Finland’s updated Integration Act, effective from January 2025, shifts the burden of integration onto immigrants, aligning with the EU’s growing trend toward assimilation over inclusion. With the rise of right-wing politics, policies once designed for mutual adaptation now emphasise individual responsibility, placing immigrants in precarious labor while limiting access to social rights. In this in-depth analysis, researcher Dionysia Kang explores how migrants in Finland face systemic barriers, from job discrimination to exclusion from welfare programmes. Through real-life testimonies, this piece reveals how Finland’s new policies create differential inclusion, reinforcing economic dependence while denying social protections. What does “deepening and diversifying equality” truly mean when integration policies reinforce marginalisation rather than social cohesion? How does this align with the EU’s core values of human dignity and equality?

Read more to uncover the lived realities of migrant precarity, the shifting landscape of immigration policy, and the urgent need for a human rights-based approach to integration.