It’s been an emotional couple of weeks. The arrival of my husband’s residence permit was a huge weight off our shoulders but little did we know that another struggle was ahead of us.
Mr. Hakrama previously lived in Amsterdam, where the residence permit opens doors to pretty much anything you need. In Finland, it’s another story. Why? Because this country seems to love pointless bureaucracy and non-sense rules. I often say they don’t see the woods from the trees in my country and it’s proven right when it comes to dealing with offices.
Getting my man registered was easy peasy, not to mention fast, but anything that follows that is sloooow. We are trying to attain social benefits for him, such as public health care and unemployment pay. I tried to call the office to see how our application is going but I never get through for some reason. To take care of things online you need codes for online banking, which leads us to the next topic at hand….
Opening a bank account for a foreigner in this country is a PAIN. We went to three different banks before we were able to set anything in motion. At the first bank they complained his ID is not Finnish and they cannot verify it to be legal. Alright. Our next target was a (seemingly) more international bank but they couldn’t give us an appointment until next week because ’the person who speaks English is available then’. We were also told (or I was told because, of course, she would only speak Finnish) that mr. Hakrama ’might get a card’ but getting a contract for online banking could be iffy (my words). Cheers.
Finally we visited my bank in hopes of getting advice and they were willing to open an account right away! The girl was friendly, spoke English and explained everything well. Under certain conditions we will also be able to get a card and have a contract for online banking in the future -good enough! Goo OP bank!!
It’s not great when your husband tells you he wants to leave your country after just one month. It’s also not so great when you kind of agree. I have often complained about my own struggles to him and now he’s experiencing it first-hand.
Whether it’s the unemployment office, social security or banking, I feel like in Finland you have to know all the itty bitty rules and be able to pull the right strings to get what you need. A lot of times, even the employees of these offices don’t know the rules, which makes the process so fun. I might not support bribery but I can understand where it starts…
Honesty is a virtue but Finnish people often follow rules ’just because’. We don’t cross the road when the light is red, even when there’s no cars to be seen. We bow down to officials even when we think they are wrong and unjust. We complain at online forums or Facebook instead of opening our mouths where the offense happened.
I used to get annoyed when people would cut the line in Albania. They might not always follow the rules in the South but they can stand up for themselves! You don’t mess with them! They know how to bullshit but they can also call yours. Thanks to my no-non-sense Southern man, I’m also learning to make demands instead of crying afterwards. Maybe next time I won’t let other people pee on my turn.
Mrs Hakrama 