On April 2, the government approved the amendments to the Aliens Act and the Obligation to Leave and Prohibition on Entry Act with the aim of ensuring that foreigners from third countries who have lost their jobs leave Estonia at the earliest possibility.
“The draft concerns foreign nationals from third countries holding a visa for employment in Estonia or those working here visa-free. Should their short-term work permit expire or they lose their job for any other reason, they must return to their home country as soon as possible,” the Minister of the Interior Mart Helme said. According to the Minister, in such cases, the Police and Border Guard Board can annul a foreigner's visa or visa-free period and issue a precept ordering them to leave Estonia.
“I recommend those foreign nationals who lose their job here immediately start looking for opportunities to return home instead of waiting for their visa or visa-free period to expire or be annulled. In case they stay here without an income, they will spend the money that they could use to return to their home country and they might remain illegally in the European Union,” Helme explained.
We advise people to contact their embassy to learn about possibilities for leaving Estonia and returning to their home country. For instance, Ukraine has assisted nearly 200 of their citizens to return home. Also, the employers are asked to help their foreign employees with returning to their home country after the end of the employment relationship.
In case a foreigner's visa or visa-free period expires but they are temporarily unable to leave Estonia due to the movement restrictions imposed under the emergency situation, according to the draft, the Minister of the Interior or the Director General of the Police and Border Guard Board can grant them grounds for remaining in Estonia until the end of the emergency situation.
“We have also considered various options for foreign labour in case of possible long-term crisis situations extending over months that may occur in the future. In case of crisis situations spanning over months, the draft provides that the government can grant foreigners working in Estonia on a short-term basis the right to work here longer than initially permitted,” the Minister explained.
According to Helme, in case of long-term crisis situations, the draft allows the government to extend the period of work permit validity of foreigners who have initially come here to work for 12 months within a period of 15 months to 24 months within the period of 32 months. “However, I must stress that this opportunity would be highly exceptional. Today, in the first month of the emergency situation, we have no such plans,” Helme explained.
The Minister added that in these difficult times when our own people are short of jobs and the number of people about to lose their jobs is increasing every day, we must support the residents of Estonia. “They must have the opportunity to take up the vacancies. We have seen that the number of registered unemployed among Estonian residents has jumped in the past month. At the same time, employers have submitted applications for the use of foreign labour in comparable volumes to the rise of unemployment. I suggest that employers look at the numbers and consider using more domestic labour. Our people are definitely worth being offered jobs during the difficult times marked by increasing unemployment.”
We recommend that employers in need of new employees turn to the Estonian Unemployment Insurance Fund for advice and assistance. At present, there are more than 40,000 people registered as unemployed in Estonia, and also before the emergency situation, there were over 36,000 registered unemployed people who had been searching for a job for a long time. To our knowledge, the Unemployment Insurance Fund is well-prepared to provide the job seekers with the offers of such companies.
The changes are a part of the draft submitted to the Parliament bringing together the amendments to implement the COVID-19 disease control measures. The draft must be supported by the majority of Parliament members to pass as a law.