23.11.2023 Gabriel Olegário
Recently, a close Brazilian colleague messaged me on WhatsApp with the headline “Finland offers job vacancies for Brazilians: how to get them”. As a colleague with a good sense of humor, he sarcastically said “Maybe this is my chance!”, even though he works for a well-known tech company as a software engineer in Brazil. My colleague demonstrated interest in the news by pointing out the ‘flexible hours’ and a work-life balance offered by the ‘happiest country in the world’ – conditions that are still to be established in the Brazilian working culture. Clearly, offering flexibility, work-life balance and competitive salaries are key to attracting Brazilians, but how does Finland’s new government plan might foster unequal treatment of highly skilled migrants from non-EU countries?
In addition to the highly skilled Brazilians working in industry, Brazilian academic researchers perceive Finland as a funding haven. This perception is largely driven by a significant shortage of research funds in Brazilian universities. Due to the brain drain and shortage of scientific funds in Brazil, the volume of scientific publications in 2022 experienced an unprecedented decrease, similar to the situation in Ukraine, which is currently affected by an ongoing conflict. More specifically, Brazil has been experiencing a decade marked by stagnant growth, mirroring the same pattern observed during the 1980s, often referred to as the ‘lost decade’. This prolonged period of economic stagnation has led to a notable increase in the emigration of skilled professionals, exacerbating the academic brain drain phenomenon in the country. On one hand, this aligns with Finland’s government program, as Brazil is among the four designated non-EU countries for attracting highly skilled migrants, along with Vietnam, the Philippines, and India.
On the other hand, attracting and retaining highly skilled migrants can be a challenge with Finland’s new government plan. For instance, the plan creates a distinct social security benefit system for immigrants and permanent residents, which seems to be in violation of the Finnish constitution. This means that if the plan enters into force highly skilled Brazilians might experience different treatment in social security than native Finns, for example through different healthcare and pension systems. Another key point is the plan to revoke residence permits if the holder remains unemployed for three consecutive months. As a result, this complicates the process of changing employers and industries without endangering their residence permits, thereby increasing the risk of exploitation and the ultimate threat of deportation.
A further aspect, Brazilians rank low in international trust rankings of trust in institutions due to factors such as social inequality, lack of public safety, and urgent social challenges. Considering this, the absence of fairness, integrity, a sense of belonging, and equal treatment in Finland has the tendency to erode trust between (future) Brazilians and Finnish institutions. Thus, rather than using work-based migration solely as a means to tackle labor shortages and social security decline in Finland, a people-centered approach to granting residence permits and improving social conditions could help foster trust and attract, retain, and integrate highly skilled Brazilian workers into Finnish society.
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