Residence Permit - Timeline

How to? Read other's experiences. Find useful advice on shipping, immigration, residence permits, visas and more.
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Flossy1978
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Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2007 3:38 pm

Re: Residence Permit - Timeline

Post by Flossy1978 » Mon Jan 30, 2017 11:24 pm

Helpful info: DO NOT CONTACT THEM! Especially to ask how long it will be taking? Just let them contact you, if needed.

No one case is the same. Often if you applied for a permit outside of Finland, especially a Resident Permit, you can get it a lot quicker. It depends on the country.

I think it can take up to 9 months?

If all your papers are in order and you've submitted what was suppose to be submitted, then probably a few months.

But then again, with the influx of refugees etc of late, it might take even longer.

Good luck.



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Flossy1978
Posts: 1395
Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2007 3:38 pm

Re: Residence Permit - Timeline

Post by Flossy1978 » Tue Jan 31, 2017 11:18 pm

Yes you can. But know this.... it means no Kela coverage, no working, no school, no free maternity care if you are pregnant etc. All you can do is pay to go to private Finnish education for adults. You have no other rights to anything else until your Resident Permit comes through.

Is your soon to be husband prepared to care for you all the time it takes? If he is, cool. If he isn't, I'd think hard about marrying him.

Good luck!

rouva_s
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Joined: Fri Feb 03, 2017 11:42 pm

Re: Residence Permit - Timeline

Post by rouva_s » Sat Feb 04, 2017 12:09 am

lunamud wrote:I would like to hear people's experiences with receiving a residence permit - especially those that received it based on family ties (specifically marriage). How long did the process take? What were your circumstances? What other helpful information might you provide?
Hi, I moved here last summer and applied for my residence permit (family ties) at the local police station a week later. As it was during the summer time, Finns usually go on holiday so the officer did tell us that the application might take longer. You will be given a piece of paper confirming your application, which can be used if you were to travel during the waiting period, I think?

My case was really straight forward, we has been married for 3 years before I moved, all the documents were in place and all I had to do was wait. We received a call in late August and a week later the permit was ready for collection.

I guess it will be good if you have enough savings on your own to tide through the waiting period, and also educate yourself on what else you need to do after receiving the permit (there's lots of other stuffs you need to apply to :wink: ) , check out Finnish courses, make plans and probably also do some self study. I bought this textbook from the local bookstore and studied it during my free time while I waited.

Good luck! If you have any more questions, just ask :D

Upphew
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Location: Lappeenranta

Re: Residence Permit - Timeline

Post by Upphew » Sat Feb 04, 2017 1:06 pm

rouva_s wrote:Hi, I moved here last summer and applied for my residence permit (family ties) at the local police station a week later. As it was during the summer time, Finns usually go on holiday so the officer did tell us that the application might take longer. You will be given a piece of paper confirming your application, which can be used if you were to travel during the waiting period, I think?
Nah, you'll need passport, RP/visa etc. for travel. That paper doesn't help with that. Thinking is good, but assumptions can lead to problems.
http://google.com http://translate.google.com http://urbandictionary.com
Visa is for visiting, Residence Permit for residing.

californiakontio
Posts: 25
Joined: Sun Oct 23, 2011 12:54 am

Re: Residence Permit - Timeline

Post by californiakontio » Sun Feb 05, 2017 6:00 pm

I applied in Los Angeles, very straight-forward application, as well as circumstances around August and received it a few weeks later.

leisl
Posts: 422
Joined: Mon Nov 23, 2015 3:26 pm

Re: Residence Permit - Timeline

Post by leisl » Mon Feb 06, 2017 7:05 am

lunamud wrote:I'll be able to apply at the beginning of July. I'm trying to figure out the timing of it all. I don't know if I want to come back to the US and teach fall semester at the university while I wait
Do this one. Seriously, do this one. You can probably safely assume closer to the 9 month range for your application, as the refugee influx has stretched services to breaking point and in some places in Finland, it's being exceeded. Allegedly.

Know that most people in your situation have great difficulty integrating (I am assuming you're only monolingual and don't have a ridiculously in-demand career; but even those in better starting positions find it tough). If you wait it out here and do the private lessons etc, you'll probably be just fine while you wait - it's like a glorious stress-free holiday. It's in the second or third year that people tend to hit those blues. And unfortunately, forewarned doesn't tend to head it off. The problem is that you're unlikely to have working level Finnish by then and there's a dawning realisation that you're still not integrated and it's still probably several more years away (I'm failing terribly at actually conveying how this feels; there's something remarkably sobering about realising that you haven't got good enough Finnish that they even want you as a cleaner). That's when you think, oh hey, I've now been unemployed several years, and a long career break + foreign doesn't make for good odds I'll EVER get back to the career I studied for.

Practical questions... are you prepared to possibly start a totally new career / work as cleaner / become an entrepreneur? If so then it might be hard but at least not impossible.

If you have such things as property in the USA, don't sell them. This bit of advice others will back me on, no bitterness in it I promise :) just don't close any doors to yourself for the future; no matter how idyllic Finland looks, opportunities for a Finn in the USA are generally better than for an American in Finland.

Good luck.

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Oombongo
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Re: Residence Permit - Timeline

Post by Oombongo » Mon Feb 06, 2017 7:33 am

Here is my experience.

Married to a Ukrainian in March 2016 in Helsinki. Applied for residence permit in May 2016 in Helsinki. Got her permit in October 2016. Might have gotten earlier if we didn't move to Espoo in June 2016, or if we applied from Espoo. Yes, these were the words of lady at the counter when I went there in August 2016 to inquire the status of application and if they need any further papers. You might get different response depending upon the "quality" of your application. :D

You will not be covered with Kela during that time. Wifey needed to go for dental work (pulling a teeth out) and it costed 140€. Should have done it at home, film it and upload it in youtube for ad revenue :twisted:
The Kela card is going to take time. I applied for her card in November 2016 and no word yet. Will go there today to ask about it.

side note: it is a good idea to get ID card once you have your residence permit.
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leisl
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Re: Residence Permit - Timeline

Post by leisl » Tue Feb 07, 2017 7:22 pm

lunamud wrote:I do understand that it could be difficult learning the language and I am nervous about that. It does seem that if I take courses and study I should be able to at least get to a basic level within a year. There are classes that are 25 hours a week. Are people taking these classes regularly and still not learning basic Finnish within 3 years? This site is particularly negative about the entire process of moving to Finland and learning Finnish. I don't see this attitude on other blogs or forums where people discuss moving to Finland. I wonder what the difference is between the experiences of those here and the experiences of others on different sites.

I am not opposed to changing careers and I would enjoy going back to school. I've considered getting a PhD here and I understand that could be an option for me there as well. I have already made a potential work contact that seems as if it may turn into something in the future. I would love for that to work out, but I fully understand that it may not. If that is the case, the plan is to dive into language classes.
Oh yes, you can definitely get basic Finnish in three years, but fluent is a different story. The average time to fluency is somewhere around 5 to 10 years, mainly because people have other things going on (they come here and already have a job in English; they're studying for a degree/masters in English; they start a family etc).

Lots stop at the "speak well but not understand well" point, which easily allows you to serve kebab and fries, but it's pointless if there's an interview with a Finn also applying for the same job.

The PhD might actually be a brilliant idea as I hear that in many industries it opens back into an operating language of English due to international collaboration etc. Some people are perfectly fine with never getting to fluency too. I'm not fluent - it's been quite the disappointment to me as I had wanted to integrate properly. But I'm certainly not alone, none of the UK/US/Aus students I've gotten to know in Finland over the past seven years have actually made it work and almost all of them have left (about a dozen). We seem to have a handicap based partly on native tongue and partly on our attitude that we can have anything we put our mind to :)


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