British citizen moving to finland in august

[ICEMAN]

hey everyone,

I know by now people are probably getting tired of responding to these topics above EU residents moving to finland hehe. I was reading through some of the old posts but I couldn't really find any with my situation (most people appeared to be getting married?)

annnnnyway, I'm a full british citizen with an EU passport (i live in Hong Kong right now and have perminant residency here, but i'm still fully British by nationality and passport etc, i just have "right of abode" in Hong Kong, which i wouldn't even present to the Finnish immigration) and in august I'm looking to move out there with my girlfriend in Helsinki to live and work.

I e-mailed the general consulate of finland and got a response which was pretty concise

"What comes to working in Finland, an alien who intends to engage in remunerated employment in Finland must usually have a residence permit for an employed person. A person engaged in an independent business or profession in Finland must have a residence permit for a self-employed person.

However, there are many exceptions to this rule. For example, citizens
of European Union (EU) Member States and equivalent persons do not need a residence permit for an employed person or for a self-employed person.

EU citizens and citizens of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and
Switzerland can freely work in Finland if the work lasts for a maximum
of three months. After that, they must register their right to reside in
Finland, but they do not need a special residence permit.

The employee must go to the local police department to register his or
her right to reside in Finland. The police register the right of
residence of an employed person in the Register of Aliens and issue a
registration certificate verifying the registration. When necessary, the
employee must also present a doctor's statement testifying to his or her
state of health."

So i thought to myself no problems, noooo problems at all! but then I was reading up here and it seems like people have had problems?? I'm just wondering if the process of the register of aliens is actually pretty tough for EU people? and can the work be any kind of employment?? doesn't have to be some specialized employment like when trying to immigrate to the US or something? as far as i have heard and know, it's not... but you guys might know something i don't?

Anyway, here's a little info on me that might help see if i qualify if there is a qualification system:

- I'll be 25 when I move there

- I have various types of work experience and a tertiary education (but i wouldnt consider myself a specifically skilled worker in any trade)

- I'll be living with my gf in helsinki (she'll already have a flat by when i get there) and she is fully Finnish

- I am a full british citizen and have an EU passport and when i've visited finland i never even have to get it stamped

- I'm learning Finnish now (as some have you have seen from my confused posts on the kielikoulu section hehe), still in the beginner stages but studying hard to hopefully have it communicable by August, but will also probably look into studying it in Helsinki too

- I have medical insurance from HSBC in Hong Kong which covers me worldwide in any hospital for sickness/accidental injury

- I'll be looking for any kind of work I can get at first, will this be a problem for an EU citizen?

- I got money to support myself (not like MILLIONS OF DOLLARS or anything, but enough saved up )

anyway I think that is it... again I'm sorry if I didn't dig deep enough to get this information in the forum, I'm sure it's been covered time and time again, but many thanks in advance to all of you who have read this and for all that post a reply helping

much appreciated!

Niall

[sinikala]

Very nice, but errm.... aside from the rhetorical question about the difficulty that unskilled foreigners have in securing work in Finland; what was it you actually wanted to know?

[sinikettu]

However, there are many exceptions to this rule. For example, citizens
of European Union (EU) Member States and equivalent persons do not need a residence permit for an employed person or for a self-employed person.


If you have enough cash..put it into the bank here make your self a self-employed person
Go see the magistrate/police..show proff of a good bank account balance.
and self employed status. register as a resident...from there go to kela get a kela number and start job hunting. That last bit is the tricky bit..

[Hank W.]

Well, yes but no.

I just escorted and Eu alien through the bureaucracy in Vantaa and got into a catch-22. needs one stupid and one idiot in the system and the person is off to kafkaworld. (Employer didn't know new EU does not need a work permit any more)

OK, so first you get yourself a job.

With the job contract and passport in hand go to the Magistrate, and ask for a temporary registration of a foreigner (into the city) to get yourself a ID number. You need passport and your work contract. Otherwise they tell you to piss off. Living with gf might fly through, but the lady might look at you and shake her head. Which means piss off...

Once you have your number you go to the tax office and get a tax card and then to the bank and get a bank account. They might or might not tell you to piss off if you go there without a number, but you don't need a tax card before you have a job anyways.

Once you have your first paycheck (pay statement), you get your passport, job contract, rental agreement (excerpt of the house books from the janitor might do), 40 euros and two photographs, and the paper you got from the magistrate and go to the police station. And your gf as the paper is in Finnish only. Otherwise they will tell you to piss off. The Police will give you the registration of an EU national (into the country) paper. This you have to do within 3 months. Before that or without proper elements they will tell you to piss off.
(And if Daryl comes and tells what the Police are supposed to do, then Daryl can come next time to the Vantaa police to listen to them tell piss off...)

With the registration of the EU-paper you then dawdle back to the magistrate and get yourself permanently registered (as a resident of the city). This temporary/permanent thing is which most people overlook and it will come bite your ass with NHS and KELA and even getting a bus pass, if you are "in the computer" as just as passing by. Or getting a Visa Electron from a bank, "computer says nooooo"

Now then you dawdle over to the KELA office and apply for a KELA card as you work and so forth and are registered and so forth... otherwise... they will tell you to...

So right papers right order right office = no problem.

[sinikala]

Hank gives all the right places, but not in the order I did it.

1) Maistraati - get registered to get a national insurance number (henkilötunnus) DDMMYY-ABCD format number. They asked me to come back and show them the residence permit card (see below) when I got it.
You can now open a bank account.

2) Take your employment contract, €40, photos, passport and Maistraati number to the Police station, fill in their form for a residence permit
http://www.poliisi.fi/poliisi/home.nsf/ ... endocument

3) when you have your residence permit card, take this back to Maistraati, I didn't understand why they wanted this as they gave me the number in the first place, but it kept them happy.

4) When you have the residence permit through, apply for a Kela card, for the photo ID Klea card, this is done in person, no forms to fill out see
bb/viewtopic.php?t=19113&postdays=0&pos ... a&start=16

5) After living here for a while and driving here for 6 months, you can exchange your UK(?) driving licence for a Finnish driving licence - this is the main form of ID in Finland... see..
http://www.poliisi.fi/poliisi/home.nsf/ ... 37002D9F4B
they may also want a health check, seems this was the old law(?), and the Police seem to be unable to get out of the tradition.

You can pay on the way out.

[Hank W.]

Err... whats the difference in the order?

And I explained there why you need to go to the Maistraatti two times

And yeah, forgot about the Drivers Licence - a good point as exchanging it later is a pain.

[Rosamunda]

AFAIK if you are an EU citizen you can come here as a tourist for as long as you like (they can't throw you out as long as you behave). So you can look for a job without doing ANY paperwork. There are things you will not be able to do (eg take out a mobile phone contract in your own name) but I believe it is even possible to open a bank account these days with just an EU passport. Just don't expect to sign on the dole and/or get free root canal treatment.

Get your girlfriend to help you. I have found I get MUCH better service from all the government depts when I have my (Finnish) SO in tow and he does all the talking.

Finding a job has NOTHING to do with being an EU resident. It is just about having the right skills for the job which usually means speaking fluent Finnish and maybe even Swedish depending on where you live. There are many people unemployed in Finland, so you would need better qualifications and/or experience than the Finn to get any job that is up for grabs. There are not many jobs specifically for Native English speakers.

Sounds like you are better prepared than most (savings, health insurance) so just do it and worry about all the bureaucracy once you get here.

[sinikettu]

I cannot help but wonder if attitudes at the police station would be different if.
1. The applicant is from UK and not Romania/New EU.
2. Showed that they were self employed i.e. had a business address or what ever would take to prove this status.
3: Had "adequate" funds in Sampo/Nordea.
4: Showed that the have own Health Insurance.

[sinikala]

Err... whats the difference in the order?

And I explained there why you need to go to the Maistraatti two times

And yeah, forgot about the Drivers Licence - a good point as exchanging it later is a pain.

A number of differences.

I didn't need to show the police anything about a bank account, or a payslip, or a rental agreement. My work contract was enough.

Once you have your number you go to the tax office and get a tax card and then to the bank and get a bank account. They might or might not tell you to piss off if you go there without a number, but you don't need a tax card before you have a job anyways.

I didn't mention it, but IMHO, you don't have to go to see the tax people... ever. In seven years, I never have. You may be put on an emergency tax code initially (I wasn't), and it may take ages to get your money back as a tax rebate.

As much as you don't need a tax code before getting a job, in my experience, you don't need one before getting a bank account either. Your order was not the same as I experienced; I had a bank account very quickly, after a few days, but did not call the tax office until I'd been here about 3 months - I only did so as I was informed by my employer that I had to contact Vero personally (in the UK this was all done by the employer).

I didn't understand at the time why Maistraati want us to go back with the residence permit, nowadays I understand also the idea that there are some rules about data exchange between government agencies. I still can't understand why the process was (I thought they had changed this system) so bureaucratic and badly organised when two of the steps in the process involved physically carrying government generated data between government agencies.

[Hank W.]

I had a bank account very quickly, after a few days, but did not call the tax office until I'd been here about 3 months - I only did so as I was informed by my employer that I had to contact Vero personally (in the UK this was all done by the employer)

Yes well it is all right if you can afford to let them take 60% taxes off you, and extremely all right if you know what number to call. You don't need to go to the tax office, but unless you want to spend a day on the phone and be answered "ÖÖÖÖ", going there in person right after you get your number (the computer takes 2-3 days before it finds you) and getting the slip you have to give your payroll department very much helps avoiding the stupid feeling you have on your first payday with less than half of the salary you expected. Especially if you are on 2-week pay rythm. Because people forget usually and if you forget as you said you can whine all you want but you'll see that money next year December...

[daryl]

(And if Daryl comes and tells what the Police are supposed to do, then Daryl can come next time to the Vantaa police to listen to them tell piss off...)

Taking my name in vain again?

The police stations in larger cities deny me that kind of amusement these days. Just when I've got the formal complaint procedure down to a science...

daryl

[daryl]

Get your girlfriend to help you. I have found I get MUCH better service from all the government depts when I have my (Finnish) SO in tow and he does all the talking.

This, if anything, epitomises BAD service.

I am vividly reminded of doctors who explain the medical condition of their geriatric patients to the next of kin, but not to the patient – even when the patient is in the room.

daryl

[daryl]

Because people forget usually and if you forget as you said you can whine all you want but you'll see that money next year December...

As always, the Prince of Half-Truths.

When you finally do get around to getting your tax assessment it will include the withholding tax that you have already paid. The withholding tax rate that is payable on your earnings for the rest of the year will then be correspondingly lower. If your withholding tax has been substantially overpaid at the time of the assessment (i.e. a four-figure sum in excess of the total forecast tax liability for the whole year), then you may even get an early rebate.

Calculations of withholding tax are like horserace handicapping. The idea is to predict the speed of the runner and impose a burden accordingly. If the handicapping takes place in mid-race, then the burden may be lightened so that the horse can run faster over the final furlongs. It's really very easy to understand, and I never cease to be amazed at how confused some people become at this.

daryl

[peppetto]

As far as know the citizen from Eu and North countrys ,do not pay 40 euro tax for a resident permit,if they stay in finland less ,than 4 years.Or maybe I am wrong?

[blaugrau]

hm, i'm from the eu and had to pay 40 euro when registering with the police last october..
one other thing about the permanent registration with the maistraatti, this is only possible once you've kept the same job you initially registered with longer than the trial period mentioned in your contract, i.e. in most cases about 4 months... if you change jobs during the time of the temporary ID-code (the temporaryness of which doesn't have give you any problems at all in everydaylife by the way, at least in my experience), they will alter the length of the temporary registration according to your new trial period. So only once you've held down the any one job for these 4 months, you can finally register as permanent and change jobs..

(and then for that you need all kinds of other bureaucratic gimmicks, like a translated birth certificate (this probably only when the original is in a language other than English and Finnish) with an apostille from back home stamped on it..)

in my experience, it's not that bad and relatively quickly done to sort out these bureaucratic things once you've found yourself a job, i think it's the getting the job bit that's much trickier..