Helsinki International Voucher

The City of Helsinki is offering a Helsinki International Voucher of €3,000 to employers to promote the employment and retention of international higher education students/recent graduates in Finnish working life. The voucher is intended for employers who hire an international student or recent graduate for at least a two (2) month internship.

Step 1 – Employer Application Process

1. Read the terms and conditions that applies to employers, international students/recent graduates and internships, found at the bottom of this page.
2. Employers who meet the conditions and are interested in hiring an international student/graduate with the support of the Helsinki International Voucher must fill in  this form(Link leads to external service) by 12 October. A representative from the City of Helsinki will contact the employer to go through the criteria of the voucher, the application process, the preliminary job description of the traineeship and the trainee's skills wishes.
3. The City of Helsinki will make a decision and notify the employer electronically about the voucher. If there are more applicants than the number of vouchers available, the employers will be selected via a lottery process. The City of Helsinki will select 20 employers.
4. Employers who have been approved by the City of Helsinki as recipients of the voucher can start the recruitment process for an intern.
5. Employers have the opportunity to receive recruitment support from Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, who will help employers in preparing a job advertisement and pre-selecting candidates. Metropolia University of Applied Sciences can also arrange guidance for students during the internship period.
6. An employer can apply for the Helsinki International Voucher payment after signing an employment contract with the international degree student.

Step 2 – Payment and Usage

1. The voucher is paid to the employer as a lump sum after the payment decision.
2. The employer agrees to use the Helsinki International Voucher payment for the purpose mentioned in the decision. Documents related to the employment relationship and processing must be submitted to the City of Helsinki upon request for monitoring the use of the voucher. The use of the International Voucher is also monitored through random inspections.
3. The payment can be recovered from the employer if it has been granted based on incorrect information, if it has been used for an unrelated purpose, or if the employer refuses to provide the requested additional information.
4. At the end of the traineeship, the employer fills in a feedback form. The employer and the student also commit to a 30-minute feedback discussion.

For more information, contact:  tyollisyyspalvelut.kvrekry@hel.fi(Link opens default mail program)  

Terms and Conditions:

Employers

1. The employer is interested in and committed to hiring an international student or recent graduate for an internship.
2. The employer must be an official employer with a business ID – the employer can be an organisation, foundation, association or company operating in Helsinki.
3. The employer can be found in the pre-payment register.
4. The employer has a Finnish bank account.
5. There must be evidence of the employer's activities for at least one year.
6. The employer does not face any significant financial challenges (redundancies, layoffs, unpaid taxes, etc.).

7. In the granting of the voucher, priority will be given to employers who have had no experience in hiring international interns or employees. If the employer also has an office outside Helsinki, only the operations of the Helsinki office are considered in this condition.

   a. If there are still more employers fulfilling the priority status than the voucher can grant, the employers applying for the voucher will go through a lottery process.

   b. If, after the priority applicants, there are still vouchers available, and there are more applicants than the voucher to be awarded, a lottery process will be conducted among these applicants.

8. The voucher is granted as de minimis support in accordance with European Commission Regulation (EU) 2023/2831. The employer must be eligible for support in accordance with Commission Regulation (EU) 2023/2831. The total amount of de minimis aid granted to one company may not exceed EUR 300 000 in the last three years, unless otherwise provided for in the de minimis regulation. The three-year period will be evaluated on an ongoing basis. In the grant applications, the grant applicants indicate the de minimis aid granted to the company (amount) and the dates on which the aid was granted during the above-mentioned three-year period. For the purposes of the de minimis regulation, 'single undertaking' means any undertaking between which there is at least one of the following relationships:

   a. A company holds a majority of the voting rights of the shareholders or members of another company;

   b. An entity has the right to appoint or dismiss a majority of the members of the management, administrative or supervisory body of another company;

   c. The company has the right to exercise control over another company by virtue of an agreement with the company or by virtue of a provision of the articles of association, articles of association or bylaws;

   d. An enterprise that is a shareholder or member of another enterprise controls the majority of the voting rights of the shareholders or members of that enterprise by virtue of an agreement concluded with the other shareholders or members of the other enterprise.

Enterprises which have any of the relationships referred to in points (a) to (d) with one or more other enterprises shall also be considered as one enterprise.

International students/recent graduates

1. The student must reside in Helsinki.
2. The student must be from an international background who has moved to Finland from abroad and is studying for a master's degree at a university or University of Applied Sciences located in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area. The teaching of the degree programme must also take place in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area.
3. The student must have completed at least 80% of the studies at the time of their application or have graduated within 12 months.
4. The student has not before been in a paid internship or employment relationship with the same employer.
5. The student has completed at least two courses in Finnish or Swedish or has an A2.1 level in Finnish or Swedish.

Internship

1. The employer must pay the student at least the minimum wage determined by Kela (EUR 1,430 per month in 2025) and/or comply with the collective agreement for the sector.
2. The internship cannot consist only of remote work.
3. The internship role/tasks must correspond to the student's education and/or previous experience.
4. The duration of the employment relationship must be at least 2 months full-time or 4 months part-time.
5. The student must have a supervisor who supervises their work.
6. The voucher is able to be used to cover the student's salary costs for the internship by the date mentioned in the call for applications.
7. The voucher can be combined with existing vouchers granted for internships in higher education institutions.