This document discusses unofficial/undocumented migration in Finland and the welfare state. It presents two potential future scenarios - a "threat scenario" where society becomes polarized and undocumented migrants are excluded from public services, and an "ideal scenario" where all individuals have equal access to public services based on needs rather than citizenship. It also summarizes interviews with social service workers who feel unprepared to help undocumented migrants due to a lack of national guidelines. The document aims to explore how unofficial migration may impact societies and public sector work in the future under different scenarios.

1. OPPORTUNITIES AND THREATS
A study on
undocumented/unofficial
migrants in welfare state
MIGRATION LOCALLY AND GLOBALLY
17. Aug. 2018
Dr. Marja Katisko, Principal Lecturer
Diaconia University of Applied Sciences

2. Migration is an changing phenomenon
• Moving from one country to another no longer means transition
between two national states.
• Moving is a continuum, including different shifts and transitions.
• Moving is increasingly politicized phenomenon, with attempts to
control mobility through complex registration systems.
• The ’traditional’ sciences can no longer reach or verbalize people’s
global everyday lives or varying forms and levels of societal
relationships.

3. Unofficial migration/definitions
• In Finland
- Unofficial migration is an new phenomenon, mainly considered from
the perspective of officials and legislation. Guidelines on access to
welfare services are strict.
- Governmental policy setting and instructions are guiding to use the
term ’residing in the country illegally, and the aim has been
criminalize the phenomenon and to courage unofficial migrants to
return voluntary.
- Unofficial migration is seen as an security risk and is discussed from
the nation state perspective. Social and economic rights are
associated with members of the nation state.

4. Future research: Methodological and
theoretical background
• Municipal service system is linked to trends in societal and global development. Local & Global!
• The future is a systemic and interactive process: global development creates the framework for
local processes. Local is causing change and influencing future directions of development.
• it is possible to identify global and universal needs for change and analyse the effects of today’s
decisions on tomorrow.
• societal reality can take shape through any one of many different future pathways
• Weak signals and trends are of interest when we study possible future lines of development.
Megatrends are powerful transformative trends which are usually difficult to influence.
• The methodological framework of future research is system methodology, which has been
developed to aid the understanding of broad and complex problems. According to Rubin (2004),
system methodology is especially well suited to situations where the functioning of a system
(organization, business, municipality, society) is drifting into an uncontrollable state, for example
due to rapid changes in the environment or the emergence of new information.

5. The aim of the research and questions
• What possible and probable future scenarios does the increase in refugee
population, which started in the summer and fall 2015, bring to the
municipalities?
• What kinds of visions of the future do the different scenarios engender in
organizations such as local education, social service and health care
departments? Will the need for services change? What kind of expertise
will be needed?
• On the basis of different scenarios, what kind of networks should cities
form, for example with the private sector and non-governmental
organizations?

6. Future scenarios are based todays’ weak
signals
• Analysis of current situation->using SWAT-technique: strengths, weakness in the present
situation
• The scenarios have been generated on the basis:
- of the experiences of workers in health care, schooling sector, church parishes and police
departments. (silent knowledge)
- international literature of societal change and future research, as well as experiences and
discussions from field work in Toronto, Canada, in the years 2014, 2015 and 2016.
- the description of the current situation also includes statistics, information published by
official bodies on the effects of the refugee crisis in Finland and in Europe.
-> the data is used to detect weak signals and to produce on analyse of present and the
future opportunities, also potential threats. Also describe the routes leading to the
future.
• The scenarios have been titled threat scenarios and ideal scenarios.

7. The current situation in Finland
• 2015: The number of first time asylum applicants increased in Finland
over 800 % (total 32 476 person)
• During the asylum application process, asylum seekers live in
reception centres governed by the Finnish Immigration Services
• About 27 % of all applications got a positive decision on asylum, if the
asylum seeker receives a negative decision, the person is usually given
a period of 30 days voluntarily leave Finland -> many of those don’t
leave the country because of the fear -> they will stay in country as an
’illegal immigrant’.

8. The Constitutional Rights are subjective that
applies to everybody
Finnish Constitutional legislation guarantees….
• Right to indispensable subsistence and care as a subjective right that
applies to everybody.
• Emergency accommodation
• Emergency health care
• Education
….but the reality is not so simple
• No nationwide directions on what services undocumented migrants
are entitled and how should those services should be produced
(medical aid, right to income support and shelter..)

9. The current situation in Finland: interviews
• Workers in social services, health care services and school administration
are confused by growing numbers of undocumented migration, they
need guidelines and training both legislation and handling client
encounters. Who should help? Is it right to help? Who is paying? ->
waiting for the national level regulations!
• Municipalities are trying to find balance with the Finnish Constitutional
legislation which guarantees right to indispensable subsistence and care
as a subjective right that applies to everybody (supplementary benefit,
housing, special health care, child protection)
• Supplementary benefit means ticket outside of the country, somewhere
else!

10. The Threat Scenario
• Society will become polarized, population is divided to those who have right to use public services and
those who don’t have
• Market liberalism: market economy regulates public sector services, central issue is ability to pay the
services
• Children without parents who can pay the education, will be excluded from the education system
• Churches only provide help to those people who also commit to receiving spiritual guidance
• Subgroups of individuals and families living in the poor living conditions, on street or public spaces
• Officials see undocumented migrants as a threat to stability and internal order in society
• The public social, health, schooling services are closed systems where only citizens have access (selection
of clients)
• Work in public sector is structurally and ethically draining, the need for support and treatment is
individualized
• The structure of the service system is organizational-centered, faceless and inflexible

11. The Ideal Scenario
• All individuals are guaranteed equal public services
• Support and care for all are seen as benefiting the entire society
• Services are produced in a cost-conscious manner, with public tax-based funding
• With the aid of predictive planning, high economic, humane and ethical standards are
maintained in service production
• Access to services is not determined on the basis of citizenship or residence permit, but on the
basis of the need for aid, treatment and care.
• The public service sector works in cooperation with the third sector and the parishes to ensure
a broad range of services and care for also undocumented people.
• Networks are not just limited to the local or national level, but entail global partnerships
• The concept of Sanctuary City

12. Discussion in small groups (20 min)
• What does the different scenarios mean in societal level?
• In what kind of reality undocumented migrants live in Finland? In
other countries?
• How about in public sector work? Especially in social work field?

13. Discussion
• Unofficial migrants affects the surrounding society through the
choices they have available to them.
• Unofficial migration as an long-established phenomenon is creating
the new ways of every-day lives, new networks for empolyment and
well-being. Parallel societies will be formed within the society.
• The every-day lives and survival of unofficial take different forms from
those who has official status in society.
• Legal documents do not form a persons’ identity or sense of
belonging, but the person may create their global networks in areas
of life, but also invisible phenomenon in different European
countries, on many levels.

14. Future?
• What kind of reality does the unofficial migrants live in different
societies?
• Observing unofficial migration as an phenomenon that spans the
levels of individual, community, society and global level.
What kinds of opportunities arise for the unofficial migrants in society?
What kinds of opportunities for dialogue are open to them in various
systems within the society? What kinds of action are available to them?
What kind of options have the other side of dialogue (for example
public sector worker).

15. Thank You!
• Grateful for your comments, viewpoints of weak signals and mega
trends in Europe and in global level!
Marja Katisko (PhD)
DIAK – University of Applied Sciences
marja.katisko@diak.fi