1. Register as an unemployed job seeker

Register as an unemployed job seeker latest on your first day of unemployment. You can register as a job seeker through E-services (TE-palvelut).

The unemployment fund can pay you allowance only for the time you have been a job seeker with TE Office. It is very important that you register as a job seeker and that you keep your registration valid.  

2. Do you meet the condition for claiming earnings-related allowance?

You can claim earnings-related allowance from an unemployment fund, if you have met the work requirement during your period of membership.

Read more about the conditions for claming allowance.

3. Update you contact information and notify your union of your situation

Unemployment benefit is primary claimed through WebKassa -service. Communication takes place mainly electronically, so it is important, that your contact information is up to date.

If you are also a member of a union, it is important, that also the union knows that you are out of work. For privacy reasons, the unemployment fund cannot disclose your information to the union, so make sure the union is up to date on your situation.

Contact information for unions can be found here.

4. Fill in an application form and add attachments

You can claim allowance by filling in an application form through WebKassa –service when you have been a job seeker for at least two weeks. Claims for earnings-related allowance are made retroactively.

Information about your situation before unemployment of layoff is always needed for processing your application. The more detailed the information you provide, the more confidently and quickly your application can be processed without separate requests for additional information.

Attach to your first claim the following attachments

• an employment certificate (työtodistus) for at least the last 26 working weeks
• a pay certificate (palkkatodistus) for a minimum of 26 weeks (when you have been working at least 18 hours per week).
• a copy of the notice of termination or notice of lay-off
• if you have been laid off or are in part-time employment, a copy of your employment contract (työsopimus)

5. Processing of your application, decision, and payment

The fund strives to process all claims within two weeks of their arrival, but the processing time can vary to be either shorter or longer than two weeks. 

You can follow the status of you application through WebKassa on “Application handling status” –page.

When your claim has been processed, the fund will send you a payment notice and a decision on daily allowance primary in electric form. If your contact information is up to date, your will receive a notification of the decision in your email and a notification of the payment via SMS.