Finland’s Service Union PAM announced on 21 May 2026 that it has placed Rovaniemi-based adventure-tour company Nordic Unique Travels under a rare “hakusaarto,” or hiring ban. The industrial action calls on union members—and, crucially, on local employment offices—to refuse job applications to the firm until it complies with the national collective agreement for programme-service providers. Lapland’s winter-tourism boom relies heavily on foreign seasonal workers who arrive each October to guide husky safaris, drive snowmobiles and staff hotel receptions. According to PAM, inspections since 2024 uncovered unpaid training periods, below-scale wages and irregular working-hour records at Nordic Unique Travels. While the company told Lapin Kansa it has “corrected practices,” the union argues that repeated breaches leave it no choice but to choke off the labour pipeline. A hakusaarto is potent in Finland’s tightly regulated labour market: employment offices can lawfully waive unemployment-benefit penalties if jobseekers decline work at a black-listed company, and work-permit extensions for existing third-country employees can be denied if the employer is deemed non-compliant. That places immediate pressure on a tourism operator whose guide workforce is often 70 percent non-EU nationals from France, Spain, Brazil and the Philippines.
![Union PAM imposes hiring ban on Lapland tour operator over repeated labour violations affecting seasonal foreign staff]()
VisaHQ can step in at this juncture to streamline the visa and residence-permit process for both employers and affected workers. Through its dedicated Finland portal (https://www.visahq.com/finland/), the service provides real-time requirement updates, online applications and concierge assistance—critical resources when staff need to transfer permits quickly or when compliant operators must onboard new seasonal guides under tight deadlines.
For mobility managers, the case is a reminder that Finnish immigration policy is intertwined with labour-law enforcement. Companies that fail to honour collective agreements risk losing access to residence-permit fast tracks introduced in 2023 for “certified employers.” Nordic Unique Travels will also be ineligible for the Lapland Centre for Economic Development’s new subsidy scheme that refunds visa fees for companies meeting fair-work criteria. Practically, clients with incentive groups or film-production crews booked for winter 2026-27 may face itinerary changes if the firm cannot recruit multilingual guides. Advisers should monitor whether the ban prompts a surge in permit transfer requests as affected staff look for compliant employers to retain their right to stay in Finland.
VisaHQ can step in at this juncture to streamline the visa and residence-permit process for both employers and affected workers. Through its dedicated Finland portal (https://www.visahq.com/finland/), the service provides real-time requirement updates, online applications and concierge assistance—critical resources when staff need to transfer permits quickly or when compliant operators must onboard new seasonal guides under tight deadlines.
For mobility managers, the case is a reminder that Finnish immigration policy is intertwined with labour-law enforcement. Companies that fail to honour collective agreements risk losing access to residence-permit fast tracks introduced in 2023 for “certified employers.” Nordic Unique Travels will also be ineligible for the Lapland Centre for Economic Development’s new subsidy scheme that refunds visa fees for companies meeting fair-work criteria. Practically, clients with incentive groups or film-production crews booked for winter 2026-27 may face itinerary changes if the firm cannot recruit multilingual guides. Advisers should monitor whether the ban prompts a surge in permit transfer requests as affected staff look for compliant employers to retain their right to stay in Finland.
