Temporary Move to Finland by academics - ADVICE!?

[Sills-Jones]

Dear All,

My wife, two young children (3.3 and 1.2), dog and I are planning to move to Finland for 6-9 months next year, from January 2013 onwards. We plan to rent our house at home, and rent one over in Finland (perhaps within 30 mins of Helsinki). We do not speak Finnish, but aim to learn some basics between now and then.

It is partly an adventure, and partly a toe in the water to see if we would like to live there on a more permanent basis. We holidayed in Finland this summer after years of wanting to visit, and loved the culture, people, landscape, and felt at home. We are both academic researchers (me film/media, her education) and we hope to do some research whilst out there.

If we were to move permanently, we would both love to continue in academic research in our fields, but would also welcome a change of direction in career terms.

Do you have any advice? For example:

- do we need visas?
- how will we be able to access childcare?
- any tips on finding a family home?
- any tips on a location a little out of Helsinki that would be good for a young family?
- any tips on the move - hiring a van and driving over?

Dafydd & Polly

[interleukin]

- do we need visas?

What are your nationalities?
Visas are for visiting, residence permits are for residing.

[Sills-Jones]

sorry - sould have said - we are British (Welsh)

[browndude]

Since both of you are EU nationals, you can come here and stay for 3 months I believe (you need to confirm this with the immigration authorities). In order for you to remain here longer than 3 months, I believe that you would need to have a job or some source of funding. Do you have a job of some sort already arranged?

[rinso]

- do we need visas?

No. You can stay indefinably but you have to register with the police within 3 months.
However they will only register you if you have financial Independence (job or a large bank account)

- how will we be able to access childcare?

Until you're registered as resident, you have to access the private market.

- any tips on finding a family home?

Renting a family home close to Helsinki in a nice neighborhood will be difficult.

We are both academic researchers (me film/media, her education) and we hope to do some research whilst out there.

If we were to move permanently, we would both love to continue in academic research in our fields,

Not the easiest fields to find work without fluent Finnish or contacts.

[Sills-Jones]

No job as yet - I am on research leave from my UK University, so still employed by them. My wife and I are are hoping to do some independent research whilst in Finland, and if a job arises...

[Pursuivant]

So... either you are filthy rich or then you are true to your name. Which aren't mutually exclusive.

- do we need visas?

yes, mastecard is good too, american express isn't that much used

- how will we be able to access childcare?

municipal? thats for working people. of course as filthy rich you hire a nanny

- any tips on finding a family home?
- any tips on a location a little out of Helsinki that would be good for a young family?

well, if you look at the ring of counties beyond the GHA, you find a whole lot of sprawling villages there in the counties like Kirkkonummi, Nurmijarvi, Sipoo... you have boom areas full of houses and one bus one way daily and no shops at any walking distance so you need two cars and a tractor to pull them from a ditch. I suggest warmly going on a Google maps "walkabout" with the little yellow man. Now renting a house may be a challenge, but they do exist. of course then you have all that little problem with heating, snow removal etc. in the boonies not speaking the language with an expired car (no block heater, slick tyres and never seen ice but in a glass driver)... I'd choose another month starting with j than January, but then again I'm not an academician.

- any tips on the move - hiring a van and driving over?

with mandatory winter tyres? interesting, I'll need to wait an apple to grow and drop on my head for that puzzle. what all do you want to bring with - except the kitchen sink.

Now the onus here is that you "want" and the government "wants" and it has a bigger want. OK, so you say "move" but also "temporary" so thats meaning you are a "tourist" so "non-resident". So you don't get an ID number, you don't get a bank account, you don't get a tax bill for your car etc... Oh, but you "move" and "want"... so to get registered as a resident to get all things you need to show income/health insurance (usually begotten via job) - but then you have your car and Finnish residents may not drive foreign cars - so you need to import it and get into Finnish plates... being either or confuses the hell out of bureaucrats, and that is what you don't really want to do.

But, as you said, you're in it for the adventure.

BTW what is that research... in January, in the forest.. ah "counting trees"... seen that movie "Shining"

[Sills-Jones]

Hi pursuivant - when I look beyond your chippy exterior (which takes some effort) this is a very useful post - thanks

'The Shining' is fabulous but I wouldn't want to make a life choice out of it

[rinso]

Hi pursuivant - when I look beyond your chippy exterior (which takes some effort) this is a very useful post - thanks

There is still hope for those people who can see the real message behind Persuivants sarcasm.

[Pursuivant]

What I would suggest, with chips and vinegar, is to pull some strings, as in blatantly use any nepotistic channel un- and imaginable in the university circles, and try and land yourself or the missus some kind of a visiting odd fellow status at any one of the Universities here (or even UAS's). They do love all this academic exchange, we have the orgasmus students teeming the polytechnics, and that would solve at least half of your troubles as in a safety net and someone explaining "how stuff is done" and helping with accommodation etc. as the Uni's sexchange councellors do that for a living.. Would give a way easier approach than trying to deal with the great unwashed directly - you need a "native guide" for that, and I'm these days in the Fens surveying webbed feet.

[browndude]

Try applying for one of these or some sort of grant from the EU or the Finnish academy.

http://www.koneensaatio.fi/en/grants/applying/

They seem to like the humanities/social-sciences and even "artsy-fartsy" types of projects

[Sills-Jones]

absolutely brilliant Browndude - many thanks!!

[Godzilla]

Depending on your discipline, you might try to apply to the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies; getting a position that way is about as likely as being killed by lightning, but if you're at the top of your field, you'll have a chance. Another way to do it is a Marie Curie grant, a bit easier to get than the HCAS but still pretty competitive. There are lots of other possibilities, but in general you should have someone you're working with in Finland who wants to bring you over as part of a collaboration or something. Academy of Finland personal grants are a good possibility for a 3-5 year stay, but you'd need to get a department to host you - either very easy or very hard depending on the situation.

If you can get a paid leave of absence from your own university, and thus don't need a salary from Finland, then you've got no problems at all. In theory. In practice, there will be lots of problems, but those are problems which relate to the system not working as it should. Once you bang enough heads together, things will sort themselves out. No visa is needed, you need to register with the police at some point, you should register with the various social services to access health care, child care, and so on, but basically the main complexity will be getting your home university to withhold Finnish taxes instead of UK ones, which they won't want to do, but have to do and won't know how. Finnish social services are residency-based so if you live here, you get them.

[rinso]

Finnish social services are residency-based so if you live here, you get them.

That is if you live here in the computer.
Registration is essential and as Godzilla explained that can be a can of worms.

[Pursuivant]

Theres also the staff Orgasmus http://www.britishcouncil.org/erasmus-s ... nities.htm and looky here all nice things from Aalto for visiting staff http://www.aalto.fi/en/for/international/ (I told you they lovem)