Planning to move to Finland in a couple of years

[Victor_ZA]

Hi,

As you all can see I'm new to the forum and will update profile info shortly. I've got a couple of questions and would mainly like advise as I believe most of the legal stuff is available online.

I'm 23 y/o and busy with my bachelors in mechanical engineering (final year). I'm a South African and Croatian citizen as I'm born in South Africa and my mother in Croatia. I thus have both passports. My home language is Afrikaans (similar to Dutch) but speak English and Croatian fluently.

So that's most of the basic info out of the way. I've been researching countries to emigrate to for a while now and love the idea of Finland as it is rated as one of the least corrupt countries, highest press freedom etc. Seems like a country where I can build a solid future and become part of a proud community. Anyhow, I love South Africa but the crime is getting to me and unemployment is really high, to top it all off as a white South African there are policies that make it difficult to get into certain positions.

I'm starting work next year and plan to remain in South Africa gor about 2-5 years as to register as a professional engineer. This will allow me to use my degree in other countries, including Finland. During this time I'm planning on learning some basic Finnish and to hopefully visit Finland as a tourist.

My questions are: should I attempt to learn Finnish on my own? Is a bachelors in engineering a good degree to have in Finland? Will my EU citizenship help in obtainig perminant residency? Lastly, do you have any tips of suggestions to do with my time before emigrating?

Thanks for reading!

[rinso]

Is a bachelors in engineering a good degree to have in Finland?

You have to compete with natives from whom many have masters.

Will my EU citizenship help in obtainig perminant residency?

EU citizenship will make things a lot easier.

Lastly, do you have any tips of suggestions to do with my time before emigrating?

Do some studying in Finland. (exchange student, additional courses). It will help with the language and the culture.

[Victor_ZA]

Is a bachelors in engineering a good degree to have in Finland?

You have to compete with natives from whom many have masters.

Will my EU citizenship help in obtainig perminant residency?

EU citizenship will make things a lot easier.

Lastly, do you have any tips of suggestions to do with my time before emigrating?

Do some studying in Finland. (exchange student, additional courses). It will help with the language and the culture.

Thanks for the reply Rinso. Regarding furthering my studies it's very expensive to study here. I'm in my final year so it's unlikely that I'll be able to be part of an exchange program. I didn't mention this but I'm a qualified draughtsman, Solidworks, will it be possible to do my masters in Finland and support myself somewhat doing draughting work?

[Rip]

will it be possible to do my masters in Finland and support myself somewhat doing draughting work?

I don't know about the particular field, but in general the idea of doing Master's here while getting some local work experience must be one of the better ones for your goal,

I do hope you understand that you are looking to move to a country that has excellent chance of having one of the worst economic situation in EU during the next decade and a language that is hard to master.

[Victor_ZA]

will it be possible to do my masters in Finland and support myself somewhat doing draughting work?

I don't know about the particular feel, but in general the idea of doing Master's here while getting some local work experience must be one of the better ones for your goal,

I do hope you understand that you are looking to move to a country that has excellent chance of having one of the worst economic situation in EU during the next decade and a language that is hard to master.

Thanks, will look into the work situation. I personally feel that the history of the country and what I've read regarding the culture etc. it is a country that I'd want to start a family in. With regards to the economic situation, I understand that but I don't want to move to Finland for money. If that were the case I'd be stupid. Further I've always believed anything that is worth working for isn't easy.

[Ninja]

Thanks, will look into the work situation. I personally feel that the history of the country and what I've read regarding the culture etc. it is a country that I'd want to start a family in. With regards to the economic situation, I understand that but I don't want to move to Finland for money. If that were the case I'd be stupid. Further I've always believed anything that is worth working for isn't easy.

i wouldn't go based off the history of the country so much in deciding whether to live there or not, politics can always change.

And I'm also not sure what part of the culture you read, because culturally speaking, Finland as a culture is not very diverse or multi-cultural by any standard. It is also very introverted and somewhat isolated as a society, meaning you won't have friends falling off of trees, people keep to themselves and do whatever they can to avoid interaction with each other as a whole, meaning you make your connections through your relevant interactions, which you will have none. The food is not generally to foreigners liking, among other things that will likely feel out of place.

You're basing your decision far too much on theory and statistics, you've got to really be able to encompass everyday life and happiness, or you'll be another drop in the bucket here that had expectations that didn't fall anywhere near reality.

My questions are: should I attempt to learn Finnish on my own? Is a bachelors in engineering a good degree to have in Finland? Will my EU citizenship help in obtainig perminant residency? Lastly, do you have any tips of suggestions to do with my time before emigrating?

You will not be able to learn Finnish on your own, it's a complex and very time-consuming endeavor. The speaking is different from the written language, and different areas have their dialects, so while you may be able to communicate to a degree, you'll be a huge fish out of the water, and that's IF you could communicate and understand.

However, you speak English well, and there are other countries where the language is easier to learn, career wise, there might be much better choices, where the economy and culture is more diverse.

Mechanical engineering, I am willing to wager is not a much needed degree here, in fact I am uncertain from my experience what degree is actually needed here. I am a foreigner myself living here, and I've met lots of people with lots of qualifications, from university professors, doctors and various engineers from medical to electrical, and the biggest barrier for them is having to speak Finnish.

Speaking Finnish is a top priority if you're interesting in living in Finland and you could achieve a masters in your field in the same amount of time that you'll be able to fluently speak Finnish.

You also have no work experience, a degree without work experience is like a car without gas, you should be planning on what you're going to do or where you're going to work now and making those connections and getting those internships, rather than try to solve the problem by going around it, which will be a lot more time-consuming than you understand. It's one thing to have a job-setup here beforehand, that is a whole other deck of cards, but coming here fresh with a degree and no work experience, you're not exactly holding a strong hand.

Wager your future on those realities, realize what you are getting yourself into, or you're impulsiveness can cost you years of your time and money...which time cannot be replaced.

Your EU citizenship should help in obtaining a permit, from my knowledge, technically you should be able to work here without a problem, but extremely likely not anywhere in your field.

My tips, to save yourself from making a big mistake, is to really assess the situation, not just based on a make-believe future, but where you can REALISTICALLY get yourself together and going the fastest...where your language skills can be more useful, which means less time investment in having to learn the language. Having to learn Finnish will be a huge strain and time-sink than you'll ever know, that will grind you down from a sharp, aggressive, and motivated blade, to a very dull and struggling one.

It's a huge decision, do not underestimate it, because it can change the course of your life and cost you years of your life for little or no progress. It is not impossible, but if you're just using that as your reasoning, you're going to be in for a big surprise once you realize what you go yourself into...it's a whole different world when you think about how difficult something will be, and then to actually go through it.

I would highly recommend other alternatives, there are other stronger economies in the world, and better opportunities than Finland will give you, because it's not doing too great for itself at the moment economically, and it's a small country of 5 million people with modest sustainable goals, not an international powerhouse with large industry.

[Flossy1978]

Engineers are dime a dozen in Finland. And also dime a dozen are unemployed, with unemployment is going rise even more in the next several years. And there are plenty of Engineers with Masters too. Also out of work. It really doesn't look good there.

If you want to leave yoru country, there are so many other countries out there from which you could hopefully get into. From which you could get just as much, if not more, than Finland offers, culturally, language wise, socially etc.

You'd be better of applying to other countries. Finland is great. I lived there for fourteen years, but from outside of it now, it looks like it is going downhill somewhat.

Good luck.

[Victor_ZA]

Thanks Ninja and Flossy! Really appreciate the honest feedback.

I agree it would be wise to focus on the realities of the subject. Think I'll complete my studies and first work in some english speaking countries.