Help......Order of To-Do List on Arrival???? (EU citizen)

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mago
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Help......Order of To-Do List on Arrival???? (EU citizen)

Post by mago » Fri Jun 09, 2006 8:57 am

OK, so I have read all the information here and the things I have to do are becoming much clearer.

This post is to try and get myself in order so I am not running around the city to government offices in the wrong order and wasting a lot of time.

I am an Australian who is going to arrive in Finland in a few months with plans on staying long-term. I will be arriving on my UK passport as I am sure it makes things easier for me.

What is the order of these things on my list:
  • Legally allowed to work (As a EU citizen I can work on arrival, yes? If so am I issued a Social Security Number from Maistratti immediately or must I supply them with a letter from my first employer?)
  • Bank Account (I need one to recieve my pay, but OKO Bank wont let you open one without a SSN, what about other banks)
  • Residence Permit (I have my 1st child due in November with my Finnish girlfriend and assume that this helps me get my resident permit approved, but would this entitle me to work?)
  • Kela Card (In my situation when could I apply?)
  • Social Security Number (When does an EU citizen get issued with a SSN, can you work without one?)
  • Swap Aus. drivers licence for Finnish one (Can do this any stage)
  • Have I missed anything important out??
I really want to be clear about what I have to do to reduce the stress I will be under during my first few months. As far as I can tell, my child will not make any difference to my residence application in terms of speeding things up, and I will be registering for a residence permit as a EU worker rather than through family ties (is it an either/or thing?). Not sure it makes a difference but we are not married and have not been living together for 12 months.

Thanks for the help guys, this website has been a saviour already.



Help......Order of To-Do List on Arrival???? (EU citizen)

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Hank W.
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Post by Hank W. » Fri Jun 09, 2006 9:29 am

Well, as you are "British", hence EU citizen (just keep it simple) you don't need to worry about the "Residence permit" as it is automagical. Basically you show up at the Police station, with your work contract in hand, and say you want to be "registered as an Eu citizen". Then you pop over to the maistraatti and ask to be a marked as a resident in the city and for the personal identity number. Then you pop over to the tax office and get a deduction slip as they'll anally probe your salary if you don't get it to your employer's payroll in time (mandatory 60%) and then off to the bank... Exchanging the OZ licence you need to be driving around 6 months; you can also apply for the KELA card, but it takes a while as well.
Cheers, Hank W.
sitting here like a lemon looking for a gin.

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mago
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Post by mago » Fri Jun 09, 2006 1:11 pm

Great Hank, all sounds very simple. Just to clarify.

So once I am "registered as an EU citizen", I can stay longer than the 90 days (Indefinitely? Does anything go in my passport).

As an EU citizen I dont need a residence permit, or by automagical you mean I just wait a few months for the residence permit (if Im in Hel.) approval but in the mean time I can work?

It sounds as though once I have a job offer I should have a Social Security Number within a few days, is that correct?

Assuming it will be difficult to find work immediately, is there anything I can do first to register and get my Personal ID and SSN numbers. Or it must be job first?

Thanks

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Hank W.
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Post by Hank W. » Fri Jun 09, 2006 1:44 pm

Well, yes but no. As a non-citizen you need a residence permit, however as an EU citizen you are automagically given one. But you need to go and get it.

Basically you need "reason" to be a resident in Finland, to get the numbers - work is a good "excuse". Though as you said you're moving in to live with your gf, the magistrate probably will put you in the books as that is a good "excuse" as well.

Now if you were a genuine wizard of Oz, they'd treat you like a real foreigner, so just remember to present your limey side. Now if you plan eventually on travelling back & forth on your Australian passport, then you better get one of those "plastic" Residence Permit cards so as to avoid confusing the customs/immigration personnel... But thats then.
Cheers, Hank W.
sitting here like a lemon looking for a gin.

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mago
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Post by mago » Fri Jun 09, 2006 2:35 pm

Gotcha, thanks for all the advice.

Andy_UK
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Post by Andy_UK » Fri Jun 09, 2006 3:39 pm

From my experience...basically you need to prove to the police (who will issue the residence certificate) that you are not just simply moving here to rob the government and claim benefits...

you will need to show that you will be earning cash, and therefore the tax man will get a heafty slice too.

Even though you are EU (same as I) you may have a hard time with the residence thing unless you show up with a work contract first.

Job...permit...ID numbers...bank account....easy.
We are here for a good time, not a long time!!

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Post by Rosamunda » Fri Jun 09, 2006 6:18 pm

Forget you have an Aussie passport, cosmetic.

Just use your EU passport. You should be treated same as any EU citizen and as far as I am aware you are entitled to stay here as long as it takes to look for work.... just as I can clear off back to France tomorrow and job hunt there. I thought that Finland had even stopped issuing Residency Permits to old EU citizens (might be wrong).

You seem to be pretty confident that you are going to find a job... what are you looking for? Do you speak Finnish? IMO, those issues are a bigger priority than sorting the paperwork.

BTW being married makes things easier (boring but true). I didn't work for over a year when I first arrived here but got a SSN, Kela card etc through my husband (who is Finnish) straight away.

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mago
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Post by mago » Fri Jun 09, 2006 6:44 pm

Hi Penelope, definietly not confident about finding work straight away. I understand the difficulties I am up against.

I recently graduated as an Environmental Engineer, and as much as I would love to find something in my field I am like many others in that I will take what I can get.
On the flipside, I am one of those people where everything always works out fine. Why? not sure.

I have contacts with Outokumpu which may lead to something, and also have a good group of foriegn and Finnish friends that are around to offer advice and their contacts.

I fully understand the challenges and would say I am hesitantly optimistic about things. But don't worry I'm not dumb enough to think I'm going to walk off the plane into a job. I have the means of supporting myself in the interim.

I'm just starting with my Finnish studies now, but I love languages and am going to do my best in the months ahead to get the basics together before arriving.
Yep, not married yet. I don't think a Finnish child entitles you to SSN etc straight away.

This post is to get my head around what I need to get done, just a bit of forward planning so I am not so overwhelmed when I return.

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Papu
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Post by Papu » Sun Jun 11, 2006 8:39 pm

here´s a list of what to do (in what order) for newcomers who want to register.

1.) Go to the maistraati (magistrate) in Albertinkatu and tell the nice ladies that you want to apply for residence -> they will send you to the police-station in Malmi BUT first they´ll give you a piece of paper stating that you are currently in the registering process.

2.) Go to the HKL (public transport thing office in the Railwaystation) with this paper. This way you can already buy your monthly Travel-pass for the Helsinki area - it´s way, way, wayyyy cheaper than paying 2 € everytime you go from A-B. Actually, it cost´s something like 40 €.

3.) Now you can travel to the foreign-police office, which is located in MALMI (take the train, it´s included in your monthly pass). Try to get there early, as there are long cues. This is where you have to register: Bring along your documents - but anything that you forgot you can send by post later. They will tell you that it might take 4 months for the registration proces, but don´t be discouraged ´cause it won´t. (This procedure costs 40 € by the way.)

4.) Wait a couple of days. Maybe check out the EURES-office in Mikonkatu, they can give tips about finding employment

5.) Go to Malmi again and fill out a "Speed-Up-Request". Think of any good reason why they should speed-up the registration process and they will (it worked for me). This way you´ll be registered a lot faster. Any reason is normally good, best to tell them that you want to get your bank-account, or work, or etc...

6.) A week later you´ll be registered. You get the registration by the post.

7.) Once you´ve got your registration go to the Maaistraati in Albertinkatu and you will get your certificate of domicile and your social security number.

8.) Now go to EURES again and go looking for work!

GOOD LUCK!
Jabbadabbadooo

zam
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Post by zam » Sun Jul 02, 2006 11:43 pm

David Webb wrote:But what if you don't have work lined up? As an EU citizen can you still get a residence permit straight away? How do you convince them to give you a resiidence permit if your purpose of being in the country is to start looking for work?
You don't get a residence permit for looking for work (don't need one).
EU/EEA and Swiss citizens can come to Finland for three months for the sole purpose of looking for work. If they are receiving unemployment benefits in the home country, they may be transferred to Finland for these three months (have to be sorted out with the paying authority in advance, though). If the stay in Finland lasts max. three months (as it should in case you do not find a job and have any other purpose to stay), you will not need any kind of permit. EU/EEA/Swiss citizens have to register their right of residence only when the stay will exceed three months (and start the registration process within those first three months).

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DennisS
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Post by DennisS » Wed Jul 05, 2006 11:28 am

Papu wrote:here´s a list of what to do (in what order) for newcomers who want to register.

1.) Go to the maistraati (magistrate) in Albertinkatu and tell the nice ladies that you want to apply for residence -> they will send you to the police-station in Malmi BUT first they´ll give you a piece of paper stating that you are currently in the registering process.

2.) Go to the HKL (public transport thing office in the Railwaystation) with this paper. This way you can already buy your monthly Travel-pass for the Helsinki area - it´s way, way, wayyyy cheaper than paying 2 € everytime you go from A-B. Actually, it cost´s something like 40 €.

3.) Now you can travel to the foreign-police office, which is located in MALMI (take the train, it´s included in your monthly pass). Try to get there early, as there are long cues. This is where you have to register: Bring along your documents - but anything that you forgot you can send by post later. They will tell you that it might take 4 months for the registration proces, but don´t be discouraged ´cause it won´t. (This procedure costs 40 € by the way.)

4.) Wait a couple of days. Maybe check out the EURES-office in Mikonkatu, they can give tips about finding employment

5.) Go to Malmi again and fill out a "Speed-Up-Request". Think of any good reason why they should speed-up the registration process and they will (it worked for me). This way you´ll be registered a lot faster. Any reason is normally good, best to tell them that you want to get your bank-account, or work, or etc...

6.) A week later you´ll be registered. You get the registration by the post.

7.) Once you´ve got your registration go to the Maaistraati in Albertinkatu and you will get your certificate of domicile and your social security number.

8.) Now go to EURES again and go looking for work!

GOOD LUCK!
For me it worked a bit different.

1. Go to the foreign police and apply for residence permit. As a EU citizen you do not need a reason nor work. They will give you a piece of paper that you have registered. They told me if you have a working contract the process can be sped up quite a lot.

2. Go to the Maaistraati and show them the paper. They will give you a temporary SSN.

3. With this you can open a bank account.

4. After you received the residence permit from the foreign police (took 2 month for me in Helsinki) you go again to the Maaistraati. Now you get a permanent SSN (is actually the same number but in the system it does not say temp anymore).

5. Now you can go to KELA and get the KELA card.

6. If you have work and know your income (you need to give this information) you can go to the tax office and get your tax card.

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aniorek
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Post by aniorek » Thu Jun 14, 2007 10:46 am

It's an old thread but I would like to update it a bit and ask additional question.

1. Be sure to show up earlier at the police station in Malmi, they only give out numbers until 2 pm, on Wednesday until 5. If you show up too late, they can make an appointment with you for the next day.

2. I was there yesterday and it took maybe 10 minutes (EU citizen), maybe I got lucky. Friendly and speedy service.

Now my questions:

Can I use the temporary SSN which I would get from maistraati to get the tax card? If it's the same as the normal one, will it make a difference for the tax office? I would like to get it before the next payroll time to avoid paying big bucks.

Also, how long does it take to get the tax card?

Thanks for your help!

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blaugrau
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Post by blaugrau » Thu Jun 14, 2007 2:40 pm

The temporary SSN works just fine for anything, including of course the Tax card. If you go to the tax office with your work contract, you'll get the tax card right away.

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aniorek
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Post by aniorek » Thu Jun 14, 2007 2:47 pm

blaugrau wrote:The temporary SSN works just fine for anything, including of course the Tax card. If you go to the tax office with your work contract, you'll get the tax card right away.
Fantastic, thanks! :)


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