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Are you going abroad? Leaving Finland can have consequences for your right to get Kela benefits | News archive | KelaSkip to content
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Are you going abroad? Leaving Finland can have consequences for your right to get Kela benefits
Published 29/5/2026
Short trips abroad will usually not affect your right to Kela benefits, and you do not need to tell Kela about them. However, leaving Finland for a longer time may have an impact on your right to Kela benefits.
You do not need to tell Kela if you go on a short trip abroad, but if you plan to stay in another country for more than 3 months, you need to tell Kela about it when you leave Finland. A longer stay abroad may affect your right to benefits from Kela. We assess every customer’s situation on a case-by-case basis. For example, we will take into account how long your stay abroad will be and which country you are going to in our assessment.
If you stay abroad temporarily for less than 6 months, you can usually continue to get benefits that Kela granted to you before you left Finland. You can also apply for new benefits from Kela during your stay abroad if necessary. However, your stay abroad can have different effects based on what benefits you get.
Even a short stay abroad will affect your social assistance (toimeentulotuki).
When to tell Kela about your stay abroad
Tell Kela about your trip when you leave Finland if
you get social assistance and you stay outside Finland for more than 7 days
you stay outside Finland for over 3 months and you get other benefits from Kela or you have a European Health Insurance Card
you start any kind of employment in another EU or EEA country, Switzerland or the United Kingdom
you stay outside Finland on a regular basis and spend most of your time outside Finland (for example 1–6 months at a time) and Kela is paying you benefits.
Tell Kela that you are leaving Finland under Ilmoita muutoksista (Report changes) in the OmaKela e-service (available in Finnish and Swedish).
It is important that you tell Kela about your trips abroad and other changes in a timely manner so that Kela can pay your benefits correctly and you do not have to pay them back.
If you get general social security benefit (yleistuki) from Finland, you can stay in another country and still continue to be paid your general social security benefit under certain circumstances. If your registration as a jobseeker in Finland is valid, you can stay abroad temporarily and still keep your right to the general social security benefit. However, you can keep your right to the benefit only if Kela still considers you to be living in Finland on a permanent basis.
You must be able to return to Finland on short notice if you are offered a job or are invited to a job interview.
You can get parental allowance (vanhempainraha) from Kela if your stay abroad is temporary. You can get parental allowance even if your parental leave starts during your stay abroad.
You can get general housing allowance (yleinen asumistuki) for your home in Finland if your stay abroad is temporary. Your right to housing allowance ends if you are away from your home for 3 months or more.
You can get social assistance (toimeentulotuki) only for your expenses in Finland. You cannot get social assistance for any expenses you have to pay abroad.
If your stay abroad is temporary, you can get social assistance for your reasonable housing costs in Finland for a maximum of 3 months.
Before you leave Finland to go abroad, you can go to a pharmacy and buy up to a 3-month supply of your medication with reimbursement. If the medicine is expensive, you can buy a maximum of 1 month’s supply at a time.
If you buy more medicine in one purchase or if you buy more medicine too soon after your previous purchase, you must pay the full cost of the medicines yourself at the pharmacy and apply for reimbursement afterwards. If the medicines you need for your trip cost EUR 600 or more without reimbursement and you cannot buy them without reimbursement, please call our service number 020 634 2650 about 3 weeks before you leave on your trip.
Does Kela reimburse medicines I have bought abroad?
Whether you can get a reimbursement for any medicines you buy abroad depends on such things as whether you bought them because of a sudden illness while abroad or whether you travelled abroad to buy medicines.
Your right to reimbursement will also be affected by which country you purchased the medicine in. More information about when and if Kela reimburses medicines you have bought abroad: Travel abroad and medicine costs
Can I use a Finnish prescription to buy medicines abroad?
If you plan to buy medicine in another EU or EEA country, ask your doctor to issue a prescription for the purchase of medication abroad. Estonia, Croatia, Portugal, Poland, Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania and Spain will also accept a Finnish electronic prescription.
You will usually need a prescription issued by a local healthcare professional if you want to buy prescription medicines in a country outside the EU or EEA.
You can apply for Kela reimbursement for medicines you have bought in an EU or EEA country, Switzerland or the United Kingdom if a corresponding medicine is reimbursable in Finland. Kela will not reimburse you for medicines you have bought in any other countries.
