Student Insurance

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Hello All,

I'm a graduate non-eu student and I have been here almost a year now, so I'm in the process of renewing my residence permit. I would like to ask a few questions regarding health insurance.
Last year I took the Marsh/SIP student insurance since it was pre- approved by migri, now that I'm in Finland do I have a better option? Coverage-wise or money-wise?
Very soon my permit will end but my new permit won't be issued until mid September because I was a bit late to take my appointment. I've visited police station in Pasila and they said it won't be a problem as long as I stay in the country. But would it be a problem when I visit a hospital?
I'm a graduate student so I can't use YTHS, I didn't had to use any health services during past year but now I want to visit a doctor. Do you have an estimate idea about examination fees for someone who is not covered fully by national health insurance? (I think I have half coverage since I have SIP complement. Again not having the extended permit yet could be a problem for that half coverage, right?)
As far as marsh-sip goes, we pay first and get a reimbursement, correct?

Thanks!

[betelgeuse]

Last year I took the Marsh/SIP student insurance since it was pre- approved by migri, now that I'm in Finland do I have a better option? Coverage-wise or money-wise?

None of the Finnish insurance companies will accept you when you don't have Kela coverage. So basically you are in the same position as when first applying.

Very soon my permit will end but my new permit won't be issued until mid September because I was a bit late to take my appointment. I've visited police station in Pasila and they said it won't be a problem as long as I stay in the country. But would it be a problem when I visit a hospital?

I don't think it's a problem in a hospital as long as your insurance coverage is valid. I would queue at the police station to renew the permit before it expires. They are required to accept people by queue numbers but it doesn't have to be fast:

http://www.oikeusasiamies.fi/Resource.p ... &sort=2013

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Long queue is not a problem but my study coordinator is on vacation and I'm waiting for her to come back to get a document which I think would be needed in my application.
Is there a specific reason for you to suggest I should not wait for my appointment? Because I can go and apply, all my essential documents are ready. I was just waiting because police said it is ok.

[Upphew]

Long queue is not a problem but my study coordinator is on vacation and I'm waiting for her to come back to get a document which I think would be needed in my application.
Is there a specific reason for you to suggest I should not wait for my appointment? Because I can go and apply, all my essential documents are ready. I was just waiting because police said it is ok.

Just be sure that you have valid RP or that you have filed your application for renewal. If there is gap between those two, you aren't renewing and are possibly staying here illegally.

[betelgeuse]

Long queue is not a problem but my study coordinator is on vacation and I'm waiting for her to come back to get a document which I think would be needed in my application.

If you are talking about transcripts, the schools usually have an office that issues them that is not dependent on a single person.

Is there a specific reason for you to suggest I should not wait for my appointment? Because I can go and apply, all my essential documents are ready. I was just waiting because police said it is ok.

Some things I can think of:

• If you are from a country that needs a visa, the police have the right to deport you. In practice they wouldn't.
• It might interrupt gathering residence period for citizenship if that's something you are thinking about down the line.
• You will not have the right to work between the expiry of the permit and the decision on the new permit.

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I'm not waiting for a transcript. I'm a graduate student so I take fewer courses than a regular student would do. So even though I took much more credit than I need to, it may still seem like not enough credits for the police. I'll ask my study coordinator to write a paper that says I gained more credits than the requirements of my program for the first year.

• If you are from a country that needs a visa, the police have the right to deport you. In practice they wouldn't.
• It might interrupt gathering residence period for citizenship if that's something you are thinking about down the line.
• You will not have the right to work between the expiry of the permit and the decision on the new permit.

I don't think police would tell me to wait until my appointment if they intend to deport me. But the thing concerns me in what you say is the right to work. I never had to submit my residence permit to my employers I just give out my tax card, which is valid until the end of the year. So are you sure that is the case? Because In theory I can't stay in the country in between permits either but officials say it is ok.

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Long queue is not a problem but my study coordinator is on vacation and I'm waiting for her to come back to get a document which I think would be needed in my application.
Is there a specific reason for you to suggest I should not wait for my appointment? Because I can go and apply, all my essential documents are ready. I was just waiting because police said it is ok.

Just be sure that you have valid RP or that you have filed your application for renewal. If there is gap between those two, you aren't renewing and are possibly staying here illegally.

Upphew, there will be 5-6 weeks gap between my appointment and my valid RP. Police said it is OK as long as I take an appointment before the expiration date of my permit (which I did- I took the appointment in late june and the first available date was in mid sept.) but from what you say I understand taking the appointment before does not matter the process needs to start before expiration. If that is the case I can queue up but I really don't want to do that before every document is in order. Because it literally took me a few hours to get my first permit since every additional document that they may require was already submitted. I don't want to apply with missing documents and prolong the process but if you think the police officer was in some sort of a hurry and made a mistake by telling me it is ok to wait for the appointment I should go there immediately.

[rinso]

but if you think the police officer was in some sort of a hurry and made a mistake by telling me it is ok to wait for the appointment I should go there immediately.

don't rely on what they tell. follow the rules. and the rules say interruption is new permit not extension

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but if you think the police officer was in some sort of a hurry and made a mistake by telling me it is ok to wait for the appointment I should go there immediately.

don't rely on what they tell. follow the rules. and the rules say interruption is new permit not extension

You file the same form for both anyway.

Nonetheless, I'll go and wait for the queue next week anyhow. There is too much contradicting information out here.

[Upphew]

"A new fixed-term residence permit is issued by the police. A new fixed-term residence permit must be applied for before the expiry of the previous one. The application should be submitted in good time before the previous one expires."
https://www.poliisi.fi/poliisi/home.nsf ... endocument

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Yes I know that.
I've made an appointment 2 months before the end of my residence permit and the first available time slot was 3,5 months away. That's why I visited the police station and asked what to do, they told me it is ok to wait here as long as I have my appointment.
I was asking something totally different but doesn't matter anymore.

[betelgeuse]

I don't think police would tell me to wait until my appointment if they intend to deport me. But the thing concerns me in what you say is the right to work. I never had to submit my residence permit to my employers I just give out my tax card, which is valid until the end of the year. So are you sure that is the case? Because In theory I can't stay in the country in between permits either but officials say it is ok.

Your employers have not followed the law. The tax card does not convey the right to work (a tax card can be given to foreigner for Finnish source temporary income etc.). The Employment Contracts Act lays down the requirement for employers to check that the employee has the right to work in Chapter 11a:

http://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/kaannokset ... 010055.pdf

"Chapter 11 a (451/2012)
Employers' joint and several liabilities in employing illegally resident employees"

However, it's not surprising that your employers have not been aware of how work permits function in Finland. It's not something everyone gets teached in school.

http://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/ajantasa/2 ... 0301#L5P80

Section 80 of the Alienct Act says that the right to work ends with the permit unless you have applied for an extension.

[betelgeuse]

Here's some more information on employers obligation to verify from Migri:

http://www.migri.fi/working_in_finland/ ... _to_verify

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I've seen your reply one year late.
Not that it matters anymore but my employer is one the most internationally oriented universities in Finland, so I guess they would probably have a few people there who know about those rules and laws.

[Flossy1978]

I think someone in Immigration used common sense in that person's case, which goes against Finland's usual nature . Good on Finland .