Services for immigrants

In the city of Riihimäki, you can use all services regardless of your background. You can find more information about employment, children's schools and day care centers, housing services et cetera on these pages. If you need help or advice about moving to Riihimäki, permits, education or leisure activities, you can come visit the the guidance and advice center Kotola in Matkakeskus (Eteläinen Asemakatu 2).

We also serve companies that need to find international experts for their company.

All immigrants, regardless of the reason for entry, are offered guidance and counseling on, for example, integration, education and employment, municipal and state services or Finnish society, legislation and various permits. Guidance is offered without an appointment at Kotola's advice center.
Quota refugees, those granted residence through the asylum process, and those receiving temporary protection who have moved to the municipality receive support and help from the city's integration services regarding integration, moving to Finland, and living in Finland. If you need help with integration or you want the city to find out the conditions for your integration, you can request that an initial survey and an integration plan be made for you. The initial survey and integration plan are usually done either by the TE office or the city.
About 5,5 percent of Riihimäki's residents have a foreign background. In Finland, municipalities have an obligation to ensure that services are also suitable for municipal residents with an immigrant background, and to support the integration of immigrants into Finland and their home municipality.

The Act on the Promotion of Immigrant Integration requires that each municipality draw up an integration program, which must be reviewed at least every four years. The city of Riihimäki has a valid Regional Integration Program for years 2021–2024, which is a joint program of Riihimäki, Hausjärvi and Loppi.

The regional integration program for 2021–2024 was drawn up through multidisciplinary preparation by office holders in 2020. In addition to the municipalities, authorities operating in the region, educational service providers and third sector operators have participated in the preparation of the program. The preparation of the integration program has been guided by the regional integration work steering group. The integration program has been approved by the city council in December of 2020.

Regional integration program 2021-2024
The Racism Experiences in Riihimäki was carried out in November of 2023. It got 292 responses. Most of the respondents were women (65 percent). 28 percent of the respondents were men, 2 percent of the respondents stated their gender as other and 5 percent did not want to say. Regarding the age of the respondents, the largest age group was adults (30–65 years old, 44 percent of the respondents) and 39 percent of the respondents were minors. 18–29-year-olds accounted for 9 percent and over 65-year-olds for 8 percent of the respondents.

Most of the respondents (77 percent) stated that they were born in Finland. 13 percent of the respondents had lived in Finland for less than 3 years and 10 percent of the respondents for more than 3 years.

68 percent of respondents answered yes to the question "Does racism occur in Riihimäki?" and 32 percent answered no.

About one third of all survey respondents had personally experienced racism in Riihimäki. Of these respondents, 11 percent had experienced racism in Riihimäki often or very often, and 10 percent of the respondents had experienced racism very rarely. The rest of the answers fell somewhere between the two.

Racism had been experienced in Riihimäki in different places. Respondents were able to choose several answers to the question. Of the respondents to the question (87 answers), 53 respondents had experienced racism at school, 47 respondents in public places, 34 respondents in other services (e.g. restaurants, shops, theaters) and 24 respondents in public city services (e.g. daycare center, library, swimming pool). Racism had also been experienced at the workplace (23 respondents), when looking for a job (21), in health care (20), in social services (18), when looking for an apartment (14) and in official services (13).