what is required by police

[Beati]

Hey all. I browsed this forum trying to see all i need, but i couldnt find some information. I will move to FInland in 3 weeks, to my boyfriend. We already rented flat in Espoo (its on his name so far, so i guess i have to sign myself to this flat too as co-renter?). My boyfriend has job which can support us until i get some money. I just finished studies (I'm from EU country) but i don't have a job in Finland yet, i wanted to take some language course for unemployed first if it's possible (hope they agree!). My question is: what exact papers do i need in Finland ? i mean what papers do i have to prepare in my country. Do i need some certificate that says that i moved out of my country? is it enough if it's in english ? do i need birth certificate translated? anything else needed ? I'd be very thankful if someone answered

[Hank W.]

Essential thing is to have the purple EU health card.
Another thing is (of course) to have all your papers with and translated also, like school certificates... scan them and bring it on CD.

Now, if you are currently unemployed in your country you can transfer your local unemployment benefit to Finland under certain conditions. If you quit your job, the Finnish jobcentre would put you in 3 months quarantine as a punishment of quitting - that is *if* you were unemployed.

See now as an EU national you can come to Finland and look for work. To be registered as a jobseeker at the employment office you have to be a Finnish resident. To become a resident you have to be registered as such. To become registered you... need a job. So in other words you do not exist, so you cannot get any benefits.

Catch-22.

[blaugrau]

To become eligible for the language courses at the unemployment office, you'll have to be registered as a permanent resident in Finland - and that's a bit tricky unless you can prove to have lived together with your boyfriend for at least two years before moving to Finland, or if you're married. Otherwise, you'll have to find a job with a permanent contract and then stay in that same job until the trial period (about 4 months) is over, and only then can you register as permament here. And thus, only THEN are you eligible for any social benefits like unemployment money (and the Finnish courses organised at the job centre are basically an unemployment and integration measure for foreigners).

About the European Health card, does it really help anything? Do doctors here know what to do with it? I think with the card you can maybe get a refund from your health insurer at home, but you would still have to pay the full price of treatment here I think..? (correct me if I'm wrong about this).

If at all possible, try to concentrate mainly on getting some basic knowledge of Finnish soon (it's hard otherwise to find any job), and then look for jobs, and be prepared to also work in lower positions than you maybe have hoped for, such as cleaning etc. It will be the most effective way into the system and get the bureaucracy sorted out, and you can always change jobs later etc.

You'll definitely have to take into account that you'll maybe have to live off your savings for a substantial amount of time during the first few months in Finland, but with a bit of patience and perseverence you'll find a job, and maybe you're lucky and things fall into place quicklier anyway. Bu Finnish skills are the key to getting a job though, and a job is the key into the system.

If you're moving to Helsinki, I think the summer university offers Finnish classes, so that might be a start..

[Ton W]

Hi there, I will also move in 2 weeks to Helsinki. Important is when you don't have job yet in Finland that you don't give everything up yet in your homecountry. I also don't have job yet in Finland so I stay also registrated in the Netherlands. I can do this for a maximum of 8 months. In this period I can study the language and meanwhile look for anykind of job in Finland. I will also do this so I can have my Health care insurance from The Netherlands so I will be fully insured. You have to apply for the purple european health insurance card which Hank already was telling about.
When you don't have permanent job yet, or not married it is not possible to get permanent resident permit but it is possible to get some number at Magistrati to get discount for a public transport card for example.

First I think it is like Blaugrau was telling that it is important to focus on the language and meanwhile look for anykind of job. I will also do it like that.
Summer university in Helsinki is starting Finnish classes. I will start there at June 4th. They have 4 levels during summer and summer is nice period to study the language. Look here for more info about the courses.
http://www.kesayliopistohki.fi/sivut/167/505

I wish you goodluck with everything!

[Nallis]

With the EU healthcare care you are entitled to get same treatment as finns. Local health centre will send the bill to your home country, however you have to pay the same asiakasmaksu (health centre fee) as finns do, which currently is 22 euros per year.

[SaxonManFinland]

YOU are entitled to 18 or 24 months Foreigner Support these offices are located at the unemployment Office and they arrange for training etc.

YOU CAN REGISTER for work without being a resident, infact YOU SHOULD ASAP. You can register even if you have a job but expect to become unemployed. I DID ALL THE ABOVE.

The one thing people forget is the V301 ?? which YOUR country will issue, which states you have paid into the social system etc. WITHOUT that you cannot get anything.

IF you are unemployed in your OWN country, that is the best thing, because all papers exist and life becomes easier. So even if you just finished uni and have been unemployed for 2 months at home, then GO REGISTER UNEMPLOYED, because it makes it easier for Finnish agency to prove your work status.

BE WARNED against claiming Unemployment is another EU state and living here. HOLLAND just got an EU ruling to stop this, proved it was illegal and the guy got chucked out of France by the French, had ALL benifits withdrawn and had to PAY BACK what he had received. YES you can search for work abroad BUT YOU MUST GET PERMISSION not claim you are still Dutch, EU or French resident etc.

[Hank W.]

About the European Health card, does it really help anything? Do doctors here know what to do with it? I think with the card you can maybe get a refund from your health insurer at home, but you would still have to pay the full price of treatment here I think..? (correct me if I'm wrong about this)..

Here's the thing on the EHIC

[blaugrau]

YOU are entitled to 18 or 24 months Foreigner Support these offices are located at the unemployment Office and they arrange for training etc.

YOU CAN REGISTER for work without being a resident, infact YOU SHOULD ASAP. You can register even if you have a job but expect to become unemployed. I DID ALL THE ABOVE.

Is that really so? Are you perhaps married to a Finnish citizen and that's why it was the case for you to get that support? I'm just asking because according to the information I got from the unemployment office (regarding access to language classes and any kind of support in general), as an unmarried foreigner whose coming to Finland is a consequence of a long-distance relationship, they can't do anything unless you are registered with the police and with Kela and are registered as a permanent resident with the maistraatti. But I think if you're married to a Finn, you are entitled to that kind of support more or less immediately, whereas that's not the case otherwise, at least according to my experience and the info I got - so you'll have to go down the Finnish->job->system road..

[zam]

With the EU healthcare care you are entitled to get same treatment as finns. Local health centre will send the bill to your home country, however you have to pay the same asiakasmaksu (health centre fee) as finns do, which currently is 22 euros per year.

Well, it can be 22 EUR/year OR (as in most municipalities) 11 EUR/visit for the three first visits to a doctor within a calendar year. With the European Health Card you can also get the social security refund from Kela on private doctors' fees and prescribed medicines in the same way as Finns (well, most Finns get it directly "at source" by presenting the Kela card, holders of the European Health Card get it afterwards upon application to Kela).

[blaugrau]

And regarding registering with Kela (which, unlike with the police or maistraatti, is possible on the grounds of a relationship without the 2-years-living-together-rule, or if you are working at least 18 hours a week) -- they actually check if you're still insured in your home country before they insure you in Finland, so that's maybe good to keep in mind..!!

[Nallis]

With the EU healthcare care you are entitled to get same treatment as finns. Local health centre will send the bill to your home country, however you have to pay the same asiakasmaksu (health centre fee) as finns do, which currently is 22 euros per year.

Well, it can be 22 EUR/year OR (as in most municipalities) 11 EUR/visit for the three first visits to a doctor within a calendar year. With the European Health Card you can also get the social security refund from Kela on private doctors' fees and prescribed medicines in the same way as Finns (well, most Finns get it directly "at source" by presenting the Kela card, holders of the European Health Card get it afterwards upon application to Kela).

Actually you get to choose between 22 eur / year or 11 eur / visit. So it's not the municipality who decides it but the customer.

[SaxonManFinland]

It is confusing, and IT WAS TO ME, but I just nodded and smiled a lot on account of I understood Nothing.

IF you are an approved EU National (new joiners do not get same automatic rights) then as I understand it YOU CAN register for work Immediately. THAT IS NOT the same as registering for Unemployment Benefits of course.

When you First Register and state your intension to live here with your long term boy / Girl friend then you can also request Training and Foreigner Support. Now it was easy for me, but my friend from eastern Europe had to wait nearly 6 months, as his country was a recent joiner. Frankly if I had not just gone through everything and explained it, he would STILL be waiting, as his local office and Police Registration dept basically told him to piss off

Whilst ON an approved language course you get around 30 euro a day plus about 8 euro a day food and travel, so thinking about that you can see why they need you to be registered. In UK they provide a booklet of what rights a Brit has in other EU states regarding all this stuff, so probably YOUR country also provides the same.

I first registered on July 28th, yet was still employed in UK until Sept 1st. I got married on August 15th, and had already bought a house on July 4th in Finland. (Of course whilst in my name, I could not get mortgage / bank Loan etc.) I opened a Bank Account before I was registered and before I owned a house. I did NOT register two times, as most people do. I just said I am moving here and buying a house. So my only registration was the full one (as an EU Citizen)

Maybe it would help IF YOU state what EU State you are from, then fellow nationals will be able to tell you what is what for your Home State.

[Hank W.]

Ah, if you'd have just come dicking around they would have told you to piss off as well. See that "marriage to a Finnish resident" part is a difference between two worlds there.

[blaugrau]

Ah, if you'd have just come dicking around they would have told you to piss off as well. See that "marriage to a Finnish resident" part is a difference between two worlds there.

I second that.

Here a quote from the brochure "working in Finland" issued by the unemployment office for foreigners coming to Finland (http://www.mol.fi/mol/fi/99_pdf/fi/06_t ... inland.pdf)

"In order to be able to register as a jobseeker at an employment office, you must have
a residence permit entitling to a continuous stay in Finland. EU citizens and their family members who have obtained the status of an employee in Finland can be registered as jobseekers. Citizens of the Nordic countries can be registered as jobseekers as soon as they have arrived in Finland. Registered jobseekers have the right to receive personal employment services and the related benefi ts. Unemployed jobseekers have the right to a job-seeking plan or an integration plan as well as unemployment security.

Now, you have the "status of an employee" if you're permanently registered with the maistraatti on the grounds of a job and a completed trial period. If you're EU and married to a Finn, on the other hand, you'll have that status right away. So, I think it's important to mark this difference - that as an EU without job and without (officially recognized) family ties to Finland, there'll be no way around learning the language, finding a job, and then you'll finally be accepted into the system - whereas things are in many ways easier if you're married to a Finn...

[zam]

Actually you get to choose between 22 eur / year or 11 eur / visit. So it's not the municipality who decides it but the customer.

You can choose in some municipalities if the municipality has given the choice to the patients, but not in all. It is up to the municipality to decide about the system how the fees are collected (and whether they are collected at all).