Prioritizing National Interest at the Expense of Narrowing Regular Migrant Mobility and Residence

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Abstract This article examines how Finnish national legislative amendments have restricted the space of regular, cross-border migration and stay, possibly resulting in forms of increased irregular mobility and residence. Aside from addressing legal science, this article has political, cultural, and sociological dimensions. Restrictive legislative amendments in a general European context are often validated with state arguments based on prioritizing national interests, such as the state economy or national security. At the national level in Finland, there have been dozens of government proposals that have resulted in amendments to the Aliens Act (301/2004) since its renewal in 2004. I look at these amendments systematically, and, by providing key examples based on the data studied, I show how these amendments have restricted regular mobility and residence for migrants coming mostly from third countries. These observations show that the Finnish government resorts to arguments concerning the state economy, the alleged favorability and attractiveness of Finnish legislation, and the management of migration while at the same time limiting rights to regular mobility and residence. As a result, issues regarding the generation of irregular mobility and residence continue to be ignored in the preparation and application of the Aliens Act, despite certain amendments being likely to maintain a legislative framework that generates irregular mobility and presence.