Will I get a residence permit while in Finland? (Married)

[luckykitty]

Hi,

I was a student from New Zealand, studying in Sweden on student exchange. And I fell in love with my boyfriend, a Finnish citizen (student) while in Europe. We meet each other in Sweden, Finland, London etc. Then my study visa for Sweden expired, while we had already intended to marry, while I did not have the 'search for impediments to marriage' ready yet.

I went to Hong Kong where I am a permanent resident. I didn't know I could apply in my own country, since I wasn't married yet, I thought they wouldn't accept the application, as we had not officially lived together (or long enough) either.

I came back to Finland at the start of February, on my passport, and was questioned by the Swedish customs, and eventually got through after they rung my boyfriend. I got married with my boyfriend a few days later in Finland and submitted my residence application to the immigrant police.

They said the application will take a few months.

Anyhow, I have read the horror stories about others getting rejected for the residence permit, and I was wondering if my application will go through fine and an estimate of how long it takes (from your experiences)?

We are also both not employed, but he is studying at a higher institute (like a polytechnic or something).

Also in the situation that one needs to appeal a decision, can my boyfriend get legal aid to defend me?

Any tips or advice welcome. Thankyou!
Luckykitty[/b]

[JaDLB]

If you are married to a finnish citizen then there is no fear of rejection and if all papers are ok.

concerning the process it might take 2-4 month as my personal experience , start meanwhile learning finnish if u intend to live in this country for a few years or for good.

coz even if u worry at the papers that is nothing , it's finding a job and learning the culture and language which are the hardest.

the process of residency is not that horror as people tell , as i told in fact.. officials tend to be polite and nice in malmi where u apply , it just takes time.

get ready meanwhile for the hard boring days here , and enjoy finland , it could be a beautiful place

good luck and if u need any info about finnish winter just contact me , you are lucky to be here now that it got warm

regards.

JaD

[luckykitty]

Hey,

Thanks so much for the reply!
Yeah the person working there was polite, and so was the policeman I rang. There were alot of people waiting around though. I wonder if they should start accepting applications in the post, would make it faster .

Yeah, the language is alittle difficult.
For words, I used to go to finnishschool.com, to boost my non-existant vocab. It helps to understand at least a bit ^_^

Haha, you're wrong though, I was here during the -20 days too ;_;. Luckily, not outside for very long! I'm going to ask about winter clothing. no matter how i dress i get a bit cold. Maybe my inner pants arent insulating enough!
And then on the bus you boil cos you have all the clothing on.

I'll have to learn how to 'chill' with the locals .
Thanks again!
Luckykitty

[JaDLB]

welcome to finnish winter

and then above all these

come the work , apply CV's and CV's and then u become an expert in writing CV's and u decide to open an unemployement agency hihi

ur chances are little , very little you are one in 125000 foreigners living in Finland and most them have no Finnish skills and the competition is high then you get the job of ur dreams Siivouspalvelut (cleaning) for 300 euro a month for 3 hours a day and then u pay 13 % taxes on that hahaha funny eh

but i tell u i met lawyers, architects , people with masters and all of them are the most educated cleaners so welcome to Finland land of the educated cleaners

When i left my home country thinking this is heaven hahaha it seems it is heaven coz it's clean like heaven

ole hyvää suomea

heippa

[luckykitty]

All kidding aside, I think what you experience is the same as most immigrants in most countries. Most people tend to get the impression while outside the country that they want to go to, that the economy's good, healthcares good, etc etc. After going through the whole process and expense of moving somewhere, it turns out that job opportunities are not that good (most countries are protective of their own citizens ie. even though its basically discrimination, many choose local candidates over foreign ones).

At worst if I don't get a job, (I am gonna study here actually) I would move with my husband, or move myself! I just came here because of my then bf.

In New Zealand, many of the foreign doctors, lawyers, end up driving taxis. It's not an isolated case with Finland, a sad reality for alot of educated, qualified immigrants.

[Hank W.]

Well, I try to whack people on the head *before* they have to realize that its all peaces and cream - peaches are rotten and the cream is sour. I can always entertain myself with http://www.notcanada.com

[luckykitty]

Yeah the notcanada thing is just like my observation of what happens in NZ.
Its not just Canada then, ok dont move to any commonwealth countries, or ur screwed :S.

Might as well call the site notdiscrimation.com too.

http://www.notcanada.com/jobs/jobs1.htm

[Hank W.]

I just get the chip on the sholder of this thing of Finland being somehow *uniquely* extra racist/xenophobic/discriminatory.

Heck, we are as renecks as you can find, but like if they call me gweilo in HK, does that make me less red or them as lognosed as me?

If its the same s*, different package, even in an immigrant-oriented nation like Canada, how you expect in a homogenous backwater like Finland... people will not bend over backwards overnight. The world will be better, but not by ordering.

[Karibu]

I'm happy for you Luckykitty. I married my Chinese wife last August in Tianjin and we applied for her residence permit right after that. Here's what we did:
1. I applied and got the impediemnts of marriage paper in my country. Provided the date from my wife too.
. Translated the document in Chinese with official translator (gosh, what prices he asked).
2. Got legalization stamps in Finland foreign ministry for the translation
3. Got the legalization stamp from China embassy of Finland for the translation.
4. Got married in Tianjin. (Yippee!)
5. Translated the marriage document in english (in China)
6. Got legalization stamps to them in China foreign ministry.
7. Applied for residence permit due marriage in Finland embassy in Beijing. They need the translation.
8. Called to the Foreign ministry in 2 months to ask how it goes and been told that the marriage needs to be registered in Finland.
9. Asked my wife to scan the documents (once more...) and send them to me and the local magistrate office to the person who I was told who will register the marriage in Finland.
10. Magistrate accepted scanned papers and Foreign ministry official (who was inspecting our case) told that the application was accepted.
11. My wife got her residence permit a week after that.

Important: The marriage must be registered in Finland before the application can be accepted. At least this is my personal experience. It may be different and perhaps easier if you are Hong Kong resident. Do you have a British passport?

Conclusion: Hell of a bureaucracy, but manageable if you prepare everything well in advance.