Just moved to Finland and I need a job and education.

[Dennis Maluwa]

Hi
I got married to my wife last year and she is a Finnish citizen. I moved here in January to live with her. I'm from Zimbabwe and I did my high school in 2007. I did not manage to continue with education however as I started doing informal economy work. Recently I did an online diploma on information technology management which I started last year and I finished it just this month. I have applied for the TE office assistance and they gave me an appointment which they cancelled last minute this week of which I'm not sure why?. I love studying and I want to apply for an ICT degree. Now my question is, can I find something to do now as i wait for these processes which might take a while. Can I already start learning Finnish or can I already apply for my degree. I'm very desperate to do something staying home is very frustrating.

[NukkuMatti]

Hi
I got married to my wife last year and she is a Finnish citizen. I moved here in January to live with her. I'm from Zimbabwe and I did my high school in 2007. I did not manage to continue with education however as I started doing informal economy work. Recently I did an online diploma on information technology management which I started last year and I finished it just this month. I have applied for the TE office assistance and they gave me an appointment which they cancelled last minute this week of which I'm not sure why?. I love studying and I want to apply for an ICT degree. Now my question is, can I find something to do now as i wait for these processes which might take a while. Can I already start learning Finnish or can I already apply for my degree. I'm very desperate to do something staying home is very frustrating.

I guess you will find that there is a real problem getting a job here as a ±35 yr old foreigner, especially when you are having a dark skin and you do not speak Finnish, with the last one being the most problematic.
I would suggest to start learning the language and get an official test / grade about that as soon as possible. Keep calling TE-office to speed things up and get you a language course to integrate.

You will find that Finland is the most racist country of Europe and especially with the current government, it will become even worse.
Even when you would be Caucasian but foreigner nonetheless, there is a real big problem in getting a job anyway, especially when you do not speak fluently Finnish.

Now not to talk you all down, the best opportunity of doing something for you with your education (and even with a masters degree from university), is cleaning work, in other words, work that Finns do not want to do, even when they are jobless.
Also please be aware that even having a Finnish education on university, will not get you another job than a low wage job because you are a foreigner. (there are exceptions of course but according to several recent investigations this is sadly the truth).

So before you start getting your hopes up on a job anywhere in Finland, be prepared it will be extremely hard to get a well paid job, even if you have done the education here in Finland, you could ask yourself if it is worth the effort to study.
When you study you need to live, so you need money, you will not get unemployment benefits or labor market subsidy when you do a regular study, full time for 4 years. you will need a study loan. So ask yourself if you want to in-debt yourself for a cleaners job.

Now my advice would be:

When you get your Finnish language up to speed, go and learn to become a nurse if you want to stay in Finland, if not, go and study some IT stuff and move to another EU country as soon as you have all your education here done, although you are ±35 years old now and when you study for 4 years and then want to move elsewhere to work in IT, you will be about 40 with no work experience in IT. Not a good starting point...so my advice: become a nurse and you will have a job (if you speak Finnish).

With only high school and not even European high school, you have no chance on work in Finland, other than the things nobody else wants to do, or become an entrepreneur.

This might be a very grim picture of your future, and other might see this as an exaggeration and try to sweeten the bitter pill, which is occasionally justified, but in general it will not, so be prepared and study Kela rules and TE-office rules very carefully, you will need them a lot.

Welcome to Finland.

P.S.
This is based on my experience in the past decades in Finland as a European Caucasian immigrant, who was even refused the simple production / cleaning low wage work, for being to highly educated.