Key concepts related to integration
Central concepts related to integration, the Integration Act and the reception of refugees have been compiled on this page.
Integration promotion and services
Initial mapping
An integration service that enables the municipality, welfare area or TE office to find out together with the immigrant his skills, integration goals and readiness. In the initial survey, the authority finds out what services the person needs to support their integration. The initial survey is based on the Integration Act (Sections 9-10).
Initial services
Initial phase services include basic information, guidance and counseling, initial survey and integration plan.
Integration
The immigrant's individual process that takes place in interaction with society. The goal is that the immigrant feels like an active and full member of society and acquires the knowledge and skills needed in society and working life. While he gets to know the linguistic and cultural environment of his new country of residence, opportunities for maintaining his own language and culture are also supported. In turn, the receiving society receives new influences and becomes more diverse.
Promoting integration
Supporting integration by offering various services and promoting the receptivity of society. Integration is often promoted through multidisciplinary cooperation between authorities and other parties in different industries, and for this purpose various information, counseling and guidance services are offered.
Integration training
An integration service that includes Finnish or Swedish language teaching and other teaching that promotes access to working life and further education as well as other social skills. If necessary, integration training can include reading and writing skills. Integration training is intended for immigrants who have passed the compulsory school age. Integration training is mainly organized as workforce training.
Integration plan
An individual plan drawn up to promote integration, which details the goals of integration, services and participation in services. The purpose of the integration plan is to promote the person's opportunities to acquire sufficient Finnish or Swedish language skills, the knowledge and skills needed in Finnish society and working life, and to promote his opportunities to participate as an equal member of society.
Preparing an integration plan requires a residence permit, registration of right of residence, residence card or registration of municipality and population data. An integration plan can also be drawn up for a minor or a family. The integration plan is based on the Integration Act (§20-21).
Multidisciplinary cooperation
Cooperation between authorities and other parties in various industries.
Guidance and advice
Guidance, guidance and counseling from the municipality, TE office and other authorities on measures, services and working life that promote integration.
Basic services
The municipality organizes basic services for municipal residents, which are regulated by law. You can get basic services mainly from your own municipality.
Basic information
The Act on the Promotion of Integration (2010/1386 § 7) requires that immigrants be given basic information about Finnish society. The Welcome to Finland guide is an information package in accordance with the Integration Act, which tells about rights, obligations, working life and living in Finland, for example. The authority gives the guide to the customer in connection with the service of a residence permit, registration of the right of residence, issuance of a residence card or registration of municipality and population.
Right of residence
The right to stay in Finland for purposes other than tourism or a comparable short-term stay. The right of residence in Finland is regulated in the Aliens Act (301/2004).
Legislation and programs guiding integration
Act on the Promotion of Integration (Integration Act)
The purpose of the Integration Act (1386/2010) is to support and promote integration and the immigrant's opportunity to actively participate in Finnish society. Immigrants must be offered integration services and other measures supporting integration in accordance with the law. The law entered into force on September 1.9.2011, XNUMX.
The municipality's integration program
According to the Integration Act, a municipality or several municipalities together must draw up an integration program, the purpose of which is to promote integration and multidisciplinary cooperation. The program is approved by the municipality's municipal council and is reviewed at least once every four years. The program is taken into account when preparing the municipality's budget and plan.
Regional and local authorities participate in the preparation, implementation and monitoring of the integration program. Local immigrant, citizen, employee and employer organizations as well as religious communities can also participate in the preparation and monitoring of the program.
State integration program (WHITE)
A program approved by the Government, which defines the goals and measures for promoting integration for the term of government.
Personal roles and groups
Representative
A person who, in accordance with the operating models defined by law, has the right to use the guardian's right to speak on behalf of a minor asylum seeker or immigrant.
A representative is assigned to a minor asylum seeker, a child who has received a residence permit in the refugee quota, and a child who is a victim of human trafficking receiving temporary protection, if the child is in Finland without a guardian or other legal representative. A representative can also be assigned to another child with a residence permit who is in Finland without a guardian or other legal representative.
People who need special support
persons who need enhanced integration services due to, for example, illness or disability. Special support may also be needed based on reduced functional capacity, age, family situation, illiteracy or other similar reasons.
Recipient of international protection
A person who has received refugee status or a residence permit based on secondary protection or humanitarian protection. In Finland, refugee status is regulated in the Aliens Act (301/2004). In 2016, the act on humanitarian protection was removed from the Aliens Act, and humanitarian protection is no longer granted to asylum seekers.
Quota refugee
A person deemed a refugee by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) who has been granted a residence permit in Finland within the framework of the refugee quota. In Finland, the parliament decides every year, in connection with the state budget proposal, how many quota refugees Finland undertakes to accept.
Immigrant; Immigrated
A person born abroad who is not a Finnish citizen, but lives in Finland and has received the right of residence. Terms should only be used if they have explanatory value (for example in statistics). The terms should not be used to refer to persons who are assumed to be immigrants based on, for example, their name, appearance or native language.
Refugee
A person who has a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of origin, religion, nationality, membership of a certain social group or political opinion in their country of citizenship or country of permanent residence. Refugee status is granted to a person who is granted asylum by a state or who is considered a refugee by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).
Returnee
An immigrant who has received the right of residence in Finland because he is a former Finnish citizen, a descendant of a native Finnish citizen, or has belonged to the immigrant population of Inker or served in the Finnish army in the years 1939-1945.
Asylum seeker
A person who applies for protection and right of residence in a foreign country. An asylum seeker gets refugee status if he is granted asylum.
A foreign citizen
A person who is a citizen of a country other than Finland. The concept is used, for example, in statistics, but in some contexts the use can be repetitive or discriminatory.
Foreign language
A person living in Finland who has registered a language other than Finnish, Swedish or Sami as their mother tongue. The concept is used, for example, in statistics, but in some contexts the use can be repetitive or discriminatory.
Concepts related to equality and multiculturalism
Anti-racism
Active and conscious action against all forms of racism. Anti-racist activities reduce ethnic discrimination, the effects of discriminatory practices and negative prejudices.
Cultural sensitivity
Willingness and ability to understand people from different backgrounds as individuals and awareness of own cultural starting points and prejudices. Cultural sensitivity is, for example, interaction skills, appreciative encounter and communication between professional and client. The goal is that both parties have the right to express their own culture and to be accepted and heard along with it.
Good population relations
Relations between population groups based on positive attitudes, functional interaction, a sense of security and participation in society.
Diversity
Means all the characteristics and traits that distinguish people from each other in an organization or society. Differentiating factors include age, gender, ethnic background, culture, religion, education, marital status, sexual orientation, attitudes and values, personality, and political and economic status.
Diversity skills
Ways of thinking and acting and practices based on respecting and appreciating another person, regardless of their background or status. The key is to be able to recognize and acknowledge the general human needs of another person, but also those arising from, for example, cultural differences or minority status. The goal is to dismantle inequality and improve the status of those belonging to minority groups.
Participation
The feeling of belonging to a meaningful community and the opportunity to influence one's own life and community. Participation requires that a person has sufficient resources at his disposal, the opportunity to make decisions about his own life and maintain socially meaningful and important relationships.
Racism
Racism is a way of thinking in which groups of people are defined as inferior based on, for example, ethnic origin, skin color, citizenship, culture, mother tongue or religion. Racism is often associated with the idea of the superiority of some group and the norm of whiteness, where whiteness is seen as an assumption that defines social structures.
Structural racism
Behaviors or practices that directly or indirectly discriminate against certain groups of people in institutions or societal structures. Racism can manifest itself, for example, in working life, education, the housing market or services.
Indirect discrimination
Discrimination, where a seemingly equal rule, basis or practice puts someone in a worse position than others. Indirect discrimination is, for example, a situation where an employee of a social service office or a health center fails to advise an immigrant, disabled or elderly person in filling out an official form, even if he notices that the client does not understand the contents of the form. The customer then receives the same service as everyone else, even if they need special advice.
Direct discrimination
A person is treated worse than others in the same situation because of some personal characteristic. Unequal treatment means treatment that causes harm to a person, such as missed benefits, financial loss or a reduction in choice. For example, being excluded from native language services is direct discrimination.
Parity
All people are equal, regardless of their gender, age, ethnic or national origin, citizenship, language, religion and belief, opinion, disability, health, sexual orientation or any other personal reason. In a just society, factors related to a person, such as ancestry or skin color, should not affect people's opportunities to get an education, get a job and various services.
Equality Act
The Equality Act (1325/2014) entered into force at the beginning of 2015 and its purpose is to promote equality, prevent discrimination and enhance the legal protection of those who have been discriminated against.
Society's receptivity
The realization of equality, inclusion and good population relations in society. From the perspective of society's receptivity, integration is multidirectional and between individuals, communities and structures. The whole society changes when the population becomes more diverse.
Promoting the receptivity of society
Activities that develop social structures and interaction to improve society's receptivity. Society's receptivity can be promoted, for example, by dismantling discriminatory structures, developing services and influencing attitudes.
Read more:
Glossary of the Finnish Immigration Service
Integration vocabulary in the Government's publication archive
