Finding things difficult with residency.

[amenra]

Ok, so I came to Finland 16 months ago, have worked at times doing temporary jobs as they come. At the moment I am unemployed. I am still waiting to hear back for a decision about my application for residency. Apparently it does not look good. What right, if any, do I have as being a father to a Finnish Citizen (who's mothers family are all Finnish going back countless generations) to gain my residency to stay here so I can be close to him and see him? I am not with his mother. I do not want to leave him but may be forced to without the residency. With the residency I will get the opportunity to study learning Finnish which would be great. I am an EU citizen. I have not asked for anything from this government and have spent countless thousands living here. Any help or point in the right direction will be greatly appreciated. And I the reason I moved here was because I love the country and not some woman which all Brits seem to come here for.

[PJG]

....And I the reason I moved here was because I love the country and not some woman which all Brits seem to come here for.

Not really sure if you mean that as a dig at the many of us who moved to Finland having fallen in love with a Finn, but I also don't see your 'love' for the country instead of one of her citizens as something that should matter for your residency application either. Why would it?

If you want to learn Finnish, buy a book/audio course and start using it anywhere you can. If you want to learn it, you will. If you don't, you'll make excuses.

Offer to trade English conversational 'lessons' for Finnish ones. That works. Lots of people are interested if only you ask. If you know anything at all from your time here, it's that most Finns are very genuine and when they see you are also, they are generous with their help for someone who's trying to make it work.

If you don't have a job and you believe you can't get one, but have the ability to work hard doing something people need done, consider starting your own business. What did you do before you moved here? What education, skills or training do you have?

Honestly, I'm not judging you, but if you're here because you 'love' the country and want to be close to your kid you need to do something other than spending your savings and hoping for the best on the residency application. Waiting for someone in an office somewhere to get out the rubber stamp to give a green light in life is, simply, wasting your life. If you want to be a good father, you need to put in the effort and make your own way, do what you can for yourself and show your kid the right way to do it as they grow up.

Too many people, Foreigners and Finns alike, sit around waiting for somebody to give them a job, give them an education, give them a home. These are all things you have to go and get if you actually want any kind of decent life for yourself here. I have no idea how people like that can have any self respect of feel entitled to be respected by others when they take, take, take.

If you're not that guy, buck their system. Don't take no for an answer. Let them keep their poxy answer and go do it for yourself. Give an hour a day to language studies, interact and socialise with as many Finns as you can (you MUST work at this, they won't at first) and do everything you can to let them see you're absolutely determined to provide for yourself and contribute something good to this chosen home of yours.

[betelgeuse]

Ok, so I came to Finland 16 months ago, have worked at times doing temporary jobs as they come. At the moment I am unemployed.

I am an EU citizen.

As an EU citizen working, you should have been able to register your right of residence. You are supposed to do it for stays longer than three months.

I am still waiting to hear back for a decision about my application for residency.

There's no application for residency for EU citizens using free movement so this confuses me. Only if you can't register your right of residence, is there a fallback to applying for a residence permit. What exactly did you apply for?

What right, if any, do I have as being a father to a Finnish Citizen (who's mothers family are all Finnish going back countless generations) to gain my residency to stay here so I can be close to him and see him?

Biologic relation on its own gives you no rights. If you are a guardian, it makes you eligible for a residence permit based on family ties.