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"How do you get to that? Norway has extremely tight immigration policies. They hardly let anybody in." I'm an immigrant here in Norway. The immigration process

"How do you get to that? Norway has extremely tight immigration policies. They hardly let anybody in." I'm an immigrant here in Norway. The immigration process has been pretty straightforward. Much better than the crap I read about the US system. I'll add that I'm american, and have had to go through the entire process. Folks from the EU have it fairly easy - basically, so long as you have a job, you can stay. Simply tell the government you are here (there might be another step or two, but it is simple). Like a lot of places, you just have to go through the right channels and have a reason to be here. A lot of the folks I know are immigrants as well, from different places in the world.

yazr 8y ago
Can you share a rough estimate housing & living expenses ? My understanding that Scandinavian countries are very expensive for every day living expenses. (As a single healthy educated adult male, its too late to enjoy the free child care, education, health care, etc)
- Broken_Hippo 8y ago
  It is honestly harder for me to do so. I'm a cheap person by nature - I have the stuff that I want, my spouse (who has had to support me for much of the time) simply takes care of most of without my input. Also, I live in a cheap, small attic apartment that isn't much more than student housing :) We are slowly saving for a house, so it works out. But they are expensive. A single bus ride (paid in cash) is as much or more as a latte. Norway is a bit more expensive - to the point there is a (free!) bus that goes between here (Trondheim) and just over the border in Sweden so people can shop cheaply. The amount I spend on groceries and a bit of spending money would more than pay rent and my food (but not all of utilities) in Indiana. I also eat well (mostly vegetarian save for some fish at least once a week). If you go far enough north, you get taxed less, though, to encourage people to live up north. I'm not sure living expenses are cheaper, though. On the other hand, wages are different. You might make less as a programmer but more when working in retail. And I can definitely plan my expenses better.
- mstade 8y ago
  Depends on what city and country you're comparing with, and how you like to live. Scandinavia isn't cheap, but it's generally also value for money. I've used this tool in the past, and found it good to get a rough, general estimate: https://www.expatistan.com/cost-of-living/comparison/stockholm/london https://www.expatistan.com/cost-of-living/comparison/stockho...?
mstade 8y ago
You're not entirely wrong, but it's important to be careful as well because the immigration authorities in the nordics are bureaucratic monsters. There are many examples of people being deported because of a mistake entirely out of their hands, such as an employer getting the wrong date on a form, or not paying salaries on time (which can easily happen if people don't have a bank account set up yet.) These things sound like they could just be corrected by sending the forms again or whatever, yet people are deported for the dumbest reasons. These institutions need fixing, but it never seems to be a priority and most definitely not in the current political climate. :o(
- Broken_Hippo 8y ago
  I don't know if it is "luckily" or not, but my stay here isn't actually conditional on work, since I wound up here through marriage. It is very conditional on being married, but that hasn't been an issue either. I have a in-house Norwegian to help through most of the bureaucracy. And you are correct, it isn't perfect, but I think those stories happen everywhere. I'm still happy to be dealing with these bureaucratic monsters as opposed to the american immigration monsters. You are most definitely correct on the current political climate. If anything, they have made things more difficult for folks. Initial immigration hasn't been so bad, but they did increase the requirements for permanent residency so that I have to prove I'm self-supporting, work for 12 months, be in school for a year, (even though my spouse has to prove he makes enough to support me each year) or be here a long time - I think they said 8-10 years. Again, though, not impossible by any means. It just made me wait longer for citizenship.

yazr 8y ago

Can you share a rough estimate housing & living expenses ? My understanding that Scandinavian countries are very expensive for every day living expenses. (As a single healthy educated adult male, its too late to enjoy the free child care, education, health care, etc)

Broken_Hippo 8y ago
It is honestly harder for me to do so. I'm a cheap person by nature - I have the stuff that I want, my spouse (who has had to support me for much of the time) simply takes care of most of without my input. Also, I live in a cheap, small attic apartment that isn't much more than student housing :) We are slowly saving for a house, so it works out. But they are expensive. A single bus ride (paid in cash) is as much or more as a latte. Norway is a bit more expensive - to the point there is a (free!) bus that goes between here (Trondheim) and just over the border in Sweden so people can shop cheaply. The amount I spend on groceries and a bit of spending money would more than pay rent and my food (but not all of utilities) in Indiana. I also eat well (mostly vegetarian save for some fish at least once a week). If you go far enough north, you get taxed less, though, to encourage people to live up north. I'm not sure living expenses are cheaper, though. On the other hand, wages are different. You might make less as a programmer but more when working in retail. And I can definitely plan my expenses better.
mstade 8y ago
Depends on what city and country you're comparing with, and how you like to live. Scandinavia isn't cheap, but it's generally also value for money. I've used this tool in the past, and found it good to get a rough, general estimate: https://www.expatistan.com/cost-of-living/comparison/stockholm/london https://www.expatistan.com/cost-of-living/comparison/stockho...?

mstade 8y ago

You're not entirely wrong, but it's important to be careful as well because the immigration authorities in the nordics are bureaucratic monsters. There are many examples of people being deported because of a mistake entirely out of their hands, such as an employer getting the wrong date on a form, or not paying salaries on time (which can easily happen if people don't have a bank account set up yet.) These things sound like they could just be corrected by sending the forms again or whatever, yet people are deported for the dumbest reasons. These institutions need fixing, but it never seems to be a priority and most definitely not in the current political climate. :o(

Broken_Hippo 8y ago
I don't know if it is "luckily" or not, but my stay here isn't actually conditional on work, since I wound up here through marriage. It is very conditional on being married, but that hasn't been an issue either. I have a in-house Norwegian to help through most of the bureaucracy. And you are correct, it isn't perfect, but I think those stories happen everywhere. I'm still happy to be dealing with these bureaucratic monsters as opposed to the american immigration monsters. You are most definitely correct on the current political climate. If anything, they have made things more difficult for folks. Initial immigration hasn't been so bad, but they did increase the requirements for permanent residency so that I have to prove I'm self-supporting, work for 12 months, be in school for a year, (even though my spouse has to prove he makes enough to support me each year) or be here a long time - I think they said 8-10 years. Again, though, not impossible by any means. It just made me wait longer for citizenship.