British citizen moving to finland in august

[Hank W.]

Yes well what "rights" are you talking about?

Nobody has any right to claim dole in Finland if they haven't contributed to the system first. Say you're under 25, they force you to get an education before you get on the basic "labour market subsidy", which isn't dole as in "unemployment benefits" even.

That means-tested thing effects quite much, they've saturated it through the system. Also effects students, well, everybody.

The Finnish system has nothing to do with the UK system. EU means you have the same "rights" as any local, or as it is with KELA, the "unpayment office" you have no rights

The EU rule is that if you have been Xnum days on the dole in the UK, you can transfer your dole with you for Xnum days to find a job in Finland. If you don't find a job by then, it doesn't say you can claim similar or any dole in Finland after that. You need to go back in the UK etc. This for a general worker. Being a spouse then again is a bit different rules. However it clearly states for a person entering the Finnish labour market for the first time if they have not worked in Finland for 10 months they are put on the labour market subsidy after a 5 month "quarantine" period.

[sinikala]

Much as I like the EU and the freedom & mobility of workers... this idea of being allowed to go abroad for 3 months to seek work abroad seems to be a bit daft to me.

The way it should work is - if there is an obvious need for certain types of worker it could be made known throughout the EU that certain countries are struggling in filling certain vaccancies e.g. Finland needs welders / ship builders or that the UK requires plumbers.

Unemployed welder in England is informed by the Jobcentre that there are jobs in Finland... ok you can go abroad.

Unemployed plumber in Finland is informed by Kela that there are jobs in the UK... ok you can go abroad.

But for any old unemployed person just upping sticks and trying their luck in another country seems (a) to probably be a waste of time for the jobseeker and (b) it generates a lot of paperwork for the likes of Kela.

[ICEMAN]

i gotta say im pretty glad they have the free to work anywhere in the EU without need of specialist skills if it wasnt for that me and the gf would be toast

i think in some situations and circumstances it opens up a lot of oppertunities... and it's also good for me (as a young person) that i can go around and do medial jobs in the EU for up to three months (in most places) and not have to register to reside, gives me a chance to travel and stuff.

but yeah there are huge pros and cons about it but i dont wanna get into that, just VERY glad it is the way it is now coz it means i don't HAVE to live in the UK and i can (hopefully) actually move and sustain myself within finland with the gf

damn i'm really glad i don't have to live in the UK actually haha, can't take birmingham or glasgow again. chavs and barry's and all that crap

[ICEMAN]

oh and by the way, i just wanted to say thanks for everyone who's discussed this topic! loads of information here which is gradually becoming clearer the deeper i look into it!

thanks again

[SaxonManFinland]

IF you register in Finland or amyother EU Country (maybe not recent joiners) you will be asked for a 301 !!! This is supplied by the DHSS and is a record of your conributions paid into the UK Social System.

In theory when you register in Finland Form 301 counts as contributions made into Finland.Thats the theory NOT the practice though. Practice is that you will be treated as someone who has paid into the Finnish system, get the BASIC MINIMUM rights as unemployment is normally paid by your Union, apart from means tested minimum.

What that meant is I got 600 euro month whilst studying language (unemployed) but 80 euro month when not studying. Had I been unemployed in UK when I arrived I would have got a lot more.

Pension !!! When I checked it out I found this was also guarranteed against my UK contributions.so no worry THEN found it is also means tested, no guaranteed minimum, just your household must have 2300 euro before tax income per month. Which basically says you will only get the minimum to keep you at the minimum survival income. E2300 month equals after taxes and deductions £1000 which must supply ALL you needs, so effectively in my xase I have really just LOST my British State Pension which I paid into for 40 plus years. Now maybe I can get this transferred to Finland, but latest EU moves are stopping this unless its a private pension, and then it will only attract 40% tax

[Hank W.]

you will be treated as someone who has paid into the Finnish system

I think you mean not paid into...

However you got it a bit wrong. The 301 says that if you slip on the road and break your leg, you'll be carted to the hospital and the bill sent to the NHS in UK, who will pay for your hospitalization. This is, until you are covered by Finnish KELA, after you have contributed to the Finnish system. Otherwise they'd send you the bill at home, if you were not covered by either countrys system. Say like I move to Singapore for 2 years; I won't be covered in Finland any more after that, until I get "back on".

You are right on that the UK system has got nothing to do with the Finnish one. On pensions I don't know what the system is in the UK but we here have a similar system as with the unions, you have your KELA means-tested base that is up to nothing and then you have your work-related that is the money. If I retire and move to Spain, they would not pay my KELA base to there. However with the movement of labor I think they will have the pensions transferrable & payable to other EU countries more smoothly, theres some taxation issues as people get still doubly taxed on them.

And yes, indeed, not a lot of people think about these kinds of things when making the initial move with their hawt blonde.

[Rob A.]

[Hank W.]

Also you have to consider what Hank W. said, all it "... needs one stupid and one idiot in the system and the person is off to kafkaworld."

Just heard a nice story of life in 2001 of an Irish bloke trying to convince some Nowheremäki officials that Ireland was a part of the EU and he had a right to reside without applying for a work permit...

won't just tell you what you want to hear....

We provide that service for free...

[marsilainen]

Just heard a nice story of life in 2001 of an Irish bloke trying to convince some Nowheremäki officials that Ireland was a part of the EU and he had a right to reside without applying for a work permit...

When I've been to the post office here in the UK to send something to Finland, I've been asked a number of times whether Finland is in the EU or not

[ICEMAN]

Rob,

yeah i am a proper british citizen, like you as well I've only spent 3 years of my life in the UK when i was born there and then some more for uni, and for the rest of the time I been in HK. I got perminant residency in HK too just coz my folks were working here for over 7 years and we got "right of abode" but yeah that doesn't give me any right to reside in china... gotta buy a visa everytime i visit there in fact. But yep I am a full citizen.

But thanks for the heads up, had to retrace to see if we'd given it up because of moving to HK but we never did. And yeah I gotta be pretty meticulous when it comes to this move with the hawt blonde haha. All this emigrating crap is a damn bigass headache...

but just a quick question regarding that health care stuff you guys are talking about... i KNOW for a FACT I'm not entitled to NHS healthcare (having not lived in the UK for long enough), and HK doesn't have any social security covering healthcare, but i do have medical insurance from HSBC which covers hospital stuff, would that be enough if by your example i slipped down on the ice and busted the leg? or does it start getting weird in finland like they only accept governmental insurances or something outlandish?? haha

[sinikala]

Just heard a nice story of life in 2001 of an Irish bloke trying to convince some Nowheremäki officials that Ireland was a part of the EU and he had a right to reside without applying for a work permit...

When I've been to the post office here in the UK to send something to Finland, I've been asked a number of times whether Finland is in the EU or not

I doubt they get people sending stuff to Finland all that often. Switzerland and Iceland are both European lands and neither of them are in the EU. Also, I still have friends from school / uni that I occasionally get e-mails from I've been asked how are things over in Norway and Iceland?!

[Rob A.]

[ICEMAN]

definitely food for thought! and the food is giving me a headache haha

but yeah I wasn't actually thinking of mentioning my time in HK particularly to them, and rather just handing over my British passport and say "'ello 'ere aye am". I'm not really sure if i'll be question about social security in britian, where i worked last etc etc etc etc, hopefully not, but you never know i guess. when I come into finland i don't get my passport stamped and when i go back to HK i use a smart ID to get through immigration so i don't have any stamps about returning or leaving hk or anything, so as long as i'm not asked for NHS numbers and !"#¤% like that then I would THINK i'd be okay?

but hell, i don't know ANYTHING about this... i willjust have to hope that it'll be all fine and all good in the end... will have to re-post here during my move and tell you all about how crippling the procedures turn out to be (or, on a more head in the clouds approach, how EASY and FUN and JOLLY the situation was!! yaaaaaaaay!! HAHAAH)