Mobility allowance

Last updated 08.04.2025

Mobility allowance is a cash benefit. It is intended as support when, after unemployment, you accept a job with a long commute or that requires relocation.

Typically, the mobility allowance is used for commuting between the place of residence and the place of work in Finland. However, the location of the place of work in Finland or in another country is irrelevant for eligibility. You can therefore also get a mobility allowance if you take a job abroad.

You can also receive mobility allowance for work-related training.

We can grant you mobility allowance if the conditions set for the duration of the commute, the length of the employment relationship and the right to earnings-related daily allowance are met.

• Criteria
• Restrictions
• Amount
• Applying

Eligibility criteria for mobility allowance

You can receive mobility allowance if you are entitled to unemployment benefit and accept a job or related training lasting at least 2 months.

We can grant mobility allowance if the average daily commute duration of the full-time job or related training you have received is more than 3 hours. In part-time work and related training, the average duration of the commute must exceed 2 hours.

If you are applying for mobility allowance for training, the training must be specifically related to getting a specific job. Subsidies are not awarded for general training providing vocational skills.

We can also grant you mobility allowance if you relocate from a similar distance due to work or related education. The employment contract must be concluded before the move.

Duration of commute

A key condition for granting mobility allowance is the duration of the commute.

In full-time employment or related training, the average daily round trip must be at least 3 hours. In part-time employment or related training, the average daily round trip must be at least 2 hours.

The duration of a business or training trip is the time it takes to travel to the place work or training from your home using the most direct route. The journey is assumed to take place along public transport routes under normal weather and other conditions.

Calculate your travel time based on the fastest means of transport available. You are not expected to buy a car, but if you are commuting by your car, measure your travel time accordingly. If you use public transport, you can also take into account changing means of transport and waiting times in travel time.

We can pay an increased mobility allowance if the workplace or related training is located more than 200 kilometers from your place of residence. The distance is the actual kilometers travelled.

Moving close to the workplace

Because the purpose of mobility allowance is to encourage people to accept work, the allowance will not be interrupted even if the travel time is shortened during the employment relationship. Therefore, mobility allowance also acts as a relocation allowance; We can pay mobility allowance even if you move closer to the workplace after accepting the job.

In order for the relocation to be considered to be due to work, the employment contract must be concluded before the relocation.

Mobility allowance and expatriation

The location of your place of work in Finland or in another country is irrelevant for entitlement to the allowance. If you live in Finland and work in another country, we will estimate the commuting time between your place of residence in Finland and your place of work abroad.

If you go abroad to look for work on income support and take up a job, you may be entitled to a mobility allowance. We estimate the commuting time between your place of residence and your place of work in the country of employment.

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Restrictions on mobility allowance

Mobility allowance is intended to support employment. With the allowance, you have a better chance of applying for and accepting a job from further afield.

The restrictions on the mobility allowance are easy to understand against this background. You cannot use mobility allowance if it will not support you finding a new job or if the conditions related to the duration of the commute are not met in reality.

Mobility allowance is also partly tied to the eligibility to unemployment benefit. Ineligibility of earnings-related unemployment allowance may therefore also prevent the payment of mobility allowance.

General restrictions

We can only pay mobility allowance on the basis of one employment relationship and related training at a time.

We can only pay mobility allowance for part-time work for the days when you have actually worked.

We cannot pay mobility allowance for days when work and payment of wages have been interrupted due to a lay-off, a reason comparable to a lay-off or a reason attributable to the person themselves.

A prerequisite for receiving mobility allowance is that you are entitled to unemployment benefit. In practice, this means that we cannot grant you mobility allowance if you change directly from one job to another. You must spend at least one day as an unemployed jobseeker in between to be entitled to unemployment benefit.

If you work part-time or work full-time for less than two weeks, you may be entitled to unemployment benefit. In these situations, you can receive mobility allowance even if you switch directly from one job to another.

New employment only

We can only grant mobility allowance for a new employment relationship. In other words, we cannot grant mobility allowance if, for example, you return from a full-time lay-off to work for an employer that you worked for. 

Only once per employment

If you have already applied for mobility allowance once for an employment relationship and the allowance has been paid, we cannot pay the allowance for the same employment relationship again.

We also cannot grant you several mobility allowance periods if you have successive fixed-term contracts with the same employer on the same terms. That is, in such a situation, you cannot receive a new period of assistance on the basis of a new employment contract. Such successive employment contracts with the same employer shall be considered as a single employment relationship.

Considerations within the issuing period

We cannot pay the granted allowance for days where work and payment of wages have been interrupted for at least one full day due to a lay-off or a reason comparable to a lay-off.

The same applies to unpaid sick leave. During this period, we cannot pay mobility allowance. 

However, such lay-off and sick days count towards the maximum duration of mobility allowance.

The commute does not take place

The nature of the work can sometimes be such that commuting time does not actually meet the criteria set for the duration of the trip. Even if there is enough distance to the employer’s office to grant a mobility allowance, we cannot grant a mobility allowance if you visit the office rarely, for example due to remote work. For example, if you regularly visit an employer’s office only twice a week, the requirement for average commuting time is not met.

Only three months retroactively

You can apply for mobility allowance for a maximum of 3 months retroactively. If you have started an employment relationship or work-related training for which you need mobility support, you can apply for mobility allowance within three months of starting your work or related training. However, to make sure you remember to apply for the allowance on time, it is advisable to submit the application as soon as the work begins.

We pay mobility allowance at most until the end of the employment relationship or the discontinuation of work-related training.

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Amount of mobility allowance

The mobility allowance is equal to the basic daily allowance without any increase. The amount of the allowance is therefore 37,21 € per day.

You can receive a maximum of approximately 800 € per month for two months of mobility allowance before taxes.

We withhold tax from mobility allowance at the same withholding rate as from your earnings-related daily allowance.

Maximum duration of mobility allowance

The maximum duration of mobility allowance depends on the duration of the employment relationship. The subsidy period is

• 30 calendar days if the duration of the employment relationship is at least 2 months
• 45 calendar days if the duration of the employment relationship is at least 3 months
• 60 calendar days if the duration of the employment relationship is at least 4 months

Calendar days are all days of the week from Monday to Sunday.

If you apply for mobility allowance for training related to work, the duration of the allowance is determined on the basis of the length of employment following the training. 

The number of payment days differs from the length of the subsidy period

We can pay mobility allowance for a maximum of five days per calendar week. However, the maximum period of mobility allowance runs for each calendar day. This means that there are fewer payment days than calendar days. For example, a 30 calendar day allowance period has 20 to 22 payment days, depending on the month.

On the basis of part-time work, we can only pay mobility allowance for the days when you have been working. Here, too, the maximum duration of the subsidy runs for each calendar day.

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Applying for and payment of mobility allowance

Apply for mobility allowance retroactively no later than three months from the date from which you apply for mobility allowance.

You can also apply for mobility allowance in advance, but we will process the application no earlier than two weeks after the start of the employment relationship or work-related training.

Apply for mobility allowance using a separate form, which you can find in OmaYTK or on our website. Fill in the form, save it and go to OmaYTK. In OmaYTK, you can add a form as an attachment and send it to us.

We need a copy of the employment contract attached to the application.

Mobility allowance can be applied for only once, which means that you can apply for the entire support period with one application.

On the application form for mobility allowance, you will also find a separate notification of change form, which you can use to report changes during the employment relationship. Remember to notify us immediately if there are any changes in your employment relationship. If work is interrupted or the employment relationship ends, we can no longer pay mobility allowance.

Payment schedule

We always pay mobility allowance retrospectively in periods of 4 calendar weeks. The first payment may be for a shorter period, however, it will be at least 2 calendar weeks. 

When you receive mobility allowance for full-time work, the payment date is Friday every four weeks. 

When you work part-time, we can only pay mobility allowance for working days. We will review the payment when we process your earnings-related daily allowance application.