He Zhijian left Finland on Wednesday to return to his homeland in China after the Finnish government rejected his application for a work permit to take care of his two grandsons who live in Riihimaki.

While the Centre for Economic Development, Transport and Environment supported the 62-year-old's residence permit application, the Immigration Service (Migri) rejected it on the ground that the retired employee of a power grid operator in Wuhan, China, lacks qualification and experience in child care, reports the Helsinki Times.

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Migri believes that He, who entered with a tourist visa but was convinced by his son-in-law to stay and take care of his grandsons, was trying to go around Finland's law on family ties by pretending he would work for his daughter and Finnish son-in-law who offered him a salary to take care of their two sons and help with house chores.

Migri said that while He could really be taking care of his grandchildren and helping out in household chores, it concluded that is not the real purpose of his residence permit application but to stay with a family member who lives in the country.

Besides the lack of experience, Migri also cited that He failed to specify his working hours for the family when he was interviewed by police officers.

Aatro Aakala, his son-in-law, elevated the matter to the Administrative Court of Hameenlinna but lost their appeal in February. With the court ruling, Aakala had no recourse except to buy his father-in-law a return ticket to China.

"This has been a sad experienced. I myself caused all the fuss. All I can do is apologise to grandpa," Aakala said.

The Consulate General of Finland, though, assured Aakala that the rejection of the residence and work permit applications would not be taken in the future against He if he wants to visit the family again in the future as a tourist.

Anyway, He has another relative to take care in China - his 82-year-old mother.

TagsFinland, Chinese Work Visas, Grandfather