New angle: Moving FROM Finland

Great Scott · Post by **Great Scott** » Thu Jul 22, 2004 12:29 pm

Well it shouldn't be long now. I'm waiting for permission to challenge the nursing state board exams in New York and then I'll be moving to the US (not sure for how long) and dragging the wife and canine with me. Nearly 6 years in Finland and I figure it's high time to move on. It's been real, it's been fun, too bad it wasn't really fun. I have no regrets, I've done well for myself, even managed to give a bit back to the country.

Anyone have any advice for the soon to be departing? I'm wondering if there is anything can do that would make moving to another EU country at one point easier.

For you Nokians: The wife and I both have tri-band phones, will those work with all operators in the US? I also have the new 5140, will that work on the Nextel network?

I'll be leaving with a few student loans but I will be handling those and I don't anticipate much of a problem. Is it true that I will get my pension savings back at one point?

How about any general advice?

**Sponsor:**

Hank W. · Post by **Hank W.** » Thu Jul 22, 2004 12:39 pm

Pension? Savings. No, no you do not understand. That money is gone already to the winos and old ladies. You have not saved anything. You'll get whatever they calculate for you when you're 65. Now then they'll tax you and the carrier pigeons involved will take their bit so maybe you'll get $2 per month then. Of course this all will change. You can go to the pension authority and ask how much "työeläke" you have accumulated so far. I'd guess the $2 is close to truth for 6 years.

grahamb · Post by **grahamb** » Thu Jul 22, 2004 3:15 pm

Freaky timing... we've just left Finland and I was thinking that it would be a good idea to write a post on here about leaving Finland. Kinda busy this week though so I was going to do it next week.

Quick answer to your question about the phone - 5140 won't work on Nextel - it has Push-to-talk (like Nextel) but uses GSM (unlike Nextel). It should work OK on the American GSM networks though (T-Mobile, Cingular/AT&T Wireless). Assuming that your wife's tri-band phone is relatively new, it will have GSM 900/1800/1900 and it will also work over there (it's the GSM 1900 which allows it to work there)

Things to do when leaving (this is a v.quick response...):
- Register with the local magistrates that you're leaving. They'll tell the tax people, etc.

- You may need to also inform the Police that you're leaving. We were told that we should have gone to the Police to return our residency cards (we're EU citizens) but we were also told it was kinda optional so we kept them as souvenirs (we can always post them back later...)

- Tell the post office you're leaving. They will redirect post to your new address for 1 month for free and they'll redirect it for 1 year overseas for €15 (which seems very cheap to me - I guess that's where some of the tax money goes...)

- Tell the utilities you're leaving. I did that with a phone call to them. Bizarrely, I had to do it - my wife called to do it but they wouldn't accept her stopping the utilities. When I phoned, it was OK. (maybe they have some super-secret technology that knows the sound of my voice?

)

- If you're in a rented place, remember that the lease always expires at the end of the month - we actually left Finland in early July but left the apartment at the end of June so we didn't have to pay rent for July. Also, (partly depending on your landlord) it is a good idea to have a pre-check with the landlord/leasing agent before they finally come to collect the keys. We did this about 1 month before we left and it gave us time to correct the few things that the landlord was going to complain about (e.g. the walls were white when we moved in but we'd painted some of them so we had to paint them white again). The landlord still tried to withhold some deposit when he got the keys but we managed to dissuade him from doing that because we'd done all the things he had asked for (and I'm sure it was cheaper for us to do it than for him to arrange it...)

Those are the things I can think of now (supposed to be working) but I'll try to get around to writing a more complete post on this next week (and I'll try to format it better then as well...

Good luck with the exams!

deojuvame · Post by **deojuvame** » Thu Jul 22, 2004 5:33 pm

T-Mobile seems to have to best services for phones from abroad.

That is, they actually know what a sim card is

I would go with them as a service provider when going back to the States.

sunny1011 · Post by **sunny1011** » Thu Jul 22, 2004 9:36 pm

Hi Scott,

Lucky you

Good luck for your new challenges!

jwesthues · Post by **jwesthues** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 12:10 am

Also left Finland about a month ago. Returned to the US with the family (although I am the closest thing to a Finn in our family).

Regarding phones, most triband phones should work on one of the GSM carriers. T-Mobile's coverage sucks the most (this being the US, all carriers' coverage stinks though). AT&T and Cingular are about to become one though. So, you don't have much choice unless wherever you live has some small independent GSM carrier.

Let Maistraatti know you are moving. The same form is supposed to update the post office as well. However, the post office decided to start forwarding SOME of our mail to my parents in Espoo instead of to us. We still got a few pieces of mail forwarded here though.

And finally, prepare yourself for heat and humidity. I live in New England (again), and this sticky weather gets to me some days.

Caroline · Post by **Caroline** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 9:40 am

jwesthues wrote:Also left Finland about a month ago. Returned to the US with the family (although I am the closest thing to a Finn in our family).

Regarding phones, most triband phones should work on one of the GSM carriers. T-Mobile's coverage sucks the most (this being the US, all carriers' coverage stinks though). AT&T and Cingular are about to become one though. So, you don't have much choice unless wherever you live has some small independent GSM carrier.

Let Maistraatti know you are moving. The same form is supposed to update the post office as well. However, the post office decided to start forwarding SOME of our mail to my parents in Espoo instead of to us. We still got a few pieces of mail forwarded here though.

And finally, prepare yourself for heat and humidity. I live in New England (again), and this sticky weather gets to me some days.

jwesthues, we are thinking about moving to New Hampshire in a couple of years (I'm originally from the western Mass. Berkshires). Do you have any input concerning what it's like to live in NH? We're not sure yet what area we'd be interested in; that's partly why I'm asking.

Great Scott · Post by **Great Scott** » Tue Aug 24, 2004 3:29 pm

Bumping this one up again as I will be moving in 2-3 weeks and am looking foward to hearing any advice that people have to give.

PeterF · Post by **PeterF** » Tue Aug 24, 2004 3:40 pm

Great Scott wrote:Bumping this one up again as I will be moving in 2-3 weeks and am looking foward to hearing any advice that people have to give.

What does the canine think about the move?..
Are there any problems with exporting a dog from Finland and importing it into the US of A?

Dan · Post by **Dan** » Tue Aug 24, 2004 3:44 pm

Good luck with the move. If you wish to keep your residence permit you'll need to apply to UVI sometime in the next two years or they'll automatically take it away. It might be handy to have if you wish to return as you won't need to apply again. That's the only advice I can think of.

Great Scott · Post by **Great Scott** » Tue Aug 24, 2004 6:54 pm

Hey Peter. Figo isn't too happy about sitting in a box for 8 hours on a plane without any humans around. He's even less happy that we are neutering him before we go to make it easier for him to get along with the dog at my folks' place. It seems there's no quarantine or anything. Just needs to be microchipped and have his vaccinations current.

Really good advice Dan. I never would have thought about that. Any experience in doing that? Any idea what it would cost? It seems a good idea....

dusty_bin · Post by **dusty_bin** » Wed Aug 25, 2004 7:54 pm

Don't chop his balls off!

He likes them, he probably licks them to check they are there!

If you are gonna punish him for not getting on with another dog, why not at least give him the pleasure of having the disagreement first!

I can just imagine my mum and dad when I was a kid: 'well, it is about time we chopped Dusty's balls off, he just can not get along with his sister!'

GRRRR!

Great Scott · Post by **Great Scott** » Wed Aug 25, 2004 8:45 pm

LOL! Well we have been meaning to get him castrated for awhile anyway. There are a few health issues involved. Figo's not much of a contortionist anyway. His body type is not condusive to self-gratification.

dusty_bin · Post by **dusty_bin** » Wed Aug 25, 2004 9:33 pm

Speaking as a non-pet person, except for a dead goldfish, just what health function is there to chopping the bollox off a tiny dog?

COuld it help me in any way? (btw, my body type is not conducive to me licking my own balls either!)

Great Scott · Post by **Great Scott** » Thu Aug 26, 2004 11:23 am

Much the same function as with a human. For instance with the case of prostate problems. The easiest way to control these problems is sometimes castration. There are also issues with cancer, etc.

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