To learn Finnish, the route you take depends on your residence status, whether you are unemployed, and how long you have lived in the country. Official integration training (kotoutumiskoulutus) is free if you have prepared an integration plan with the authorities, while courses through adult education centres or universities are usually subject to a charge. You can also study using free online materials provided by public bodies.

Which route fits you — integration training, a paid course, or studying on your own

Finnish language courses are organised by adult education centres, workers' institutes, folk high schools, universities and summer universities, among others. Finland has two official languages, Finnish and Swedish. You can study Finnish and Swedish even if no integration plan has been drawn up for you.

If you have prepared an integration plan with the authorities, you are entitled to free integration training. If you are unemployed, your municipality's employment services (työllisyyspalvelut) can direct you to integration training and other services that support language skills. If you are an unemployed jobseeker, you should agree on your studies with an employee of the employment services before starting a course. Sometimes employers can also arrange language courses.

Integration training — who is entitled and how to get a place

The reformed Act on the Promotion of Integration (681/2023) was passed in spring 2023 and entered into force on 1 January 2025. Services to support integration, which include the assessment of integration and skills service needs and the integration plan, are intended for people who have lived in Finland for less than three years.

You may be entitled to these services in certain situations, for example if you are unemployed and looking for a job, receive income support other than temporarily, or care for your child at home on child home care allowance; you can also request the assessment yourself. The assessment of integration and skills service needs must be carried out within three years of the date on which your first residence permit came into force. An integration plan must be drawn up within three years of receiving your first residence permit or of your right of residence being registered.

Responsibility for the assessment is divided between authorities:

Immigrants who are unemployed jobseekers register through employment services in Finland. To register as a jobseeker you must have the right to work in Finland, based on a valid residence permit or citizenship of an EU or EEA country or Switzerland. If your residence permit says you may only work for one specific employer, you cannot register as a jobseeker; other restrictions, such as a permitted sector, do not prevent registration.

Available integration training courses are listed in the labour market training listing kept by employment services; to ask whether you can take part, contact your regional employment service office. In the Tampere area, the City of Tampere's Employment and Growth Services can refer you to integration training if you are registered as an unemployed jobseeker, have completed compulsory education or turned 18, and have a valid integration plan that includes integration training. The City of Tampere lists its integration training service as free of charge.

What integration training covers, how long it lasts and the level it aims for

In integration training you study Finnish or Swedish, how Finnish society works and how to apply for a job in Finland. Based on your integration plan you are steered to the integration training that suits you best; it includes Finnish or Swedish studies and how your employment or entrepreneurship can be enhanced, and literacy education if necessary. As of 2025, multilingual civic orientation is offered to all new immigrants as part of the integration plan, in their mother tongue or another language they know well.

By law you have the right to choose Finnish or Swedish as your integration language, and Swedish-language integration training is available in some municipalities. Most jobs require Finnish, which matters when finding a job in Finland; even if you choose Swedish-language integration training, you should also study Finnish at some point.

The first integration plan is drawn up for up to one year; in general a plan can be valid for a maximum of two years. In Helsinki, the City of Helsinki states that its integration training lasts 70–300 days.

The Integration Act (681/2023) sets the language target of integration training as functional basic proficiency, which corresponds to level B1.1 on the Finnish, more finely graded application of the European framework. As outlined by the Finnish National Agency for Education, integration training's language studies end with a language end test in Finnish or Swedish, with reading comprehension, listening comprehension, writing and speaking subtests, each graded below A1, A1, A2, B1 or above B1. The end test applies to students who started integration training after 1 January 2025.

At the end of integration training the student gets a certificate of the training, which assesses language and communication skills on the levels below A1.2, A1.2, A1.3, A2.1, A2.2, B1.1, B1.2 and above B1.2. After completing integration training you should be able to carry out tasks such as shopping and dealing with authorities independently, and move on to working life, preparatory education for vocational training, or vocational education.

Money while you learn — unemployment benefit and studying independently

To be entitled to unemployment security, you must take part in the initial assessment and in the services agreed in your plan, such as integration training. If you do not take part in the measures in your integration plan, this may affect your Kela benefits, for example. You cannot receive the general social security benefit if you have a temporary B residence permit.

Kela pays the general social security benefit for the period you take part in employment-promoting services, which you agree on in the employment plan made with the employment services; Kela's list of these services includes labour market training and self-motivated study by immigrants. The benefit is paid for 5 days a week even if the service is not offered every day. Kela's compensation for expenses, EUR 9 a day for up to 5 days a week, is paid for services including independent study under the Integration Act, and only if Kela also pays you the general social security benefit.

Independent studies with unemployment benefit let a client of employment services complete full-time studies at an educational institution; Finnish or Swedish language studies are one of the options. You can receive unemployment security for independent studies if you have registered as a jobseeker, an employment authority estimates that studies are the best way to support your employment, and the studies are agreed in your integration plan.

Support can be granted for a coherent whole of studies for up to 24 months, or up to 48 months if the aim is to complete the basic education syllabus. To receive unemployment benefit during independent studies, you must make progress as agreed in your integration plan.

A Finnish or Swedish course not provided by employment services must be agreed with your specialist before it starts; for a course of your own choosing you can only apply for financial aid if it involves at least 20 hours of study a week, starting it is agreed in your integration plan, and the employment official has given permission for that course. If you are planning studies or have already applied, contact the employment authority in your area immediately and ask whether you can study independently with unemployment benefit.

Courses outside integration training — adult education centres, folk high schools and universities

You can study Finnish and Swedish even if no integration plan has been drawn up for you. Finland has many adult education centres (kansalaisopisto or työväenopisto), and they provide Finnish language courses for immigrants. Courses at open universities, open universities of applied sciences, summer universities, universities of the third age, adult education centres and workers' institutes are usually subject to a charge; many of these institutes provide Finnish and Swedish for immigrants.

Application practices and schedules differ across institutes:

Courses usually begin in August or September and in January, are usually held in the evening, and are often very full, so register in time. In the Finnish education system, Finnish can also be studied in preparatory education for programmes leading to an upper secondary qualification (TUVA).

Courses and online courses in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area are listed at Finnishcourses.fi, and language course providers across Finland on the Kielibuusti website.

Two examples:

Free online and self-study, including before you move

Many Finnish courses at different levels are available online, and the language of instruction of online materials is usually Finnish or English. Online resources can be used while planning your first steps after moving to Finland or before arrival.

Yle provides structured content to support learners:

You can follow the news and read books in plain Finnish (selkokieli), which is easier than standard language; with a library card, plain-language books can be borrowed free from the library. Many libraries and organisations also run language cafés and discussion groups where you can practise speaking Finnish.

Course levels, YKI and the level citizenship needs

Language course levels are usually classified on the Common European Framework of Reference scale, from the basic level A1.1 to the advanced level C2.2. A course's starting level is where it begins and its target level is what it aims to reach; a course at starting level 0 is for people who do not speak Finnish at all. As outlined on InfoFinland, at A2.1 you can use the language to run the most common errands; B1.1, where the intermediate level begins, means moderate language skills in day-to-day work and leisure situations.

YKI tests are classified on a different scale from courses. Course levels correspond roughly to YKI levels as follows:

For Finnish citizenship you need a certificate of your written and spoken Finnish or Swedish; a YKI test at intermediate level (3) or higher is enough to prove it.

What changes in 2027 — an amended Integration Act, and a proposed lower benefit for newcomers without Finnish or Swedish

Two separate legislative items concern 2027.

First, an amendment to the Act on the Promotion of Integration (Act 706/2026), signed on 9 July 2026, comes into force on 1 January 2027. It rewrites the sections on integration training and on supporting an integration client's self-motivated study with unemployment benefit. The integration training and independent-study rules described above are the ones in force until 1 January 2027; if you plan studies starting in 2027, contact the employment authority in your area and ask whether you can study independently with unemployment benefit.

Second, the Government has proposed amendments to the Act on the General Social Security Benefit and laws that relate to integration; if Parliament approves them, they would come into effect on 1 April 2027. Under the proposal: