While other European countries, such as Germany, succumb to ugly political debates about work permits for foreigners, Finland is attracting large numbers of technology whizzes from India, China and other developing countries. One big reason: Finland makes it relatively easy for skilled workers to get work visas. Another is Finnish benefits - a generous social-security programme, long vacations - are available to all hires.So far, voters haven't turned xenophobic. "If someone wants to give their knowledge to Finland and we can use it, why shouldn't we let them work here?" says Haikki Taskinnen, head of immigration at Finland's Ministry of Interior.

Like many technology companies, Nokia faced a severe shortage of skilled workers two years ago. It responded by globalising recruitment. It posted every job opening on a Website, and thousands of resumes began to pour in from all corners of the earth. Nokia has hired local headhunters in places like India and China to scour universities for strong candidates.

Two years ago, non-Finns accounted for about half of Nokia's world-wide work force of 44,500. Now, 60 per cent of its 56,500 employees are non-Finns. The number of foreign Nokia employees in Finland has jumped to about 1,000 from a few dozen five years ago. Foreigners now outnumber Finns at Nokia's renowned research center in Helsinki. A dozen Indian restaurants have sprung up here.

"We have to hire from the entire world, and we have to mirror that in our recruiting for Finland," says Hallstein Moerk, Nokia's senior vice- president for human resources, who is a Norwegian. Adds Olli-Pekka Ihalainen, a Finn who leads Nokia's hiring effort: "There are no geographic boundaries any more." There are, however, cultural boundaries. Recently, a group of Indian employees from Nokia's wireless-network division lunched at the company cafeteria. One of them, Amit Mate, grumbles that the Lipton Yellow Label tea served there "is simply not as good as Indian tea." He enjoys life in Helsinki, but he isn't crazy about the harsh Nordic winters. Satish Ramamoorthy, 29, has made a smoother transition. A native of India's software capital, Bangalore, he has a close circle of Finnish friends, speaks basic Finnish and is a big fan of the national hero, Formula One race driver Mika Hakkinen.

Nokia tries to help foreign hires navigate Finnish culture. The first step is a day of "cross-cultural training." Recruits learn that Finnish business meetings aren't like American ones, where executives want to be sold on an idea in an entertaining way. Instead, a Finnish meeting means drinking lots of coffee and then "listening patiently without interruption," according to a training manual. Newcomers at Nokia get a crash course on Finland followed by a quiz. (Sample question: "For how many years was [Urho] Kekkonen the President of Finland?" Answer: 25.) Foreigners are encouraged to "enjoy shared silences," "shake hands firmly" and "go to the sauna." What they shouldn't do: Praise the Swedes. Praise the Russians. Talk on buses. (It's true: Almost no one speaks during a Finnish bus ride.) A decade ago, Finland was a different country. But five years ago, scores of Finnish companies staked their future on telecommunications and Internet services, transforming the country.

In three years, the economy has rebounded, unemployment is down to 10 per cent, and there aren't enough qualified locals to fill all the high-tech jobs. That's created an opportunity for experts thousands of miles away. As of January, Udaya Kandikonda, 25 years old, says he "knew almost nothing" about Finland. He was employed at a software company in India, owned stock options worth thousands of dollars and was being wooed by a US firm. But he agreed to sit for a Nokia interview in New Delhi, where he made the blunder of asking whether Finland was a socialist country. It didn't matter: Nokia offered Kandikonda a well-paid position in Helsinki.

Some Finns are uneasy with the arrival of foreigners, even though they make up less than two per cent of the country's population of five million. When Hemant Madan, a Nokia employee from the Indian state of Punjab, went to a Helsinki hospital, he says at first he was told to go to a nearby refugee center. Once he identified himself as a Nokia employee, though, he was given medical treatment. Still, many foreigners savour the freewheeling Finn style. At Nokia's research center, some employees choose to start work at 6 a.m., while others don't arrive until noon. Employees are expected to be self-starters. Last year, Madan was given a typically vague task: to write a piece of software that would help deliver a certain mobile-Internet service.

No one told him how to solve the problem or what technology to use. He scoured the Internet and came across an academic paper that helped him find a solution. The project was a success; he got a year-end bonus.Despite the lure of high-paying Internet start-ups, Nokia loses only about five per cent of its employees a year-a low attrition rate for a tech company.