Hello one and all. Hope you're all well. I have a story to tell in the hope that I can find some help and advice here.
I met an Icelandic girl around a year ago in England, perfect for me in every which way, not including the fact she lives hundreds of miles north. Anyway. She has came over to England a couple of times between now and then, but of course because of her school etc she can't stay long. So that leaves the only option for me to move over to Iceland.
I like the thought of moving out there and starting fresh, just up sticks and go and all that. Her family is even fine with me living with them atleast until I got on my feet and we got our own place. All sounds fine upto this point. Of course, I was going along all fine thinking I could just buy a plane ticket and turn up in Iceland one day and live happily ever after.
But now, I came across all this residency, work permit stuff whilst doing a google search and to be honest I find it all baffling. I have read up on all of the sites about this stuff but still can't seem to get my head around what it is I will need to apply for etc and what are the requirements I will need to have my application approved.
One of the most concerning things for me is that I don't have any qualifications etc, nothing to do with colleges and universities etc, I don't even have a "profession" or experience in any line of work. I spent a while in the army and then have been spending my time inbetween being unemployed, labouring work and some factory/production work.
Would really appreciate it if someone could put my mind at rest with alot of the questions I have raised here. Basically, as a Brit in the circumstances I have listed, what would I need to do in order to be able to move over to Iceland ASAP really, and also what are my chances of this realisticly coming off?
Thanks alot, Will.
A Brit wanting to move to Iceland, finding it all a bit confusing...
best to start by reading the instructions directly from the immigration office's website:
http://www.utl.is/english/residence-per … a-members/
Hi,
I'm a brit that has worked in Iceland for two summers as my boyfriend is Icelandic.
As a brit you can live in Iceland pretty easily for 3 months, you just need to find work first, I suggest trying anything to do with tourism or working in a guest house.
You could visit Iceland on holiday and while you're their try and find something, or ask your girlfriends family to look out for anything.
To be honest, without any qualifications you are going to be limited in what you can do. Even ex-pats with high qualifications struggle to find work. If you don't mind labour intensive work, or perhaps have Carpentry skills then you might find something along those lines.
If you have A-levels then you could enrol at the University of Iceland, to study something like 'Icelanders for foreigners' or one of the other BA courses they have in english. The tuition fee is only around £200 so even if you don't finish the degree you're not loosing out too much, and it will buy you enough time to find work - as it will allow you to have residency as a student before you can claim through an employer.
However, the previous poster is correct, it's best to contact UTL.is directly or contact the Icelandic embassy in London.
I would suggest working their for 3 months first to see how you like it, especially if you're not familiar with the country.
