Seasonal and ICT employees and the use of health services in Finland

Berry picker from Thailand, IT expert from India, hotel receptionist from Russia. Each year, thousands of seasonal workers from outside the European Union from so-called third countries and a few hundred intra-corporate transfer (ICT) employees, such as managers of multinational corporations, stay and work in Finland.

As users of public health services, seasonal and ICT employees are considered equal to residents of the municipality even if they do not have a municipality of residence in Finland as referred to in the Municipality of Residence Act. Kela determines seasonal and ICT employees’ rights to treatment at the request of the person involved or of public health care, and issues the certificates that are required to prove the right to treatment. Public health care administrators have the right to apply for state reimbursement if they have provided treatment to seasonal or ICT employees who do not have a municipality of residence in Finland. If the working hours and wage level of the seasonal or ICT employee meet the preconditions laid down regarding health insurance, the employee is also entitled to a Kela reimbursement for any costs incurred in private health care and pharmacies.

A seasonal worker is someone who works in Finland temporarily for a season of up to 9 months within a 12-month period. The worker has an employment contract with a Finnish employer, usually an agricultural entrepreneur. ICT employees are usually posted employees who have been transferred within the company from outside the EU. According to the ICT directive, ‘intra-corporate transfer’ means the temporary secondment for occupational or training purposes of a third-country national

• who resides outside the territory of the member states
• from an undertaking established outside the territory of a member state
• to an entity belonging to the undertaking or to the same group of undertakings which is established in that member state.

The maximum duration of an intra-corporate transfer is three years for managers and specialists. For trainee employees, the maximum duration is one year. The family members of seasonal and ICT employees are not entitled to public health care unless they have a municipality of residence in Finland.

Read more about your right to treatment in Finland.