4 ms·

Thousands of tech workers apply to be a Finn for 90 days in migration scheme

17 points by neverminder 6y ago

seesawtron 6y ago
"The application window to participate in the ‘90 Day Finn’ program opens November 4 and closes on December 10. Shortlisted applicants are then notified and interviewed, and 90-day visits for selected entrants are scheduled to start from in February 2021" The 'thousands' seems a little exaggerated. It seems just like any other campaign by a company (a country here) to attract 'top' talent and not entirely attractive one either: "Participants are responsible for the living costs and all other personal expenses during their stay in Finland. ".
- ClumsyPilot 6y ago
  Yoy are vastly underestinating the value of getting paperwork sorted for you. I have moved countries twice and cumulative costs of paperwork and very modest amount of legal advice cost me ~ 20K each time. The amount of time, stress and opportunity cost (few employers deal with sponsoring foreigners) is cosiderable. > "Will provide successful applicants with all necessary official documentation, suitable housing, school or daycare for their children, remote working facilities, introductions to tech hubs and networks in and around Helsinki, and help with permanent residency"
  - orf 6y ago
    Which countries did you move to, and from where? I moved country (within the EU) and it cost me a plane ticket.
    - fy20 6y ago
      If you don't have the benefit of the EU, you need to deal with residence permits and taxes. If you are going for work, your employer will typically take care of that, but if not it's up to you. I lived in a Middle Eastern country half a decade ago. I was working as a freelancer, so I was my own HR department. It cost me maybe $2500 to get all that sorted. What I saved in taxes made up for that though :-)
    - quijoteuniv 6y ago
      Maybe he is from the UK :)
      - multjoy 6y ago
        Ah, the cost of sovereignty. So much winning.
    - ClumsyPilot 6y ago
      You already have residency rights, you don't need the scheme, and you are fortunate you don't )) The absolute minimum costs of immigration paperwork for UK for a couple is £20,000, and that is only if you are your own lawyer and can perfectly understand all the regulations, which change every year, and don't make a single mistake in several hundred pages. It costs £3,120 for NHS surcharge for five years, almost 2K for Tier 2 Visas for 5 years. That's the cheapest kind of Visa there is, with your employer sponsoring you. Then you are eligible to apply for permanent residency, which takes ~£2,400. Then you can apply to citizenship, which takes another ~£1,500. There are also costs of language proficiency test, and then 'life in UK' test where you have to know the height of the London Eye in feet, etc. You will need a lawyer to explain something at some point, or help you put documentation together, so £30K is more realistic. Amongst the things you have to prove is that you have a 'genuine relationship' with your spouse, and you demonstrate that by providing your What's App chat history, and pictures. My path was moving from Russia -> EU -> Britain, I had to apply to entrepreneur visa, and the application I sent by post was ~400 pages of forms, bank statement, letters, etc and weighed over a kilo. It was also a massive headache, so a scheme like this would be very valuable. However, these are not the kind of decisions people make on a whim, so running it for 90 days doesn't make sense to me.
ku-man 6y ago
Wonder why Canadians would be interested in moving to Finland. Don't you guys have enough cold and snow already?

17 points by neverminder 6y ago

"The application window to participate in the ‘90 Day Finn’ program opens November 4 and closes on December 10. Shortlisted applicants are then notified and interviewed, and 90-day visits for selected entrants are scheduled to start from in February 2021" The 'thousands' seems a little exaggerated. It seems just like any other campaign by a company (a country here) to attract 'top' talent and not entirely attractive one either: "Participants are responsible for the living costs and all other personal expenses during their stay in Finland. ".

ClumsyPilot 6y ago
Yoy are vastly underestinating the value of getting paperwork sorted for you. I have moved countries twice and cumulative costs of paperwork and very modest amount of legal advice cost me ~ 20K each time. The amount of time, stress and opportunity cost (few employers deal with sponsoring foreigners) is cosiderable. > "Will provide successful applicants with all necessary official documentation, suitable housing, school or daycare for their children, remote working facilities, introductions to tech hubs and networks in and around Helsinki, and help with permanent residency"
- orf 6y ago
  Which countries did you move to, and from where? I moved country (within the EU) and it cost me a plane ticket.
  - fy20 6y ago
    If you don't have the benefit of the EU, you need to deal with residence permits and taxes. If you are going for work, your employer will typically take care of that, but if not it's up to you. I lived in a Middle Eastern country half a decade ago. I was working as a freelancer, so I was my own HR department. It cost me maybe $2500 to get all that sorted. What I saved in taxes made up for that though :-)
  - quijoteuniv 6y ago
    Maybe he is from the UK :)
    - multjoy 6y ago
      Ah, the cost of sovereignty. So much winning.
  - ClumsyPilot 6y ago
    You already have residency rights, you don't need the scheme, and you are fortunate you don't )) The absolute minimum costs of immigration paperwork for UK for a couple is £20,000, and that is only if you are your own lawyer and can perfectly understand all the regulations, which change every year, and don't make a single mistake in several hundred pages. It costs £3,120 for NHS surcharge for five years, almost 2K for Tier 2 Visas for 5 years. That's the cheapest kind of Visa there is, with your employer sponsoring you. Then you are eligible to apply for permanent residency, which takes ~£2,400. Then you can apply to citizenship, which takes another ~£1,500. There are also costs of language proficiency test, and then 'life in UK' test where you have to know the height of the London Eye in feet, etc. You will need a lawyer to explain something at some point, or help you put documentation together, so £30K is more realistic. Amongst the things you have to prove is that you have a 'genuine relationship' with your spouse, and you demonstrate that by providing your What's App chat history, and pictures. My path was moving from Russia -> EU -> Britain, I had to apply to entrepreneur visa, and the application I sent by post was ~400 pages of forms, bank statement, letters, etc and weighed over a kilo. It was also a massive headache, so a scheme like this would be very valuable. However, these are not the kind of decisions people make on a whim, so running it for 90 days doesn't make sense to me.

ku-man 6y ago

Wonder why Canadians would be interested in moving to Finland. Don't you guys have enough cold and snow already?