries within the consular district of the Embassy of Finland in Bangkok: Thailand, Cambodia and Myanmar. This means that Schengen visas will not be issued to wild-berry pickers from these countries for the summer 2024 harvest season.

26.6.2024 | In May 2024, the Government outlined that the picking of wild berries is an activity based primarily on seasonal work in an employment relationship. The aim is to safeguard a sufficient level of income for foreign pickers and to improve monitoring to ensure the rights of pickers are realised. The sector will be brought into line with other sectors requiring seasonal labour.

6.5.2024 | In its current form, the status of foreign wild berry pickers involves significant risks. To support political decision-making, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment commissioned a study on the economic impacts of different solutions. A working group of the Ministry has also produced an additional impact assessment of the options.

2.2.2023 | In November 2022, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs instructed the Embassy of Finland in Bangkok to suspend the issuing of visas to Thai wild-berry pickers for the time being. The Ministry stated as grounds for the suspension a number of ambiguities concerning wild-berry picking, including unreliable information entered into visa applications, risk of trafficking in human beings, an ongoing police investigation in Finland and possible amendments to the status of wild-berry pickers.

27.2.2023 | Statement by Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto at the High-Level Segment of the United Nations Human Rights Council's 52nd session on 27 February 2023.

25.5.2022 | Prime Minister Sanna Marin and President of the European Council Charles Michel met in Helsinki on Wednesday 25 May.

22.12.2022 | The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment has prepared an amendment to the Seasonal Workers Decree according to which the picking of natural products would take place under contractual employment relationships. The Ministry has also submitted reports to Parliament on acts that aim to prevent the exploitation of foreign workers. The amendments to the Seasonal Workers Act, Act on the Legal Sta...

24.11.2022 | Prime Minister of Finland Sanna Marin spoke at the New European Bauhaus Goes Into the Woods event in Espoo, Finland, on 24 November 2022. Check against delivery.

28.1.2022 | Finnish diplomats have been targets of cyber espionage by means of the Pegasus spyware, developed by NSO Group Technologies, which has received wide publicity. The highly sophisticated malware has infected users’ Apple or Android telephones without their noticing and without any action from the user’s part. Through the spyware, the perpetrators may have been able to harvest data from the device and exploit its features.

8.12.2021 | The demand for natural products is expected to grow globally. Natural raw materials are expected to generate significant business activities because their economic potential has not yet been fully realised.

7.9.2022 | In June-July, the Ministry of the Interior conducted an online survey to assess the situation and need for different services of Ukrainians who have fled to Finland. A total of 2,136 people responded to the survey.

31.3.2021 | On 31 March 2021, the Government proposed new legislation to improve the legal status and earnings opportunities of foreign berry pickers and to make the competitive environment equal to companies in the sector. As foreign berry pickers have not been deemed to be in an employment relationship but instead to work as entrepreneurs, their status is currently unregulated from a legal point of view.

31.3.2021 | On 31 March 2021, the Government proposed new legislation to improve the legal status and earnings opportunities of foreign berry pickers and to make the competitive environment equal to companies in the sector. As foreign berry pickers have not been deemed to be in an employment relationship but instead to work as entrepreneurs, their status is currently unregulated from a legal point of view.

9.3.2021 | Employer instructions for health-secure entry, quarantine and for the preparation of a health security plan for seasonal workers in primary production are now ready, as are health security instructions for seasonal workers in primary production. A seasonal worker coming to Finland must be quarantined for 14 days before work on farms can begin. The alternative to 14-day quarantine is two negative coronavirus test results. 

6.10.2025 | Biodiversity is declining in Europe. Emissions have been reduced, but the pace is not fast enough. The recent report of the European Environment Agency EEA explores the state of the environment in Europe, including Finland’s challenges and success stories. The report stresses that, in the end, all human activities depend on nature.