Moving to Åland from the US (Swedish citizen, US spouse)

[FinnishCoconuts]

Hello!
I'm originally from Sweden but living in the US since a number of years and am a dual Swedish/American citizen. I'm married to a US citizen and we have two children who we raise English/Swedish bilingual.

We have been looking into moving to Sweden but it looks like the waiting time for my US wife to get a residence permit is just too long (a year or more). So we're thinking of a backup option; moving to Åland instead. My understanding is that if we move to Finland, I will get residency right away (as a Swedish citizen) and my wife will have the right to live and work in Finland right away as the spouse of an EU citizen living in Finland (for details: https://migri.fi/en/residence-card-for- ... r%20State.). I am self-employed and can do my work from anywhere in the world and I could continue that in Finland (after registering a Finnish company).

My questions, if someone happen to know:

1. Is my understanding of us both being able to live in Finland without having to apply for residency in advance correct? It seems bizarre that it should be easier for us to move to Finland than to Sweden, but if those are the rules. Åland is also beautiful, and close to family in Sweden.

2. My wife will be job seeker to begin with. Will we still be able to have our children in preschool/daycare even though only one of us will be working? Money will not be an issue, my income is enough for our family and we also have significant savings, especially after we sell our house in the US. Our children are 2 and 5 years old.

Thank you!

[betelgeuse]

I am self-employed and can do my work from anywhere in the world and I could continue that in Finland (after registering a Finnish company).

You should read up on the special rules for Åland.

https://www.regeringen.ax/naringsliv-fo ... aringsratt

It might be possible to find an existing company that is willing to be the employer on record if permitting has troubles. I am not too familiar with this aspect but, if it doesn't work out, Swedish speaking parts of mainland could also be an option.

1. Is my understanding of us both being able to live in Finland without having to apply for residency in advance correct? It seems bizarre that it should be easier for us to move to Finland than to Sweden, but if those are the rules. Åland is also beautiful, and close to family in Sweden.

It is. It's not uncommon that EU based on rules are better than national rules.

2. My wife will be job seeker to begin with. Will we still be able to have our children in preschool/daycare even though only one of us will be working? Money will not be an issue, my income is enough for our family and we also have significant savings, especially after we sell our house in the US. Our children are 2 and 5 years old.

You will.

[FinlandGirl]

We have been looking into moving to Sweden but it looks like the waiting time for my US wife to get a residence permit is just too long (a year or more). So we're thinking of a backup option; moving to Åland instead. My understanding is that if we move to Finland, I will get residency right away (as a Swedish citizen) and my wife will have the right to live and work in Finland right away as the spouse of an EU citizen living in Finland (for details: https://migri.fi/en/residence-card-for- ... r%20State.). I am self-employed and can do my work from anywhere in the world and I could continue that in Finland (after registering a Finnish company).

My questions, if someone happen to know:

1. Is my understanding of us both being able to live in Finland without having to apply for residency in advance correct? It seems bizarre that it should be easier for us to move to Finland than to Sweden, but if those are the rules. Åland is also beautiful, and close to family in Sweden.

That's correct.

And after living together with you in Finland (or any other EU/EEA country), your wife would no longer require a residence permit if she moves with you from there to Sweden:

Du kan ansöka om uppehållskort om du och din familjemedlem, som är svensk medborgare, uppfyller dessa krav:
* Den svenska medborgaren har varit bosatt i ett annat EU/EES-land eller Storbritannien med uppehållsrätt i minst tre månader. För att utnyttja sin fria rörlighet i ett annat EU/EES-land kan man till exempel arbeta, söka arbete, studera eller leva på tillräckliga tillgångar för sin egen försörjning i det landet.
* Ni har bott tillsammans i det andra EU/EES-landet eller Storbritannien direkt innan ni flyttar till Sverige.

[browndude]

Hello!
I'm originally from Sweden but living in the US since a number of years and am a dual Swedish/American citizen. I'm married to a US citizen and we have two children who we raise English/Swedish bilingual.

We have been looking into moving to Sweden but it looks like the waiting time for my US wife to get a residence permit is just too long (a year or more). So we're thinking of a backup option; moving to Åland instead. My understanding is that if we move to Finland, I will get residency right away (as a Swedish citizen) and my wife will have the right to live and work in Finland right away as the spouse of an EU citizen living in Finland (for details: https://migri.fi/en/residence-card-for- ... r%20State.). I am self-employed and can do my work from anywhere in the world and I could continue that in Finland (after registering a Finnish company).

My questions, if someone happen to know:

1. Is my understanding of us both being able to live in Finland without having to apply for residency in advance correct? It seems bizarre that it should be easier for us to move to Finland than to Sweden, but if those are the rules. Åland is also beautiful, and close to family in Sweden.

2. My wife will be job seeker to begin with. Will we still be able to have our children in preschool/daycare even though only one of us will be working? Money will not be an issue, my income is enough for our family and we also have significant savings, especially after we sell our house in the US. Our children are 2 and 5 years old.

Thank you!

Aside from Åland being somewhat boring, this does sound like a good plan.

[FinnishCoconuts]

OK, thank you for your replies!

[FinnishCoconuts]

UPDATE
We went ahead and did this and it all seems to check out. Some notes below if someone else finds themselves in a similar situation:

• Åland is great. Beautiful nature, friendly people. Great for kids. Very happy we came here.
• You will have no problem coming here knowing Swedish but not knowing Finnish. The only time when knowing Finnish would have been useful is when trying to order something from Finnish stores. Even businesses that have physical stores on Åland often only have Finnish language apps and websites. That's a very minor thing, all things considered.
• Finnish authorities seem to only accept US birth/marriage certificates if they have an "apostille". Make sure to get apostille certificates before leaving the US or it will delay your residency application.
• Åland post won't deliver mail to you unless you're registered as living on the address. You might want to fill in the paper form at the post office yourselves or you might not be able to receive mail (returned to sender) while residency is being processed, for me about two weeks.
• Åland car market is small. Your might not find the kind of car you're looking for or it might be expensive. We ended up buying a car in Sweden (surprisingly easy for a non-resident Swede and lower prices) and took it with us to Åland. I believe this was a good choice in retrospect, but dealing with car import is a lot of work so it needs to be a pretty nice car to be worth it. Be prepared to be hit by a big import taxed unless the car is electric/plugin hybrid.
• Applying for daycare can be hard before you are officially a resident, but it seems to vary a lot between the different municipalities.
• There are Åland based banks, insurance companies etc. I bet you can use companies based in mainland Finland too, but I don't trust that they will probably good service in Swedish, so I just opted for a local business whenever possible.
• Getting a good rental can be tricky, so start looking early. Compared to prices we were used to in the US, it's very affordable. There are restrictions on buying property here if you haven't lived here for at least 5 years (hembygdsrätt), but it's not as bad as you might think. There are a lot of types of properties that can be bought without hembygdsrätt: condos, non-beach front properties, planned areas..