Should I be concerned?

Al737 · Post by **Al737** » Wed Feb 27, 2013 2:46 pm

Good evening guys!
I hope you can help me with my question.
I came to Finland last year with the intention of marrying my girlfriend,and start our lives together, we got engaged and decided we wanted to get married this year.
Upon arrival I submitted my paperwork and was informed that since we hadn't lived together for more than 2 years it couldn't be processed as family ties. Payed the 450€ fee and the Police station fwd it to Helsinki to be processed.
After 9 months of waiting, We finally got a letter from migri a couple of weeks ago, requesting more information (wedding plans proof and some bank statements),Which we happily fwd again.
We called this morning to see where we were standing, and they said that they got our papers (which was a relief)and that they couldn't give a timeframe to get an answer back.
My question is, what's normally the processing time for all of this once they're actually working on it? And if we should be concerned about their decision, this last one just because every one here seem to recommend getting married immediately or ASAP. Hence we are now wondering about the success rate, or if any even for my kind of application, something that seemed just natural suddenly feels really scary.

I really hope you can help us

Best regards !!!

Al

**Sponsor:**

cors187 · Post by **cors187** » Wed Feb 27, 2013 3:15 pm

The only concern you have is that they deny , you loose 450 euro , are asked to leave the country, and again apply for another permit(whatever) closer to the marriage date(which you get because you planned it better).
Its only money, nothing else, oww and some hardship , but thats free.

Time frame of success?, i hinted to that in my first statement, it seems Fins are planners and the better your plan is the faster you get a reply, because its easy for them to see your a planner and a good one at that.
cheers

Pursuivant · Post by **Pursuivant** » Wed Feb 27, 2013 3:46 pm

So why did you submit the application without reading the rules in the first place? The rules are there for you to obey, not for you to want or think otherwise. What you have done is the mistake of "confusing the drones" - they are confused and you will get more into trouble the more you try to do things wrong. So if it says there a) married or b) two years cohabitation there is no thrid option of "I inted"... I want to and intend to win the lottery yes yes yes...

DO:
IF A OR B
THEN YES
ELSE NO
END.

Al737 · Post by **Al737** » Wed Feb 27, 2013 4:16 pm

Thank you very much for your quick answers!!
The reason why we submitted the application was because we were told it was possible to do so the way we did.
So, We don't have an answer from them yet , would you advise to just wait for them to answer or should we do something about it before they do?

Thanks so much in advance!

Upphew · Post by **Upphew** » Wed Feb 27, 2013 4:44 pm

Al737 wrote:Thank you very much for your quick answers!!
The reason why we submitted the application was because we were told it was possible to do so the way we did.
So, We don't have an answer from them yet , would you advise to just wait for them to answer or should we do something about it before they do?

Thanks so much in advance!

Afaik that intend to marry is usually quite quickly followed through. You can submit anything, they won't give permits for every application.

Then there is the issue of papers to get married. You do have the certificate of no impediment? And you are sure it can be old as jeebus to still be valid?

Al737 · Post by **Al737** » Wed Feb 27, 2013 5:09 pm

Once again thank you very much for your replies!

Upphew:
No, we don't have the certificate, since once again we were planning the wedding for latter on this year, but we do have all of our documents to get it ready, and we were told that it shouldn't be a problem, and we should have it in a weeks time.

Thank you so much to y'all!

Upphew · Post by **Upphew** » Wed Feb 27, 2013 7:51 pm

Al737 wrote:Once again thank you very much for your replies!

Upphew:
No, we don't have the certificate, since once again we were planning the wedding for latter on this year, but we do have all of our documents to get it ready, and we were told that it shouldn't be a problem, and we should have it in a weeks time.

Thank you so much to y'all!

Week if you are registered resident here and computer says "single". But getting that paper in week from your country? I tip my hat to your paper pushers.

Rip · Post by **Rip** » Wed Feb 27, 2013 7:55 pm

Al737 wrote:since once again we were planning the wedding for latter on this year

Why, oh why.... Have the celebrations, wedding trip etc when you want and they way you want, but why to make the immigration unnecessary difficult by postponing the legalities...?

Yes there are these, but they are something that may be granted and on temporary basis, so why would anybody want to go through those routes?

Girlfriend is Finnish citizen:
http://www.migri.fi/moving_to_finland_t ... lationship

Girlfriend has FInnish residence permit:
http://www.migri.fi/moving_to_finland_t ... lationship

Flossy1978 · Post by **Flossy1978** » Wed Feb 27, 2013 7:58 pm

If you constantly contact them you will piss them off and it might then take longer for them to process your papers.

Years ago they use to have on the resident applications 'do not contact asking about your application.... bla bla bla.... can lead to the delaying of your application bla bla bla..... something'. It was a flat out threat that if you bother them, they will make the process take longer. And yes, someone here fought with me about this, that it wasn't true. But another poster remembered also from years ago this was on the papers. Maybe it isn't anymore, I don't know. But even if it isn't, you can bet behind closed doors the same thing still applies. You piss them off, they make it take longer etc.

They aren't going to do anything to make your process quicker. So don't bother bothering them. You really won't achieve anything. Just wait like everyone else has to.

Good luck.

Al737 · Post by **Al737** » Wed Feb 27, 2013 8:28 pm

Thank y'all so very very much, your comments and guidance have been invaluable, I will for sure not call them again, I had no idea it was bad to do some follow up.
Sounds like a good chat with the in laws is in order!!!

Cheers!!

cors187 · Post by **cors187** » Wed Feb 27, 2013 10:17 pm

Al737 wrote:Thank y'all so very very much, your comments and guidance have been invaluable, I will for sure not call them again, I had no idea it was bad to do some follow up.
Sounds like a good chat with the in laws is in order!!!

Cheers!!

Flossy is right, you dont ring them up asking when its valid, waste of time.
But if your circumstances change which i guess out of all the res permits , its the" intent to marry", "relationship" res permit will be the most fluctuating in terms of changing circumstances.
So while its no point ringing them on times, the loop hole is circumstances.Will you leave a good enough impression with the details your provided,is there another document that solidifies your claims, is it pertinent that a small detail might make "the squirrel" tell the drones to approve you.
If you use pursuivants drone theory,and you think about it, of course "the Squirrel" is going to be happy that the extra document you sent in makes the drones comfortable to process you through, thus allowing "the Squirrel" its normal place!

Al737 · Post by **Al737** » Wed Feb 27, 2013 11:43 pm

Well, it seemed natural to give it some following, a call every two months or so, we already knew it was gonna be lengthy, so it was purely out of keeping up to date.
We gave them( or at least I hope we did) every possible document to make a strong case, everything from plane tickets from previous visits to each other, to our engagement ad in the osterbottens tidning and our church reservation.
Of course Finland being Finland, the drone theory sounds entirely logical.
We are just hoping for the best.

Cheers fellas!!

Pursuivant · Post by **Pursuivant** » Thu Feb 28, 2013 9:51 am

You can and are allowed to do a lot of things, like jump off a bridge or apply for a permit. Whether you want to do it is a totally different question.
Dealing with bureaucracy, you want and they want. Their want is bigger, so you give them what they want and they'll give you what you want. But - you must choose to want what you can have. Imagine being 5 years old with mom in the store. You want candy. Mom offers a banana or an orange if you are nice. So either you want banana or throw a tantrum and get carted out of the door, but candy isn't on the list...

Problem is, that they must take in even the most stupidest applications, which clog up the system. Therefore everyone must wait for their banana.

Al737 · Post by **Al737** » Thu Feb 28, 2013 10:58 pm

Well the wheels are moving now!
You guys have been amazing!! Thanks for all the good advice.
Waiting for my banana now

Cheers fellas!

Al737 · Post by **Al737** » Fri Apr 12, 2013 8:50 am

Well, the banana has arrived!! Thank y'all so much for all the guidance and good advice, specially to you pursuivant! You're the maddest,sickest, coolest guy in this forum, thank you so much for all your help buddy.

I think I owe you a

or 2.
It was so fast I cannot even believe it.
Next step Finnish integration program.

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