Moving to Finland without any job offer

[cors187]

just to see officer in charge my case.

This is what makes a home, someone literally you can always go too.
You cant find that in every corner of the globe.

[Pursuivant]

Yes well in Finland you seldom get a "personal touch" like that. You submit your documents at the police or embassy or whomever deals with the great unwashed and the decision makers are in the ivory towers.

[AldenG]

it could as well happen that you sit 1-2 years at home learning Finnish and looking through job offers before you'll get your first job.

Or perhaps even more likely, sit 1-2 years at home memorizing declensions and conjugations and vocabulary and learning facts about Finnish while making no real progress in understanding or speaking the language -- before not getting the first job.

[cors187]

it could as well happen that you sit 1-2 years at home learning Finnish and looking through job offers before you'll get your first job.

Or perhaps even more likely, sit 1-2 years at home memorizing declensions and conjugations and vocabulary and learning facts about Finnish while making no real progress in understanding or speaking the language -- before not getting the first job.

I think that's true, but in the case of "married to FIN" or"long term relationship", that's one of those "lifes needed challenges". In my case(no Finnish spouse) i can smack the notion of learning Finnish right out of me before i open the book.

[geek5354]

DO NOT underestimate the language barrier. I know a Malaysian guy who lost his job during company downsizing because he wasn't fluent enough in Finnish even though he had been working harder and longer hours every day than others. When push comes to shove in the economy, you will be at a big disadvantage for not speaking Finnish fluently. Like others have said, fluency requires a long time to attain.

[cors187]

There is only one choice a foreigner needs to make when they are not language proficient.And that is when to see how sharp the end of the stick is.
Success= reducing the sharp end to a remedial massage!
The sharp end of the stick being that your trying to move forward(Job=life) but there is some force that is projecting itself on to you which does seem to cut a little.

I have come into a country and planned and plotted, finding my ways to soften the sharp end , learning , more learning , patience, understanding without judgement, repeating without thinking , grammar tables floating in and out of my thoughts ,jigsaw puzzle logic ,i have done it all(my wife will tell you other wise, but dam-it, you can only take so much ).

Everyone must test the sharp end of the stick, some have successfully buffered or dulled the sharp edge over time.
I am a big advocate to test the sharp end of the stick ASAP, it gives you clarity for your next appointment.

[Arvonen]

Unrelated note:
Are you looking only for a job in Turku? If yes, then you should also consider looking at jobs in Tampere or the Helsinki metropolitan area. I'd still not be too optimistic, but that's at least more potential jobs.

I actually been looking almost everywhere. I'm not really choosy, as long as at Finish land.
Just have to start somewhere. Isn't?

We been talking about your suggestion & opinion. It's really helpful. Thank you. and we thought if I couldn't get any positive feedback from my Job hunting, he would move here to do a year student exchange. And it's gonna be total 2 years living together. Hopefully it will help us to get through the immigration process. (if they didn't count the gap between those 2 years ) otherwise, we have to trying hard to get a job.

Then, if you haven't got a Finnish surname, your CV never makes it to the top of the pile and employers never call you. If you take husband's Finnish surname, you might get a call after 200 applications.

Adrian, u see quote above? don't u think it's too cruel?
Gosh, i just have to believe that I have ability and stay positive. I can get very good job here. Might be hard to get good job with my lack of finish language. But, I still think I have place for some kind of job there.

U think so?

[Upphew]

And it's gonna be total 2 years living together. Hopefully it will help us to get through the immigration process. (if they didn't count the gap between those 2 years ) otherwise, we have to trying hard to get a job.

Probably depends on the gap. And you need the proof too. Rental agreements with both your names on it: http://www.migri.fi/moving_to_finland_t ... habitation

Then, if you haven't got a Finnish surname, your CV never makes it to the top of the pile and employers never call you. If you take husband's Finnish surname, you might get a call after 200 applications.

Adrian, u see quote above? don't u think it's too cruel?
Gosh, i just have to believe that I have ability and stay positive. I can get very good job here. Might be hard to get good job with my lack of finish language. But, I still think I have place for some kind of job there.

Cruel? Welcome to real life where things are not fair and plans fail. Having Finnish name is no guarantee that the applicant knows Finnish, but the odds are good. 200 applications, hmm... http://www.studio55.fi/oikeusjakohtuus/ ... tyopaikkaa
http://www.taloussanomat.fi/tyo-ja-koul ... 012808/139
So it is not unheard of to be a Finn and send 200 applications out and get 0 jobs. Of course it depends what you apply to and how, but still...

[Adrian42]

Unrelated note:
Are you looking only for a job in Turku? If yes, then you should also consider looking at jobs in Tampere or the Helsinki metropolitan area. I'd still not be too optimistic, but that's at least more potential jobs.

I actually been looking almost everywhere. I'm not really choosy, as long as at Finish land.
Just have to start somewhere. Isn't?

We been talking about your suggestion & opinion. It's really helpful. Thank you. and we thought if I couldn't get any positive feedback from my Job hunting, he would move here to do a year student exchange. And it's gonna be total 2 years living together. Hopefully it will help us to get through the immigration process. (if they didn't count the gap between those 2 years ) otherwise, we have to trying hard to get a job.

That would only be a solution for the smaller of your problems (the Residence Permit) without a marriage.

The bigger problem (finding a job) would still stay the same.

Then, if you haven't got a Finnish surname, your CV never makes it to the top of the pile and employers never call you. If you take husband's Finnish surname, you might get a call after 200 applications.

Adrian, u see quote above? don't u think it's too cruel?
Gosh, i just have to believe that I have ability and stay positive. I can get very good job here. Might be hard to get good job with my lack of finish language. But, I still think I have place for some kind of job there.

U think so?

With your education I would be optimistic that you might find a job once you speak Finnish fluently.

Without speaking Finnish fluently that's quite unlikely.

[cors187]

Adrian, u see quote above? don't u think it's too cruel?
Gosh, i just have to believe that I have ability and stay positive. I can get very good job here. Might be hard to get good job with my lack of finish language. But, I still think I have place for some kind of job there.

U think so?

Mr and Mrs Finski "on average" think more about how to protect(maybe keep secure is better) their<finland> for the present and future jobs, environment, other qualities i think are useless but they like them, in any case , for example , when people are gathered together to find solutions there will always be something more acceptable and something less acceptable.Your judged less acceptable.
Its nothing like Aus where immigrant can or often thrive from adversity,already having been judged by Mr and Mrs Oz average as "No skill, no language",fair enough, that's the type of spirit that built this country in the first place.
But i have a different view of Finland compared to the person who is married to a Fin.
You can live a cosmopolitan life in a big city and be the work Offices favorite immigrant, all your work friends think its so nice to have you there ,fin friends ,earn enough money to live ok, etc etc.
But that life is not living with Mr and Mrs Finski who are the majority.

Find someone and prove to them that your skills are worth more money and a better future than without you.Then the language barrier disappears, money and the making of money , the saving of money makes the language barrier go away.

[cors187]

Just have to start somewhere. Isn't?

Europe can be a pit to the immigrant, every time you try to move forward you also dig a bit deeper.

[goodquestion]

Just to add my 2 cents. I am married to a Finn, but we do not live in Finland. My home is like little Helsinki, little Finnish flags, Fazer chocolate, Presedentti coffee, and Emperor's tea. We spend 6-8 weeks per year in Finland. My wife always speaks Finnish, and my son is fluent. I study Finnish, read some Finnish, and listen to Finnish a lot. It took me 3 years of listening to constant Finnish to NOT GET A HEADACHE from listening to it. I have been on a six year journey (not all full time) in my study of the language. Now, when in Finland, maybe after one week, I start to understand conversations that I am not involved in, but if someone tries to talk to me, 9 out of 10 times my brain will freeze. I have made a concerted effort to learn Finnish (without the stress of trying to get a job, because I got one), but when my wife has those pulla ja tee parties, and those ladies talk at normal speed, all bets are off. I cannot even imagine what it would be like under stress of trying to locate a job as well.

[bm50]

Strange all this talk about never finding a job in Finland unless you are fluent in the finnish language, YLE news last night interviewed spanish workers working in Finland in the building trade, none of them could speak a word of finnish, one spoke only spanish the other managed in english! No work here if you can't speak finnish?

[Rick1]

Yep and soon you see courtcases again that some companies are taken to court because they pay too low salaries etc. I think you will know that by know from what happens in the UK with the East Europeans.

[Pursuivant]

Strange all this talk about never finding a job in Finland unless you are fluent in the finnish language, YLE news last night interviewed spanish workers working in Finland in the building trade, none of them could speak a word of finnish, one spoke only spanish the other managed in english! No work here if you can't speak finnish?

And they were hired by a Finnish company being paid Finnish wages?

You go throw a stone at any construction site and nobody there will cures at you in Finnish. that doesn't mean they've found a job in Finland - they found a job in Ukraine/Poland/Romania and got shipped over.