By Gene-Works editorial, Gene-Works Oy · Published 26 September 2026
On a shared construction site in Finland the law asks for two things about you: a photo identifier that carries your tax number (veronumero), and that number entered in the Tax Administration's register of construction workers. Everything else on this page is required either by the kind of work or by the site and its client — which is not the same thing, and it is worth knowing which is which.
The distinction is practical, not academic. A legal requirement cannot be waived by anybody: without the tax number in the register you are not working on that site, full stop. A client requirement is a term of the contract between companies — it is still binding on you in practice, but it is negotiated, it differs from site to site, and it can sometimes be satisfied in more than one way.
What is asked for, by whom, and what it costs
What is asked for, by whom, and what it costs
Document
Required by
Cost
Time
Tax number in the register
Law, on every shared construction site
Free
1–10 working days after arrival; it cannot be done remotely
Photo ID card with the tax number (commonly a Valtti card)
Law requires the card; the brand does not have to be Valtti
32 € in the free Starter package or 29 € in a paid one, plus 8.20 € per order, all without VAT
No course. The order can be prepared in advance, but the card is issued only after the tax number exists
Occupational safety card (Työturvallisuuskortti)
Usually the client or the main contractor, not the law
No single official price: 54–126.52 € plus VAT depending on the provider (for example 67 € at tyoturvakortit.fi); a replacement card 20 €
Course 4–8 hours; can be done before arrival
Hot work card (Tulityökortti)
The work area and the site rules, where temporary hot work is done
No official tariff; 119–239 € plus VAT depending on the provider
One day. The theory can be done before arrival; the practical part in Finland or with an accepted foreign provider
Road safety card (Tieturva 1)
The road authority, for the categories of work it lists on the public road network
Free — the official online course; you do not need to buy it from a reseller
1.5–3 hours; the certificate is available immediately
Electrical safety training (SFS 6002)
Electrical work; live working needs separate training on top
199 € excluding VAT for the English online course (Alertum), 208 € including VAT (Eduko); market range 129–340 € plus VAT
2.5–8 hours; before arrival
First aid for electrical work
The assignment, alongside SFS 6002
129 € excluding VAT at one provider's price list; provider and VAT still to be confirmed
4 hours; before arrival
Swipe the table sideways on a phone.
Validity: occupational safety card, hot-work card, SFS 6002 and Tieturva 1 are each valid five years. Prices are as published by the issuers and training providers on 25–26 September 2026 and change without notice; treat them as the order of magnitude, not as a quotation.
A card does not raise your hourly rate by itself. Some of them open the gate; others let you take on work that belongs to a higher group. The difference is worth asking about before you pay for a course.
The order that saves the most time
Two of these have a hard dependency, and getting it the wrong way round costs a week or more. The tax number requires a personal visit to a Tax Administration office by appointment, with your passport and your employment details, after you arrive — and the photo ID card cannot be issued until the number exists. So the sequence is: arrive, get the tax number, then the card, then the site.
Everything that is training rather than registration goes the other way: the safety card, SFS 6002, the first-aid course and the theory of the hot-work card can all be done from home, online, in English, before you travel. A person who lands with those already done starts on site days earlier than one who does not.
Trade-specific documents, with what they actually cost
For a pipe welder, the qualification for the process, material, position and pipe range of the order is what allows the first production weld. Taitotalo's published price list gives 650 € plus VAT per qualification day and 250 € plus VAT per additional qualification, with the test taking one to three days and the certificate one to three weeks; pressure-equipment work adds third-party inspection on top. Revalidation is every two years, with six-monthly confirmations of continuity.
For refrigeration work, the personal F-gas qualification has a 75 € application fee to the safety authority and is valid seven years, with processing of roughly four to five weeks. For crane work, having a foreign qualification recognised costs 660 € and takes up to four months, while an exceptional permit is 410 € and about four weeks. For the electrical work supervisor role the safety authority's examination is 120 € per attempt and the certificate that follows it 405 € excluding VAT (508.28 € including VAT), issued in two to four weeks and up to eight in summer.
If your next site is in Sweden rather than Finland, the site card there is a different system: about 25 € for a standard card including the first year and about 7 € a year after that, with production in one to three working days. We say so plainly because people are regularly told the Finnish card works there.
What we never ask you to pay for
Finding work, applying, being registered with us, recruitment advice and being placed are free for you, always. A private employment service may not charge a person for them. If anyone asks you for money in our name — for a "processing fee", a "placement fee" or a deduction from your first pay — that is not us. Write to info@gene-works.fi before you pay anything.
Course fees are a different matter and we will not pretend otherwise: a training provider charges for a course, and who pays it depends on the assignment and is written into the offer, not decided afterwards. Ask before you book, and never pay a fee to an intermediary who merely resells a course that has an official free or cheaper channel — Tieturva 1 is the clearest example.
Work out your own rate: choose your trade, answer three screens and see the pay-group pair, the hourly range and an estimated month — the cards above change what you may do, not what the table pays.