A Canadian in need of helpful advise :)

[kotimaa]

Should someone help interprete this i dont know if it is

Take a look in Kela webpage,you will find all the informatio you need.

[kotimaa]

I got married with a Finnish woman 12 years ago.
I'm spanish(so,EU)was born in spain from swiss mother and english father(it doesn't matter).
2 years ago,due the situation in Spain,we decide to move to Finland.
I'm working in IT and I got some kind of an integration plan.The integration plan is intended for refugee an other tipe of immigrants.
So I haven't got this integration plan, but as married with Finnish citizen and she is a return migrant,i have full right as Finnish Have.
It means Kela card after 5 weeks,language course and vacational school(payed from Kela) and payed trayning.
I don't speak well Finnish,my level is 2 on 5 and I got a well salaried job after 14 month.
Yes 14 month without job treated as Finnish means 14 month of salaried language course and 14 monts of pension.
As married with Finnish citizen you have full rigth as your wife has,since she will be treated as return migrant.
Take a look in Kela web page.

[kxtream]

I dont recommend any one to live finland, depressed society

[Upphew]

I dont recommend any one to live finland, depressed society

Better to have oppressing government than depressing society.

[kotimaa]

I dont recommend any one to live finland, depressed society

Better to have oppressing government than depressing society.

We are planning to move somewere:Canada or Australia.
Here the society is SO depressing.

[Pursuivant]

Why don't you move before you get the handouts, would make the society much happier.

[tummansininen]

The official unemployment level here is 7%.

The approximate unemployment level for foreign-spouses-of-Finns is somewhere around 40%.

You are far more qualified than most who come here asking the same question; but you're not (seemingly) in possession of any quals that Finns are desperate to get. Rather than ask what jobs you can do, ask what jobs an employer would want you for over and above a local who already speaks both Finnish and English. :/

The most obvious questionmark about your plan is the idea that you, and not your wife, will be the family breadwinner. You are far more likely to succeed in Finland if your wife finds fulltime work and supports you as the househusband at least in the beginning. This frees you up to study Finnish fulltime. It's incredibly common that the Finnish partner doesn't really understand how difficult the move will be for the foreigner. After all, they've never had to deal with the integration process offered by the Finnish government, and many of them have never dealt with the unemployment red tape either.

Hopefully you either get to fluency or find a great job at some point in that three-year integration support period. But it's not guaranteed, and keep in mind that if you dump fulltime language classes for a job using English, you'll almost certainly never reach Finnish fluency. That's a big deal if you decide to resort to unskilled work - you don't want to be stuck cleaning floors for decades when you have skills to use, and landing a job will end your integration payments, meaning no-more-free-language-classes either.

There are things Finland offers to try and help you get the best start here. You'd be well advised to consider taking advantage of them as best you can. Study will still be available for your wife in a couple of years' time. Integration support won't be.

[kotimaa]

Why don't you move before you get the handouts, would make the society much happier.

No,there's no way to make this society much happier.

[mcx1000]

As a fellow Canadian in Suomi, you will spend your first year learning the language, then think about a job.
The weather is not bad and the darkness is not so dramatic as others say. Try living in Yellowknife in the NWT, haven't experienced -45 C yet here in Helsinki.
Canada has a great economy right now, so if you want to be employed and have money for vacations and such, stay in Canada.

r

[goodquestion]

And if someone has not mentioned already, apply for the RP via the embassy before going!

[Pursuivant]

As a fellow Canadian in Suomi, you will spend your first year learning the language, then think about a job.
The weather is not bad and the darkness is not so dramatic as others say. Try living in Yellowknife in the NWT, haven't experienced -45 C yet here in Helsinki.

I'd say for a Canadian it would be like moving to Quebec ... friendly natives, easy language

[Cory]

Canada has a great economy right now, so if you want to be employed and have money for vacations and such, stay in Canada.

The jobs to be had and the money to be made are in Northern BC, Alberta and Saskatchewan where all the mines and oil fields are. They're all screamin' for workers and start-up entrepreneurs for those areas. Where a person feels comfy is a matter of personal preference. For me, there's no way I'd be able to hack living in the culture-less backwoods of the northern parts of my native land and the cities are just too damned expensive.

[Pursuivant]

For me, there's no way I'd be able to hack living in the culture-less backwoods of the northern parts of my native land and the cities are just too damned expensive.

Exactly why I left Finland

[Cory]

For me, there's no way I'd be able to hack living in the culture-less backwoods of the northern parts of my native land and the cities are just too damned expensive.

Exactly why I left Finland

I live near enough to a city to be able to get some culture when I need it and all the services are available without travelling for a day just to see a doctor or whatever. Housing is still very affordable. It's not so very far from the northern most point of Finland to a larger centre for health care or university, etc. Living in the north of BC, Alta or Sask could take a whole day's drive or more depending on the season and that's conditional on there actually being a road to drive on!

I guess it's just a matter of preference. Always been a bit restless and easily bored so the challenge of living in a foreign country gives me a bit of a rush everyday, too, because I'm often outside of my comfort zone with the language.

[Rick1]

Not much comfort in Finnish language no.Had a Finn telling me that my language was not pretty to speak, I replied yes that is why I escaped to Finnish; a fluent almost singing type of language which can be spoken without opening your mouth.