Any pinays / pinoys living and working in Sweden in this forum?

Member since 17 August 2015

HOS-DKMember17 August 2015 19:19:29

Hi all

Are there any pinays / pinoys working and living in Sweden in this forum?

I am a male Danish citizen, currently still living and working in Denmark.

Since late 2012 I have had a girlfriend from the Philippines. I have visited her three times in the Philippines and she has lived with me in Denmark for 2 months last year on a visitors Schengen-visa.

Currently my girlfriend is still living and working in the Philippines (assistant chef in a restaurant / culinary) but we want to find a place in the world where we can live together. Denmark has very strict immigration laws - so unless we marry - Denmark is no option, and we can not live together here permanently. I dont feel ready to marry her yet, and I would like to live with her for some time first, before we marry.

To those of you pinays / pinoys who live and work in Sweden - how did you get to Sweden? Did you apply for work from the Philippines? Do you have a European girlfriend / boyfriend living in Sweden who made it possible for you to move to Sweden?

If you applied for work in Sweden when still living in the Philippines how did you do that? Online? How did you get the job?

I have contacted the Swedish "Migrationsverket" to hear about the possibilities for my girlfriend to live in Sweden together with me. They told me that I basically have 2 options:

1) I move to Sweden and get a "fixed" address there - meaning I live there permanently. Then I apply for a recidence permit for my Pinay girlfriend. The back side of this option is, that the waiting time for a decision from the "Migrationsverket" for this residence permit can be up to 18 months. For those up to 18 months I would have to live alone in Sweden, not knowing if they grant her the residence permit.

2) The other option is that my girlfriend gets a job offer and a job in Sweden which would give her a work permit and the right to stay in Sweden. If my girlfriend can find a job in Sweden this would be a faster solution than solution 1. However, I dont know where and how to find a job for her. Can you recommend any good job sites? I assume there might also be som Filipino job agencies - who can coordinate jobs in Sweden. However I dont want to pay them money for nothing (No offense!).

The challenge for me and my girlfriend is the coordination of everything. If I have to move to Sweden, I also have to find a new job there too - either in Sweden or alternatively in Copenhagen.

Any inputs and comments from Pinays / Pinoys living in Sweden are MUCH appreciated.

Thank you!

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Tex willer Member

Member since 06 May 2012

Tex willerMember18 August 2015 11:14:58

Hi the Dane,
I am from Cameroon living with my girlfriend from Czech republic here in Sweden. What i can advise you is to try to apply for residence permit i mean the first option that Swedish's migration gives you. The fact is that to get a job here is very difficult. She must have a good formation, experience and diploma to find hers place here. Sweden or Holland are good countries for you and your girlfriend to live but is a shame for Denmark with laws concerning immigration. Sorry to tell you that according to me Denmark is not a good country for your girlfriend because she will face the real face of racism despite she has a Dane boyfriend.
There is another challenge but not difficult for you to find a job in Sweden. The best and fast solution is to marry her, as you said you want live before with her to marry after it can be difficult for you. Unless you accept to live 2 years without her time for the issuance of residence permit comes out. Because you are sure Swedish Migration will grant her residence as a relationship or wedding is a different thing in 3 months maxi 4 she will have 5 years residence permit and then you can live with her even in Denmark.
I hope my thoughts will help you in your process.

Good luck

Regards

Tex

HOS-DK Member

Member since 17 August 2015

HOS-DKMember19 August 2015 17:01:08

Thank you very much for your comments and inputs. They are much appreciated - especially because there are many things to take into consideration. And the timing has to be right too, because the changes will affect me and my work situation too.

Yeah - I have heard too that it can be quite difficult to find work in Sweden, especially if someone doesn´t speek the language. In that perspective it might be easier to apply for a residence permit and to wait for that instead - or to marry her and to live in Denmark. I think I need to consider / reconsider those options too.

Please don´t get me wrong - but regarding Denmark I dont agree that Danes in general are racist people and that Denmark is a racist nation. The reason why the Danish immigration rules and laws are very strict are due to the fact that welfare money and the level of social security in Denmark are very high compared to almost the rest of the world.

We are a country of only 5,5 million people and we would get run over by people from 3rd World countries if we would have the same liberal immigration rules as in Sweden and open borders like in Sweden. It would be a financial disaster for Denmark. This is one of the reasons for the strict Danish immigration rules.

I know that I am myself considering to take advantage of the liberal Swedish immigration laws - and therefore I should probably not criticize them too much. And no offense - but I also have to say that Sweden these days is facing very severe problems - many of those problems related to the high amount of immigrants from non-Western countries (once more - no offense). There are areas in Sweden with very high unemployment rates and very high crime rates and many gang-related crimes. There is a close connection and relation from those high unemployment- and crime rates to the high level of immigration from non-western countries. Many Swedish politicians are getting "silenced" even for very mild criticism of the liberal immigration rules - and I think many ethnic Swedes will oppose to that in the coming years. Because due to differences in mentality, culture etc. it´s not problem-free to accept many immigrants from non-Western / 3rd World countries.

This is just to explan - that Denmark in general is not a racist country - but I just think that in general Denmark is much more aware of the big challenges connected with a high level of immigration - than Sweden is - and we are aware that it is a very tough financial burden too with many immigrants - even Denmark is a quite rich country.

A good example are the refugees from for example Syria. In some European countries there are almost no Syrian asylum-seekers. But Denmark has accepted up to 15 times as many asylum seekers from Syria as some other European countries. That just shows that people (immigrants and refugees) are seeking towards those countries with the highest welfare payments and the best social security systems.

That is the reason why Denmark is careful about accepting too many people from 3rd World countries. And it´s not due to racism.

Thanks again for your inputs - like I said - they are much appreciated :-)