Hello All
what a great site, thanks Tiina for telling me of this..
I want bto move to Finland after spending a short time there last year.
My family consists of my wife and two children. 10 year old daughter and 2 year old son.
My partner is 'in principal' comfortable with the idea but not with all the hassles etc of selling up etc. She to loved this country.
But she would like to hold onto our home in Australia just as a backup.
So i would love to hear from other Australians in particular whom had done this, how long have you been their, do you too have children, what would you do diffrently in hindsight.
Do you regret ever moving over. Did you have people their that you knew. We dont. My aunt whom lived in Sigula Latvia died last year and is my last european contact.
How have you found the education situation, normal school or an expat school?
Taxation, how does it work, for diffreent regions. I have looked up many Finnish sites but this i find still confusing.
We have a Subaru Outback H6 and would look at something the same, but this attracts extra tarriffis? even secondhand yes / no... or is it better to by an EU country car, but what is equvilent to the H6 as we love our Subaru [3rd one now]
Work, ok you can look online, apply on line but how are interviews conducted.. ?
I know some basic questions but this is all new and a little scary, and i want to talk to my partner with confidence and show no fear so she too will feel comfortable.
She loves organic gardening and we would like to grow our own food etc. But is housing predominantly appartments.
Also cost of living, i have not found any very good comparisions on web to see how we stand. Any good sites or can someone advise comparision to $AUD.
Others from Australia - your experiences
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Hank W.
- The Motorhead
- Posts: 29973
- Joined: Sat Jul 06, 2002 10:00 pm
- Location: Mushroom Mountain
- Contact:
Just a few quick questions:
- Do you speak any Finnish?
If not, do you have a profession you can fit in a higher niche where Finnish is not required?
- Were you here in the winter?
If not - have you seen ice anywhere else than in a grog?
- Are you absolutely mad?
If not - it is not a requirement, but helps
Taxation is easy => http://www.vero.fi whats so confusing? They'll take everything and add 22%VAT on top.
Yeah we have subarus here but we got like paved roads mate. Not seen many though. http://www.subaru.fi/prislistan.shtml ...hmmm... 43 000 to 63 000 for a subary legacy outback. For that money... I'd buy a house - (Or if I'd buy a house-priced car I'd buy a Mercedes-Benz rather than some overpriced toyota... )
Theres someone asking the same questions respective to Canada, so that might give a few leads. Try making the same kind of price comparison what you get as a salary now and how much housing etc. monthly costs are. Just remember your funny money is 0,57 cents worth now so like the Canadians almost "double" the Euros for ballpark to AUD. And no we're not kidding on the prices.
Also, here's the Finnish expats in Oz site http://www.dundernews.com/viestitaulu/index.php
You can go there and ask why they moved down under or if theres people moved back who can give some comparisons. (Heck, I'd moved to OZ if I'd had the extra dosh to battle with the immigration when I was younger)
- Do you speak any Finnish?
If not, do you have a profession you can fit in a higher niche where Finnish is not required?
- Were you here in the winter?
If not - have you seen ice anywhere else than in a grog?
- Are you absolutely mad?
If not - it is not a requirement, but helps
Taxation is easy => http://www.vero.fi whats so confusing? They'll take everything and add 22%VAT on top.
Yeah we have subarus here but we got like paved roads mate. Not seen many though. http://www.subaru.fi/prislistan.shtml ...hmmm... 43 000 to 63 000 for a subary legacy outback. For that money... I'd buy a house - (Or if I'd buy a house-priced car I'd buy a Mercedes-Benz rather than some overpriced toyota...
) Theres someone asking the same questions respective to Canada, so that might give a few leads. Try making the same kind of price comparison what you get as a salary now and how much housing etc. monthly costs are. Just remember your funny money is 0,57 cents worth now so like the Canadians almost "double" the Euros for ballpark to AUD. And no we're not kidding on the prices.
Also, here's the Finnish expats in Oz site http://www.dundernews.com/viestitaulu/index.php
You can go there and ask why they moved down under or if theres people moved back who can give some comparisons. (Heck, I'd moved to OZ if I'd had the extra dosh to battle with the immigration when I was younger)
Cheers, Hank W.
sitting here like a lemon looking for a gin.
sitting here like a lemon looking for a gin.
Thank you for your reply..
No I dont speak Finnish.. yes i have been to Finland near winter, but i have been elswere in Europe at colder times.. Maybe I am mad but to me I can see very many benefits in going through some pain, my partner needs just a loittle more convinving, not from going but the upheaval in the process.
Yes i can speak Latvian, but that is not that helpfull in Finland I guess, or does Finland trade much with Latvia where the language would assist?
Thank you for the taxation site, have copied it but yet to digest it.
I love Subaru's, because of the All Wheel Drive and the associated saftey. They drive very well and yes we to have tar sealed roads all over the place. I hardly go 'off road'...
I wanted to know if you pay more as it comes from a non EU country.???
and my questions about education? job intervies etc???
Do you want to swap homes??? if only it were so easy eh ,smile.>
I would like to know about your water and air quality, pollution, garden clubs, and general quality of life..
And best way of transferring money into account in Fi. What pitfalls or hindsight people experienced, especially moving with children.
I have more questions but unfortunatly this week is busier than i expected...
Will post more questions and conduct more searches on those sites hopefully this week end..
Must go because its time for the little ones bath, and bed time now...
All the best in Finland....
No I dont speak Finnish.. yes i have been to Finland near winter, but i have been elswere in Europe at colder times.. Maybe I am mad but to me I can see very many benefits in going through some pain, my partner needs just a loittle more convinving, not from going but the upheaval in the process.
Yes i can speak Latvian, but that is not that helpfull in Finland I guess, or does Finland trade much with Latvia where the language would assist?
Thank you for the taxation site, have copied it but yet to digest it.
I love Subaru's, because of the All Wheel Drive and the associated saftey. They drive very well and yes we to have tar sealed roads all over the place. I hardly go 'off road'...
I wanted to know if you pay more as it comes from a non EU country.???
and my questions about education? job intervies etc???
Do you want to swap homes??? if only it were so easy eh ,smile.>
I would like to know about your water and air quality, pollution, garden clubs, and general quality of life..
And best way of transferring money into account in Fi. What pitfalls or hindsight people experienced, especially moving with children.
I have more questions but unfortunatly this week is busier than i expected...
Will post more questions and conduct more searches on those sites hopefully this week end..
Must go because its time for the little ones bath, and bed time now...
All the best in Finland....
-
Hank W.
- The Motorhead
- Posts: 29973
- Joined: Sat Jul 06, 2002 10:00 pm
- Location: Mushroom Mountain
- Contact:
Well... err... not really, but theres some Finnish companies in the Baltic markets. That would mean though living in... Latvia?briewood wrote:Yes i can speak Latvian, but that is not that helpfull in Finland I guess, or does Finland trade much with Latvia where the language would assist?
Not necessarily as you're allowed to bring one as a removal; but a) the cost of hauling it (well, they made the Holden Calibra convertibles in Finland... ) and then getting it up to EU specs - if you can get it to EU specs + the fact that you are having a steering wheel on the passenger side which makes driving if not interesting the resale value of the car closer to zero... I'd question the idea.I wanted to know if you pay more as it comes from a non EU country.???
Garden club?garden clubs
Cheers, Hank W.
sitting here like a lemon looking for a gin.
sitting here like a lemon looking for a gin.
Thank you again Hank..
No I had no intention of bringing our Subaru over, for all the reasons you mentioned.. What I was asking [not very well] was that I would like to buy one second hand over there and wanted to know if, because it was manufactured outside of the EU if that would attract extra tariffis etc even second hand.
Been away for a while, first night back and on the net. Will look for the Canadian posts you spoke of as well.
Am finding it hard to get $$$ comparisions for goods vs average incomes. Basics lie fuel, food stuffs, clothing [ we thought when we were there in 2003 that clothing prices were quiet resonable actually ] etc.
My partner would like to hold onto our property in Australia just as a back stop in case things dont work out.... but i am confident its what we want...
So that places a dent in the financing of this but I know that i can overcome that, just a bit longer.
I could go on and on and ask the same questions as many others, but i will search through more of this site..
again thank you.. and yes if any other Aussies out there YES I would LOVE to HEAR from you as well...
bye 4 now.
No I had no intention of bringing our Subaru over, for all the reasons you mentioned.. What I was asking [not very well] was that I would like to buy one second hand over there and wanted to know if, because it was manufactured outside of the EU if that would attract extra tariffis etc even second hand.
Been away for a while, first night back and on the net. Will look for the Canadian posts you spoke of as well.
Am finding it hard to get $$$ comparisions for goods vs average incomes. Basics lie fuel, food stuffs, clothing [ we thought when we were there in 2003 that clothing prices were quiet resonable actually ] etc.
My partner would like to hold onto our property in Australia just as a back stop in case things dont work out.... but i am confident its what we want...
So that places a dent in the financing of this but I know that i can overcome that, just a bit longer.
I could go on and on and ask the same questions as many others, but i will search through more of this site..
again thank you.. and yes if any other Aussies out there YES I would LOVE to HEAR from you as well...
bye 4 now.
Briewood, your partner is a very smart person. You can't just jump into these things. There is such a thing as culture shock. For instance I have been travelling at least 2 years, but Finland has been a big culture shock for me and I knew at least some langauge. I say keep the house in Australia as a back up. You can always rent it out. Or maybe you could find a Finnish family wanting to see the Aussie life style and you can do a house swap.
(I am Aussie and I am seriously thinking about heading home.)
Also the best bet would prob be try and set a job up at in Finland, so you are coming to something. No use in coming and getting demoralised you can't get one.
If your partner doesn't work I think she/he is going to find it hard. Getting stuck at home with the kids everyday without adult company is going to cause a sense of isolation. As soon as you figure out where you will live, check out local expat groups.
Try and have some Finnish classes.
(I am no expert but if I could do my time again I would defin do it differently)
(I am Aussie and I am seriously thinking about heading home.)
Also the best bet would prob be try and set a job up at in Finland, so you are coming to something. No use in coming and getting demoralised you can't get one.
If your partner doesn't work I think she/he is going to find it hard. Getting stuck at home with the kids everyday without adult company is going to cause a sense of isolation. As soon as you figure out where you will live, check out local expat groups.
Try and have some Finnish classes.
(I am no expert but if I could do my time again I would defin do it differently)
Here's a bit about schooling..... and gardening....
Primary school (first grade) starts in the year your child(ren) turns 7. So if your 10 yr old was born in 1994 she would be starting fourth grade here. Primary school is grades 1-6. Lower secondary school is grades 7-9 and then upper secondary goes from 10 thru 12 grade, then you sit matriculation.
The only "ex-pat" school as such is the International School of Helsinki which is a private school currently billing >10 K euro per child per annum. Primary schools in the public sector are totally free. There are 4 or 5 schools in the Greater Helsinki region where English is the principal teaching language. Most of these schools have waiting lists as demand exceeds number of places. There are a few more schools that offer a bilingual (Finnish/English) education and most municipalities offer an integration programme for immigrant children.
Pre-school kids can only apply for free day-care if both parents work (this is a new rule). However private day-care does exist and there are plenty of English language day-care nurseries in the Helsinki region.
If you have specific questions on schooling I can probably help, either post them here or PM me.
My advice would be... try and find a job before you come here. It is VERY difficult to get work if you don't speak Finnish.
Today was a lovely sunny Autumn day.... we had a max of +2 celsius in Kerava where I was watching my kids pay football. It was very windy. I was wearing 2 pairs of trousers, a T shirt, a fleece jacket, an anorak, scarf and gloves, boots and I was frozen. We are currently losing about 30 minutes of daylight each week from now until mid December. Winter lasts about 6 months here (ie snow is a possibility from October through April and has been known even in May) - you will not have any flowers/fruit/veg in your garden during that time. Gardening is very difficult due to the short season. (eg: it is almost impossible to grow tomatoes outdoors). Potatoes are easy, but you need somewhere to store them in winter. Even in Helsinki winter temps can fall below -30 degs celsius.
Primary school (first grade) starts in the year your child(ren) turns 7. So if your 10 yr old was born in 1994 she would be starting fourth grade here. Primary school is grades 1-6. Lower secondary school is grades 7-9 and then upper secondary goes from 10 thru 12 grade, then you sit matriculation.
The only "ex-pat" school as such is the International School of Helsinki which is a private school currently billing >10 K euro per child per annum. Primary schools in the public sector are totally free. There are 4 or 5 schools in the Greater Helsinki region where English is the principal teaching language. Most of these schools have waiting lists as demand exceeds number of places. There are a few more schools that offer a bilingual (Finnish/English) education and most municipalities offer an integration programme for immigrant children.
Pre-school kids can only apply for free day-care if both parents work (this is a new rule). However private day-care does exist and there are plenty of English language day-care nurseries in the Helsinki region.
If you have specific questions on schooling I can probably help, either post them here or PM me.
My advice would be... try and find a job before you come here. It is VERY difficult to get work if you don't speak Finnish.
Today was a lovely sunny Autumn day.... we had a max of +2 celsius in Kerava where I was watching my kids pay football. It was very windy. I was wearing 2 pairs of trousers, a T shirt, a fleece jacket, an anorak, scarf and gloves, boots and I was frozen. We are currently losing about 30 minutes of daylight each week from now until mid December. Winter lasts about 6 months here (ie snow is a possibility from October through April and has been known even in May) - you will not have any flowers/fruit/veg in your garden during that time. Gardening is very difficult due to the short season. (eg: it is almost impossible to grow tomatoes outdoors). Potatoes are easy, but you need somewhere to store them in winter. Even in Helsinki winter temps can fall below -30 degs celsius.
As for finding a job, Latvian could be a nice niche skill. Lot of Finnish business over there, retail group Kesko for example. Quite a few international companies handle the Baltic market from Helsinki, which is how I ended up doing business there. And it is going to get bigger, the country is growing rapidly and is the next logical outsourcing destination after Estonia from Finnish perspective. Helsinki - Riga is a 45 min flight, and judging by the crowds in the business lounge on Friday evenings doing business there while based on Helsinki is common. (BTW, someboby should start importing their wonderful beers...)
Taxes, very roughly and including mandatory pension payments (4.6%):
low income (2000 euros a month) 20%
medium income (3000) 30%
high income (5000) 40%
And Hank, my fondest memory of Subaru Legacy was the expression at the face of the guy showeling his Toyota Corolla out of snow when I sat in to the Subaru and simply drove it through the one meter wall of snow by the street. That 4WD just rocks in winter.
Taxes, very roughly and including mandatory pension payments (4.6%):
low income (2000 euros a month) 20%
medium income (3000) 30%
high income (5000) 40%
And Hank, my fondest memory of Subaru Legacy was the expression at the face of the guy showeling his Toyota Corolla out of snow when I sat in to the Subaru and simply drove it through the one meter wall of snow by the street. That 4WD just rocks in winter.
thank you
Malla
Thank you.. I would LOVE to hear and try to understand what you would do diffrently, what went wrong?
Why would you go home?
What tempted you to Finland in the first place?
Penelope
great info on the schooling scene too..
Today we had 35 degree weather, yesterday 40 degrees, highest for this time of year in recorded history i beleive.. global warming ??? is this a concern by every day citizens there, impact on your climate??
You probabily wished for just a little of this..
personnaly i prefer cooler weather... maybe from my Latvian parentage...??
Do you do any gardening with all the conditions being favourable...
We have our own organic garden and grow what we can, not because we cant buy it, but because we want it free from what ever .. If you use organics, you would understand..
And what is the alternate 'medical' scene like there, or is the government, like most places in the world, controlling that, being puppets of pharmacutical companies.
see Dr Mercolas web pages to get an idea..http://www.mercola.com/
anyway, tonight I look after the children whilst my partner has to go to a meeting.. so again limited time on the net.
Oh and Teme
thanks for your confirmation regarding Subaru's
Info on wages / taxes gives me a good idea as`well and your comments on Latvian trade is also encouraging..
And Keith
I do run bradband and your IP phone suggestions sound a good idea too. Tried it once but must have done something wrong. Next time i'm on the net will investigate your 'location' and give it a go..
but alas the children are demanding my attention so i must sign off for now..
Again to all THANK YOU for helping me put the puzzle together and painting my picture. I would LOVE to hear from you all if you have the time to add to your comments eg why going back, what went wrong etc..
Hopefully we have a cooler day here on the Central Coast of New South Wales in Auzzie land.
ps. are the mozzies THAT BAD as one posted photo i saw??
we
Thank you.. I would LOVE to hear and try to understand what you would do diffrently, what went wrong?
Why would you go home?
What tempted you to Finland in the first place?
Penelope
great info on the schooling scene too..
Today we had 35 degree weather, yesterday 40 degrees, highest for this time of year in recorded history i beleive.. global warming ??? is this a concern by every day citizens there, impact on your climate??
You probabily wished for just a little of this..
personnaly i prefer cooler weather... maybe from my Latvian parentage...??
Do you do any gardening with all the conditions being favourable...
We have our own organic garden and grow what we can, not because we cant buy it, but because we want it free from what ever .. If you use organics, you would understand..
And what is the alternate 'medical' scene like there, or is the government, like most places in the world, controlling that, being puppets of pharmacutical companies.
see Dr Mercolas web pages to get an idea..http://www.mercola.com/
anyway, tonight I look after the children whilst my partner has to go to a meeting.. so again limited time on the net.
Oh and Teme
thanks for your confirmation regarding Subaru's
Info on wages / taxes gives me a good idea as`well and your comments on Latvian trade is also encouraging..
And Keith
I do run bradband and your IP phone suggestions sound a good idea too. Tried it once but must have done something wrong. Next time i'm on the net will investigate your 'location' and give it a go..
but alas the children are demanding my attention so i must sign off for now..
Again to all THANK YOU for helping me put the puzzle together and painting my picture. I would LOVE to hear from you all if you have the time to add to your comments eg why going back, what went wrong etc..
Hopefully we have a cooler day here on the Central Coast of New South Wales in Auzzie land.
ps. are the mozzies THAT BAD as one posted photo i saw??
we