Huuva paiva - Citizenship dilemma

[rinso]

Former Finnish citizens or citizens of
another Nordic country
If you are a former Finnish citizen or a citizen of another
Nordic country, the required period of residence in
Finland is the last two years without interruption. - From the immigration website.
http://www.migri.fi/netcomm/content.asp ... anguage=EN

- Would this apply to me, or only if I have had nordic citizenship and this doesn't take into account my grandparents being born and raised in FInland? If it is the case, that I must be a resident for 6 years in Finland and they see me just as 'every other country' - then it may just be a holiday visit to Finland for a few weeks or however long I'm allowed before I get deported. I have too many strong ties in my country with family and friends, 6 years would be just too much of an ask to be away from here. I could do 2 years, but no more.

In my opinion you are not a former Finnish citizen. You didn't loose your citizenship, you never got it. So get used to the 6 year option (and up to 2 years more for processing the application)

- In Australia I would be recognized as a lawyer after my degree, but I don't know if in Finland they will recognize this, therefore I make the barkeeper analogy as an ironic twist, because my studies would mean nothing to them, so I might as well be a barkeeper or someone who digs ditches.

Indeed, your degree wouldn't get you any higher level law related job.
In fact many foreigners with high education are in grunt jobs because of the tendency of employers to go for Finnish papers only.

[Pursuivant]

In Australia I would be recognized as a lawyer after my degree, but I don't know if in Finland they will recognize this

Whats that got to do with a residence permit? Some export firm might well be eble to convince they'd need someone versed in Australian law or playing the didgeridoo. Of course to be employed in some legal practice in Finland you'd need to study Finnish law...

[Nikolay]

Okay I think pretty much every question and answer has been covered in regard to citizenship - thanks to those who helped in supplying me some sort of idea of what to expect/ how to attain it.

Also the only people who play digeredoo's in Australia are the indigenous people, who live in the desert.

I am pretty sure in Finland the only people yodelling all day wearing top hats and wooden shoes are in Lapland.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxlR8VuOlYc.

[Pursuivant]

Also the only people who play digeredoo's in Australia are the indigenous people, who live in the desert.

Lucky you, we get smelly foreign hippies who live in the streetcorner playing them.

[Nikolay]

Haha really? That is amazing, how the place it originated from isn't even popular - but in other countries who have had them imported or whatever are playing it in their local street corner. I know in America it is too very popular among the hippies - or ritualists, the technical name for those people in a sociological perspective.

[Pursuivant]

Oh, we miss only cowboys...

here you go, if you can beatbox like this you'll be hot item here

[AnnikaL]

YES much easier from Finland to register them. I went to the maistraatti and asked them if I would be able to register my younger one from within Finland easier then from Canada and they said if I had the long form birth certificate that showed both parents names on it then I could have done it in about 3 mins at the Maistraatti. So if you have the long form showing both parents names then it WILL be much easier from there then anywhere else...

In case this information is useful to anyone... I have spoken to the maistraatti today and they informed me that they would still need an apostille attached to Maija's birth certificate, even if I am there in person. If I can sort out the apostille this week, I think I will still do the registration personally rather than remotely. Fortunately, the only office in the UK where you can get the apostille 'while you wait' is in the town where I work. Unfortunately, I currently have car trouble and cannot travel even to work.

[Rosilla]

YES much easier from Finland to register them. I went to the maistraatti and asked them if I would be able to register my younger one from within Finland easier then from Canada and they said if I had the long form birth certificate that showed both parents names on it then I could have done it in about 3 mins at the Maistraatti. So if you have the long form showing both parents names then it WILL be much easier from there then anywhere else...

In case this information is useful to anyone... I have spoken to the maistraatti today and they informed me that they would still need an apostille attached to Maija's birth certificate, even if I am there in person. If I can sort out the apostille this week, I think I will still do the registration personally rather than remotely. Fortunately, the only office in the UK where you can get the apostille 'while you wait' is in the town where I work. Unfortunately, I currently have car trouble and cannot travel even to work.

ugh, I had a feeling it had to be more then they were telling me:| I was coming to tell you to contact them before just in case they needed more info. I really hope you are able to get her registered, let me know if it works out cause I will have to do the same on my next trip there (I cant imagine going through the process I did here again, it was not easy or fun)

[AnnikaL]

ugh, I had a feeling it had to be more then they were telling me:| I was coming to tell you to contact them before just in case they needed more info. I really hope you are able to get her registered, let me know if it works out cause I will have to do the same on my next trip there (I cant imagine going through the process I did here again, it was not easy or fun)

Yes, of course I'll let you know how I get on. Whether or not I can even try will be down to getting my car fixed and MOT'd before Thursday...

[Nikolay]

UPDATE:

The citizenship details are still in the wind, I rang up the immigration of Australia and they say it will be another month....***** **** * *** * * * * * !!!!! lol I hope those stars spell out for you how annoyed I am for waiting even longer.

[tuulen]

...In Australia...

Here is another approach which you might consider. For instance, if you are an Australian citizen then you might, and likely could, qualify for British citizenship. That would automatically make you a European Union citizen, too, and that means you could enter Finland as an EU citizen, Finland being an EU member nation. You would then have no rights to access any Finnish governmental benefits, but you could enter Finland and then stay in Finland indefinitely. At a minimum, that could give you an opportunity to research your potential Finnish citizenship status, while in Finland.

Just to clear something up, Australian citizens are never, ever granted British citizenship based on being Australian. ONLY those Australians who have a mother or father born in the UK or certain UK territories will qualify and even then only in certain circumstances (mainly their age and which parent is the Brit). I tend to throw that question into the ring here because somewhere around a quarter of Aussies have this situation, but that still leaves a lot who aren't.

You're correct though that if you're lucky enough to be the offspring of a Brit that it makes EU residency infinitely easier

Yes, you are right. Yet, the extensive link between Australia and the UK brought me thoughtlessly to that suggestion, as my error.

[Nikolay]

As if you would want to be apart of the United Kingdom, I wouldn't even waste my time. However, Finnish citizenship - I would.

[AnnikaL]

ugh, I had a feeling it had to be more then they were telling me:| I was coming to tell you to contact them before just in case they needed more info. I really hope you are able to get her registered, let me know if it works out cause I will have to do the same on my next trip there (I cant imagine going through the process I did here again, it was not easy or fun)

Yes, of course I'll let you know how I get on. Whether or not I can even try will be down to getting my car fixed and MOT'd before Thursday...

Ok, never let it be said that I'm not a woman of my word, even if this is quite a bit after the fact (though to be fair, was travelling around Finland for 3 weeks, got back Sunday and had to fly straight to Belfast...)

Dropped into the Maistraatti a ferw weeks ago with a nicely certified, fully apostilled, birth certificate and gave it to the same woman I had been contacting about the document. All straightforward enough until - probably spotting some slight discrepancies in surnames - she asked if me and the father were married. When I said no, she then told me that she could regisgter Maija, with me as the mother, but probably couldn't register him as the father unless we had some kind of document (for which she didn't have an English translation, so no idea what that document would even be!). I'm now waiting to hear back by email if we need something more or not.

Never mind that the father in question was with me, as was my daughter, who has his face. No... not even a passing resemblance... she is the SPITTING image. But I suppose a piece of paper is more proof than genetics I guess the bureaucratic process is the bureaucratic process and having heard many stories of the communist regimen from my Czech boss over the years, this seems fairely harmless.

[Upphew]

All straightforward enough until - probably spotting some slight discrepancies in surnames - she asked if me and the father were married. When I said no, she then told me that she could regisgter Maija, with me as the mother, but probably couldn't register him as the father unless we had some kind of document (for which she didn't have an English translation, so no idea what that document would even be!). I'm now waiting to hear back by email if we need something more or not.

Never mind that the father in question was with me, as was my daughter, who has his face. No... not even a passing resemblance... she is the SPITTING image. But I suppose a piece of paper is more proof than genetics I guess the bureaucratic process is the bureaucratic process and having heard many stories of the communist regimen from my Czech boss over the years, this seems fairely harmless.

Acknowledgement of fatherhood or something like that I suppose.

[AnnikaL]

Acknowledgement of fatherhood or something like that I suppose.

Yes, I guess so, but I would have thought that being listed as the father on the birth certificate *was* the acknowledgement, I don't think there is any English "more legal" equivalent. But she did say she would email, so I will wait........