Is moving to Finland from the USA as easy as my sister is making it seem?

[MaryamGleichner]

I have a younger sister who has a boyfriend she never met in person, and she’s planning on moving to Finland as soon as she can afford the airline ticket.

However, she claims all she has to do is get married and she has the right to live and work there. She mentioned there are career sites and agencies to find US Citizens and jobs in Finland, but I assume those are for more high level careers such as in medicine or other critical need areas. My sister works in fast food and doesn’t hold down jobs very long. No college education and no trades.

The guy she is e-dating lives with his parents and just found a job recentlygeometry dash scratch. They would having to be living together with his parents until they got on their feet, but she says she gets a certain amount of days with a visa, and if they get married before that, she can stay even if not working or having any money.

I know it’s not that simple in the United States, so I wasn’t sure how it worked there.

[FinlandGirl]

I have a younger sister who has a boyfriend she never met in person, and she’s planning on moving to Finland as soon as she can afford the airline ticket.

However, she claims all she has to do is get married and she has the right to live and work there.

This is true.
The right to work begins after the Residence Permit has been granted, which takes 5-9 months.

She mentioned there are career sites and agencies to find US Citizens and jobs in Finland,

This is not true.

She will have the same Residence Permit with the same rights as immigrants from countries like India, and the same job opportunities.

but I assume those are for more high level careers such as in medicine or other critical need areas. My sister works in fast food and doesn’t hold down jobs very long. No college education and no trades.

And I guess she doesn't speak our language, which rules out most fast food jobs.

Her best chance would be gig economy work like food delivery, but there is huge competition for that work.

The guy she is e-dating lives with his parents and just found a job recently. They would having to be living together with his parents until they got on their feet, but she says she gets a certain amount of days with a visa, and if they get married before that, she can stay even if not working or having any money.

The legal side is true, but does her relationship history imply that the marriage will last?
Despite having never met in person?
Despite cultural differences, and also during dark and cold winters when sidewalks are covered with ice for months?

[AldenG]

It will be a learning and maturation experience.

Along the way she will be lonely, isolated-and-dependent as she has never been before, frustrated by her inability to learn any usable amount of Finnish, and in time desperately unhappy.

She'll stay married somewhat longer than she stays in fast food jobs, before moving back to the US penniless and sadder but hopefully wiser.

[AldenG]

It will be a learning and maturation experience.

Along the way she will be lonely, isolated-and-dependent as she has never been before, frustrated by her inability to learn any usable amount of Finnish, and in time desperately unhappy.

She'll stay married somewhat longer than she stays in fast food jobs, before moving back to the US penniless and sadder but hopefully wiser.

This good case scenario presupposes her intended is who he has presented himself to be. If he isn't, there are worse possibilities.

It would be best if you could travel with her to stay a few days, just to see that they connect and everything appears legit. Then (if it is) you will at least know the guy and his parents, what they look like, make the start of a connection, and you'll have an interesting travel experience.

[jameskimber]

I have a younger sister who has a boyfriend she never met in person, and she’s planning on moving to Finland as soon as she can afford the airline ticket.

However, she claims all she has to do is get married and she has the right to live and work there.

This is true.
The right to work begins after the Residence Permit has been granted, which takes 5-9 months.

She mentioned there are career sites and agencies to find US Citizens and jobs in Finland,

This is not true.

She will have the same Residence Permit with the same rights as immigrants from countries like India, and the same job opportunities.

but I assume those are for more high level careers such as in medicine or other critical need areas. My sister works in fast food and doesn’t hold down jobs very long. No college education and no trades.

And I guess she doesn't speak our language, which rules out most fast food jobs.

Her best chance would be gig economy work like food delivery, but there is huge competition for that work.

The guy she is e-dating lives with his parents and just found a job recently. They would having to be living together with his parents until they got on their feet, but she says she gets a certain amount of days with a visa, and if they get married before that, she can stay even if not working or having any money.

The legal side is true, but does her relationship history imply that the marriage will last?
Despite having never met in person?
Despite cultural differences, and also during dark and cold winters when sidewalks are covered with ice for months?

I saw this same post on a different forum in which a commenter stated that a Finnish spouse of a non-EU citizen must still have sufficient financial resources/income to support their spouse (Even though Migri states on their site that there is no income/financial resource requirement for spouses of Finnish citizens) and that Migri will make a negative decision based on neither of them having a job to be able to sufficiently support them. As far as I know, income and financial resources are not taken into account by Migri nor do they ask about it when you are a spouse of a Finnish citizen, but the commenter stated that Migri still makes decisions requiring this in the background, and that the Finnish spouse is the legal sponsor until the non-EU spouse gains citizenship. Is this correct, or is the commenter incorrect about this?

The conversation with them:
https://ibb.co/1GZ8R3m0
https://ibb.co/rf2y68dd

[AldenG]

. . . that the Finnish spouse is the legal sponsor until the non-EU spouse gains citizenship.

...to which it's only responsible to add that citizenship requires passing a test of proficiency in Finnish or Swedish.

For a native speaker of English, Swedish is about as difficult to learn as Spanish. Finnish is much harder, generally compared in difficulty to Russian or Chinese.

Realistically, the sister as described has no prospect of gaining citizenship.