Finnish girlfriend pregnant

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pigdoesasapigdo
Posts: 9
Joined: Thu Dec 13, 2018 10:45 pm

Finnish girlfriend pregnant

Post by pigdoesasapigdo » Thu Dec 13, 2018 11:48 pm

Hey everyone
Im new to this site and just found it when doing research for my situation. I am an American who was planning to get my residency permit in the next year or more. I have just found out that my Finnish girlfriend is 8 weeks pregnant. I left Finland about a month ago and not only do I not have money to go back but Id have to wait another 60 ish days to be able to enter the Schengen zone again. Ive called the Finnish consulate and vfs.global as well as reading other things online. As far as Ive been able to find or been told, I am either supposed to apply for the regular residency permit or wait for the child to be born and then apply as the father. Not only is the latter option not viable due to the fact that I will need to be present for the later stages of pregnancy and the birth but I will also need to be working during this time. I have a comfortable job here in the US but as I said I am wanting to be there towards the end of her pregnancy and therefore will need to work there. I am at a loss for the best thing to do now. In the two other similar cases like this I have read in this forum the non Finns were the ones pregnant. How does the fact that I am the father and the non Finn affect my chance of getting the permit? And is anyone able to help me with finding a way to speed up the process of moving there to work and to live with my new family?
Thank you all for your time and help. This forum has already been very useful.



Finnish girlfriend pregnant

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FinnGuyHelsinki
Posts: 1439
Joined: Sun Nov 08, 2009 8:52 pm

Re: Finnish girlfriend pregnant

Post by FinnGuyHelsinki » Fri Dec 14, 2018 10:09 am

From https://migri.fi/en/i-want-to-apply .

Your safest bet would be to get married. If not,

"In some cases, a partner in an established intimate relationship may be a sufficient reason for granting a temporary residence permit. In such cases, the grounds for granting the permit may include living together (proven for example by a rental agreement or an extract from a register of occupants), pregnancy or other factor that shows you have a permanent connection, such as your intention to start a family later."

For a work-based residence permit, you'll need a job here first.

I don't know if there are any ways to speed up the processing of the application (maybe there is, maybe there isn't), in any case, the sooner you submit it the better.

tavastia
Posts: 527
Joined: Tue Mar 08, 2016 1:54 pm

Re: Finnish girlfriend pregnant

Post by tavastia » Fri Dec 14, 2018 12:53 pm

If you are not married with her when the child is born, you as a father will not be recognized automatically, and may require a longer process than you think. The fact you are american maybe is more easy but still is not automatically.

As said said before the best will be to marry her and apply as family member permit. This takes quite long in general, like 9 months but it's the easiest to get it.

pigdoesasapigdo
Posts: 9
Joined: Thu Dec 13, 2018 10:45 pm

Re: Finnish girlfriend pregnant

Post by pigdoesasapigdo » Sun Dec 16, 2018 7:21 am

Great, thank you. We have talked about getting married to see if that would help speed up the process. Would anyone know if there is a difference between signing the papers in the US compared to in Finland? She is coming to visit in January to meet my family and tell everyone she is pregnant so we thought about getting married here. Or if for some reason getting married in Finland would be better for our situation would it be worth me going there to do the deed?

Thank you so much for the help. Please add anything else you might think is useful. Ive been doing so much reading and research the last few days it hurts so it is so nice to just read real peoples thoughts and advice on these things. It seems the main thing I need to figure out now is finding a job over there before I can even send in my application. Other than this forum are there any job searching tips someone can help me with? I am a professional floor installer as well as having many years of janitorial experience and moderate hostel/hospitality work. Other than a few classes I have no college education. I realize that my job opportunities are limited by the working permit and I think I would only qualify to get a job as a skilled professional, meaning in my flooring trade? I really do not fully understand how the work part of my application is supposed to work. In my experience as a traveler meeting many people from around the world construction workers are usually not the travelling and/or move to another country type. I fear that construction might not be the easiest field to get into in another country where I do not know the language.

This whole ordeal has been very taxing on us and it only seems to be getting worse. But we could not be more excited to start this new adventure together. Other than the mother of my child I have had no one to talk with about all this so finding this forum and reading other stories and questions has been a real blessing to me.

vla
Posts: 262
Joined: Fri Nov 30, 2018 12:23 am

Re: Finnish girlfriend pregnant

Post by vla » Sun Dec 16, 2018 5:43 pm

In my opinion I think that getting married and then apply for the permit might sound a little curious to the authorities, maybe they can think you are getting married for convenience. They might see it so or they might not, it's hard to say. If you can prove that you are in a established relationship then it could be easier.

You have two options, the first is, given your current scenario, to apply for other grounds, that would be your girlfriend being pregnant.

Second option is to apply on the ground of family ties, in which case you need to prove that you have been in a established relationship for a while. As I said in my opinion getting married wouldn't NECESSARILY speed up the process. Again, this is only my opinion.

Both permits will give the right to work, so you don't need to have a job beforehand. However, if you could get a job here it would make things a little bit easier. In that case you could apply for a permit on the grounds of working.

Good luck

vla
Posts: 262
Joined: Fri Nov 30, 2018 12:23 am

Re: Finnish girlfriend pregnant

Post by vla » Sun Dec 16, 2018 5:52 pm

Regarding work itself, you can live in Finland without speaking any finnish and even work in an english-speaking environment. But I believe that on the field you would work being fluent in finnish would be mandatory. Give it a shot, maybe you are lucky, but I want to let you know the difficulties you might face.

tavastia
Posts: 527
Joined: Tue Mar 08, 2016 1:54 pm

Re: Finnish girlfriend pregnant

Post by tavastia » Mon Dec 17, 2018 9:14 am

It's not only about permit, If you are married when the children is born you are automatic the father. If you are not married then you need to get you recognized as father, this could be a long process and can require even a DNA test.

About marriage, it does not matter where you make it but needs to me marked in Finnish population register as married (before the child is born). If you do it in Finland will be easier, if you do it in US you need to register it in Finland, it can be done at Finnish embassy in US or in Finland.

If you marry in US, she will need a certificate from Finnish embassy that she can get married.
If you marry in Finland, you will need one from US or US embassy in Finland.

If you plan to live in Finland, my personal suggestion is to get married in Finland and later you can register your marriage in US.


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