Broad in legal scope, selective in policy design: a five-dimensional document analysis of Finland’s 2025 integration reform

Abstract This article examines how Finland’s 2025 integration reform organises integration across economic, educational, social, cultural and institutional dimensions. The study uses qualitative document analysis of the Act on the Promotion of Immigrant Integration (681/2023), subsequent amendments and the Talent Boost 2023–2027 programme. Building on integration and policy-design scholarship, it adapts Ager and Strang’s framework into a policy-oriented model for analysing legal objectives, service instruments and institutional responsibilities. The analysis is limited to policy design; it does not examine implementation or migrant outcomes. The findings indicate that the framework is broad in legal scope but selective in policy design. Economic and educational integration have the Institutional integration is also important because municipalities and employment authorities share responsibility for assessments, plans and service pathways. Social and cultural integration are legally recognised, but the national framework gives them fewer standardised instruments and relies more on optional programme content, local partnerships and civil-society involvement. Well-being is treated as a cross-cutting condition rather than as a separate policy domain. The article develops a practical framework for assessing how policy instruments support different integration dimensions. It shows that a policy can be multidimensional in its aims while giving stronger operational support to selected dimensions.