Apply Finnish residence permit with family visiting visa?

[Nineveh]

I heard it is ok to apply finnish residence permit either in Finland or your own country.So I'm planning to do so until I have been told by Finnish embassy staff that I have to apply "at home" since it's my first time.And she was talking like this is some new regulations that I have no other options,confusing me .Is there anyone who applied this in Finland recently?

PS:I'm Chinese,my husband is Finnish.

Thanks a lot!

[Rip]

As your husband is a Finnish citizen it is perfectly permissible to do so. It depends on the circumstances (including the processing time that is hard to guess in advance), if it is also sensible for you to do so.

If you come here without a permit, you may legally stay while the application is being processed, but before you actually get the permit you're outside national social security system (including publicly funded health care) and do not have right to get employed or do degree studies. Depending on the circumstances (what you plan to do there, what you would/could do in China in the meanwhile and more personal things), the wait may seem long.

[Elephant]

Yes, it is possible to do so as Rip says. I asked the same question as you a few months ago and was advised to apply from home in the US. However, we chose to apply from here. NOW REGRETTING THAT! The marriage and applying for the permit was done in 2 weeks (got letter from embassy day I arrived, took it to maastratti same day, week later got married at maastraatti, next day put in application at police).
So far so good except the police advised us that the wait for the permit could take more than 4 months (big pile ahead of us and they have low staffing during the summer which further delays processing). After one month here watching t.v, taking long walks, exercising, have gone to Tallin, Stockholm and St Petersburgh etc, I've decided to return home, work and wait from there. My old job is not yet filled and I can find someplace temporary to stay while I wait.

My advice from my one month experience:
If you have a job in China and like the feeling of money coming into your pockets, apply from there.
If sitting around for months doing "nothing" will drive you nuts, apply from there.

If you have no job in China, apply here.
If you're planning to have kids then might as well apply from here and get started
If you feel as if you'll die if you're separated for even one more minute, then apply here
You may have a chance to take paid language classes while you wait. There are none in my area until late June, so I couldn't even do that!
You can also join the library and borrow language learning books etc. I managed to do that without a resident permit or personal id number.

Good Luck in your decision! Finland is a wonderful place

[Rip]

Enrolling to some Finnish language course(s) (paying fees yourself) is one of the options for spending time while waiting. Otherwise not much to add to the previous message(s).

If you are already married (do also the registration with Finnish authorities via the local embassy), and decide to apply here, you should visit the police office on the day arrival or the next business day (to minimize the delay). I believe you now need an advance booking for an appointment (that you can/must do online perhaps week or two earlier)

[rinso]

I can only advice you to apply at home. If you apply here, the wait can be very long. (it could easily be more than 6 months)
Not only takes applying in Finland longer, you also now have the flood of student applications that have priority.
In the mean time you can do nothing in Finland. In fact your status will be tourist. You won't be able to get a bank account, phone subscription and so on.
And most important you are not covered in the medical care system.

[Nineveh]

As your husband is a Finnish citizen it is perfectly permissible to do so. It depends on the circumstances (including the processing time that is hard to guess in advance), if it is also sensible for you to do so.

If you come here without a permit, you may legally stay while the application is being processed, but before you actually get the permit you're outside national social security system (including publicly funded health care) and do not have right to get employed or do degree studies. Depending on the circumstances (what you plan to do there, what you would/could do in China in the meanwhile and more personal things), the wait may seem long.

Yeah,according to embassy words“In some cases applications for a residence permit based on grounds of family ties or other reasons can be filed with the local police in Finland”. I was just wondering if there any new rule released recently that I can not apply in Finland for the first time.And I aware that will cost a very long time and I can do nothing but wait.

So with this situation I should definitely ask for a multiple entries visa first then residence permit applications since I heard once I do the other way around,I could not apply any visa while waiting for application?

[Nineveh]

Enrolling to some Finnish language course(s) (paying fees yourself) is one of the options for spending time while waiting. Otherwise not much to add to the previous message(s).

If you are already married (do also the registration with Finnish authorities via the local embassy), and decide to apply here, you should visit the police office on the day arrival or the next business day (to minimize the delay). I believe you now need an advance booking for an appointment (that you can/must do online perhaps week or two earlier)

Thanks for the answer/tips,again

[Nineveh]

Yes, it is possible to do so as Rip says. I asked the same question as you a few months ago and was advised to apply from home in the US. However, we chose to apply from here. NOW REGRETTING THAT! The marriage and applying for the permit was done in 2 weeks (got letter from embassy day I arrived, took it to maastratti same day, week later got married at maastraatti, next day put in application at police).
So far so good except the police advised us that the wait for the permit could take more than 4 months (big pile ahead of us and they have low staffing during the summer which further delays processing). After one month here watching t.v, taking long walks, exercising, have gone to Tallin, Stockholm and St Petersburgh etc, I've decided to return home, work and wait from there. My old job is not yet filled and I can find someplace temporary to stay while I wait.

My advice from my one month experience:
If you have a job in China and like the feeling of money coming into your pockets, apply from there.
If sitting around for months doing "nothing" will drive you nuts, apply from there.

If you have no job in China, apply here.
If you're planning to have kids then might as well apply from here and get started
If you feel as if you'll die if you're separated for even one more minute, then apply here
You may have a chance to take paid language classes while you wait. There are none in my area until late June, so I couldn't even do that!
You can also join the library and borrow language learning books etc. I managed to do that without a resident permit or personal id number.

Good Luck in your decision! Finland is a wonderful place

LOL,understandable,I mean I have prepared for this "waiting in line" problem,someone said it could be even 9months!!
We got married in January and made this decision later,it's kind of too late to apply in China since he will start to work in Finland next month.Especially I can not even get a visa to visit Finland while waiting,I'm happy to have some solo time but 6+ month.....

I just resigned my job yesterday,although they want to pay me more to stay I think I will still go with the plan. Orgainal plan is to revise for school tests, catch up on some movies,I think it's ok for me as a indoorsy person.Especially after stay in a crowded place for a long time I will appreciate some piece of quiet

One more question,you were in Finland with a family/tourist visa and you can come/go while the application is being processed? I thought have to wait there for that time So visa and residence permit are totally two different things but need to do it in the right order I guess.

[Nineveh]

I can only advice you to apply at home. If you apply here, the wait can be very long. (it could easily be more than 6 months)
Not only takes applying in Finland longer, you also now have the flood of student applications that have priority.
In the mean time you can do nothing in Finland. In fact your status will be tourist. You won't be able to get a bank account, phone subscription and so on.
And most important you are not covered in the medical care system.

Err,the only issue is I can not go to Finland before the permit arrive which means 6~9months apart
Thanks for your advice anyway.

[rinso]

One more question,you were in Finland with a family/tourist visa and you can come/go while the application is being processed? I thought have to wait there for that time So visa and residence permit are totally two different things but need to do it in the right order I guess.

Problems are the airlines.
A visa is valid for 3 months. After this time you can stay in Finland if your residence permit is still processed. (assuming you applied in Finland) But if you go abroad and want to come back, the airline might not accept you without valid visa. Officially you're allowed to re-enter Finland but airlines (desk clerks) might apply a more strict policy.

[Rip]

So with this situation I should definitely ask for a multiple entries visa first then residence permit applications since I heard once I do the other way around,I could not apply any visa while waiting for application?

That sounds prudent. The law does not say it should be so, but you don't really loose anything, if you do it that way, right?

[Rip]

Err,the only issue is I can not go to Finland before the permit arrive which means 6~9months apart
Thanks for your advice anyway.

My GUESS would be 2-3 months (assuming there is nothing that looks suspicious in the application). I am not saying that the average processing time is shorter if you apply abroad, but I think the variation for comparable clear applications is smaller. Every application submitted in foreign embassies goes after short preprocessing to one queue in Helsinki (at migri = immigration service). Applications submitted at the local police stations are processed at local police level (unless they decide to forward an individual application to Migri), and so the results (especially regarding processing time) vary depending on the place and time.

[Nineveh]

Err,the only issue is I can not go to Finland before the permit arrive which means 6~9months apart
Thanks for your advice anyway.

My GUESS would be 2-3 months (assuming there is nothing that looks suspicious in the application). I am not saying that the average processing time is shorter if you apply abroad, but I think the variation for comparable clear applications is smaller. Every application submitted in foreign embassies goes after short preprocessing to one queue in Helsinki (at migri = immigration service). Applications submitted at the local police stations are processed at local police level (unless they decide to forward an individual application to Migri), and so the results (especially regarding processing time) vary depending on the place and time.

You mean it will getting slower during summer? I'm moving to Helsinki,they said smaller city/town is faster.
Now I feel like that I should come out with a plan B.....
Anyway,it sounds like if I could get a one year multiple entries visa then problem solved.