KEY ELEMENTS OF SUCCESSFUL INTEGRATION IN FINLAND AS A FOREIGNER
Malekzadehbagheri, Roham (2023)
2023
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2023052413668
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2023052413668
Tiivistelmä
Immigration and integration are a global challenge, there are pros and cons for every nation to open its doors and as soon as the doors are open, the nation is obligated to face the consequences. If the immigrants do not get integrated well in the host country, there are severe consequences for both sides to be faced. Therefore, it is absolutely a two-way route. There are conservative members of the society who are not the big fan of im-migrants and there are also those immigrants who keep on playing the victim role in the host country and as they get empathy from locals, their voice act as discouragement for other immigrants.
The objective of this thesis is to explore the obstacles and challenges of immigrants and then by considering the unsatisfied immigrants claims, explore the path of satisfied and successfully integrated immigrants to reach out to key elements of successfully integrate in Finland as a foreigner.
The author had conducted a qualitive research by interviewing a number of immigrants in Finland who are sat-isfied and had successfully fit in into the host country and its culture. The collecting of data is based on their challenges, their way of overcoming the challenges, the effect of other narratives or stereotypes on their mindsets, and at last, to understand how has the situation changed over time in a way of has it gotten better or worse?
The key findings of this thesis are concluded into 3 main key elements, 1) understanding culture, 2) acquiring social networks 3) learning the local language. If an immigrant focusses on these three aspects, there would be no real barrier in integration, as these three elements bring with it self-esteem and self-confidence for the individual on a daily basis. Their chance of landing employment opportunities rises significantly as they are able to pursue in both formal and informal methods of getting hired in Finland. In addition, it is important that immigrants close their ears to stereotypes provided by other immigrants about how a Finn is or how the environ-ment is, and only engage with the society through different events, internships, volunteer jobs, webinars or seminars, and also joining communities rather than their own international community.
Another worth to mention findings of this thesis or more of a suggestion was for the other side of this process, which is Finnish government, that it would be more beneficial to pilot an idea based on the finding of this thesis, since if only they would shift their focus on cultural training rather than language training, the integration process would be boosted and there would be more of commitment from immigrants as they would start learning the cultural values, norms and beliefs. Hence there would be less of culture shock and immigrants has a greater chance of fitting in.
The objective of this thesis is to explore the obstacles and challenges of immigrants and then by considering the unsatisfied immigrants claims, explore the path of satisfied and successfully integrated immigrants to reach out to key elements of successfully integrate in Finland as a foreigner.
The author had conducted a qualitive research by interviewing a number of immigrants in Finland who are sat-isfied and had successfully fit in into the host country and its culture. The collecting of data is based on their challenges, their way of overcoming the challenges, the effect of other narratives or stereotypes on their mindsets, and at last, to understand how has the situation changed over time in a way of has it gotten better or worse?
The key findings of this thesis are concluded into 3 main key elements, 1) understanding culture, 2) acquiring social networks 3) learning the local language. If an immigrant focusses on these three aspects, there would be no real barrier in integration, as these three elements bring with it self-esteem and self-confidence for the individual on a daily basis. Their chance of landing employment opportunities rises significantly as they are able to pursue in both formal and informal methods of getting hired in Finland. In addition, it is important that immigrants close their ears to stereotypes provided by other immigrants about how a Finn is or how the environ-ment is, and only engage with the society through different events, internships, volunteer jobs, webinars or seminars, and also joining communities rather than their own international community.
Another worth to mention findings of this thesis or more of a suggestion was for the other side of this process, which is Finnish government, that it would be more beneficial to pilot an idea based on the finding of this thesis, since if only they would shift their focus on cultural training rather than language training, the integration process would be boosted and there would be more of commitment from immigrants as they would start learning the cultural values, norms and beliefs. Hence there would be less of culture shock and immigrants has a greater chance of fitting in.