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Foreigner.fi is an English language daily online newspaper in Finland providing news, practical info and debate space for all foreigners in Finland.

History and profile
Foreigner.fi was established in Autumn 2018. The Spanish journalist César Calvar developed the concept of a website to inform, educate and highlight the needs of immigrants, expats and foreign workers in Finland.

The primary aim of the site was to inform immigrants and foreigners of news, events and legal issues of importance to them. In Finland, the language often becomes an obstacle for foreigners to access to local news and to the basic information needed in order to regularize their situation and settle, find jobs or start their own businesses. Official information was sometimes too fragmented in different websites, not updated or in sources of difficult access for people who don’t know the country and its institutions. The aim was to fill this niche with a reliable source of information made by foreigners for foreigners.

In November 2018, César Calvar contacted Autio Associates Ltd Oy, a well respected legal services company regarding investigations into Legal problems experienced by immigrants. Discussions took place regarding close cooperation. The journal was launched on 3 December 2018. The first full month of publication (January) already resulted in 120,000 pageviews.

This early success was accentuated by the publication of daily news, information about legal changes concerning immigrants and also weekly online Finnish course. This showed the growing need for this type of content for the immigrant population.

In order to keep people’s interest in the site, the journal was expanded to include more information about the Finnish lifestyle, tourism and events. Also, a guide for entrepreneurs and a legal consulting room was created in order to offer readers the possibility to send questions about the issues that affect them. Their queries are answered by professional Finnish lawyers. During the following months, the project attracted the attention of several foreign journalists living in Finland and abroad who were interested in collaborating. Some of them have been publishing some articles in order to contribute to develop it.

During its first year on air, the website posted more than 1,000 articles of interest for foreigners in Finland, people who are interested in migrating to Finland and also Finland’s enthusiasts all over the world. Some of those articles have been published in Arabic.

The initial audience has been steadily growing and multiplying.

Today
Nowadays, 2/3 of the visitors to the journal live in Finland, and 1/3 abroad, highlighting the fact that there is a growing interest from would be immigrants, tourists and businesses in Finland, its lifestyle, culture and business environment.

The highest percentage of those visits are from the United States, United Kingdom and the Middle East and North African countries.