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Moving to a Scandinavian country
Meerkat
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I'm in the process of some information gathering, and have received great advice from here before, so thought I might give it another go!
So I am a bit of a voyaging leaf. I have lived in separate countries for 14 years each (I wont even begin to count how many different cities) and the last year been craving to make the next big move. I am currently in the States with US citizenship, but I have been wanting to make a move to one of the Scandinavian countries. I am actually not picky at all with whichever one it ends up being. I recently applied to a Danish company just for giggles and to get a feel for the process, then a few days later I hear back from them! The process went pretty far but at the end it did not work out. I learned a lot from it but it came as a surprise and was not ready for it. I did take that as a bit of a sign to push forward.
I'm trying to learn the process of working in those countries and how they are different. I have obviously been doing a lot of research, but their are a few things I am not quite sure about. Like for Sweden, I know you can apply for a working/residence permit, but that also a company can try and sponsor you so you get a permit for the duration you are hired? (I'm assuming the residence permit is identical to that of a green card while the other is just a working permit) Would it be in my best interest to apply for this permit? (I know the process can take anywhere up to a year) Or should I just solely apply to companies? If you get declined from say getting a residence permit does that dramatically lower the chances of any given company being able to sponsor you? I have seen some listings where they mention having the work permit and some don't. (These were ones listed in English speaking listings) Is Denmark a little more easy going in this sense? Because I seem to be finding a lot of listings in my profession that are even boasting about having a lot of people from different nations in their companies)
I'm also a total ethnic mix, I do have dual citizenship with Turkey but no EU citizenship. I am actually part Romanian-Bulgarian-Turkish and since my grandparents are Romanian the embassy said I would be allowed to apply and mostly like get Romanian citizenship but they said they would require me to do a language test, and sadly I do not speak a word of it. I am bilingual and know 3 languages, but I don't know if it would be worth studying that language for about a year-ish or two to get EU citizenship or to skip that. (Fathers side is Bulgarian, but I am not acquainted at all with them so getting any sort of official documents would be a pain in the butt cheeks) I'd prefer to just go and learn the language of the country I'm going to be moving to.
Anyway, any sort of opinions or thoughts/experiences would be much appreciated! In the meantime I will be looking at more resources I can find.
So I am a bit of a voyaging leaf. I have lived in separate countries for 14 years each (I wont even begin to count how many different cities) and the last year been craving to make the next big move. I am currently in the States with US citizenship, but I have been wanting to make a move to one of the Scandinavian countries. I am actually not picky at all with whichever one it ends up being. I recently applied to a Danish company just for giggles and to get a feel for the process, then a few days later I hear back from them! The process went pretty far but at the end it did not work out. I learned a lot from it but it came as a surprise and was not ready for it. I did take that as a bit of a sign to push forward.
I'm trying to learn the process of working in those countries and how they are different. I have obviously been doing a lot of research, but their are a few things I am not quite sure about. Like for Sweden, I know you can apply for a working/residence permit, but that also a company can try and sponsor you so you get a permit for the duration you are hired? (I'm assuming the residence permit is identical to that of a green card while the other is just a working permit) Would it be in my best interest to apply for this permit? (I know the process can take anywhere up to a year) Or should I just solely apply to companies? If you get declined from say getting a residence permit does that dramatically lower the chances of any given company being able to sponsor you? I have seen some listings where they mention having the work permit and some don't. (These were ones listed in English speaking listings) Is Denmark a little more easy going in this sense? Because I seem to be finding a lot of listings in my profession that are even boasting about having a lot of people from different nations in their companies)
I'm also a total ethnic mix, I do have dual citizenship with Turkey but no EU citizenship. I am actually part Romanian-Bulgarian-Turkish and since my grandparents are Romanian the embassy said I would be allowed to apply and mostly like get Romanian citizenship but they said they would require me to do a language test, and sadly I do not speak a word of it. I am bilingual and know 3 languages, but I don't know if it would be worth studying that language for about a year-ish or two to get EU citizenship or to skip that. (Fathers side is Bulgarian, but I am not acquainted at all with them so getting any sort of official documents would be a pain in the butt cheeks) I'd prefer to just go and learn the language of the country I'm going to be moving to.
Anyway, any sort of opinions or thoughts/experiences would be much appreciated! In the meantime I will be looking at more resources I can find.
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Unfortunately our racist-as-fuck party lucked out and strong-armed the government into getting rid of the green card scheme. I not sure if we have a sponsorship type deal in DK, but I'm pretty sure we don't.
If you have any specific questions about working in Sweden, especially within the tech sector, feel free to ask me.
Since you like to move about in the World I would suggest picking either Sweden or Denmark since both are EU members and should you eventually stay long enough to obtain citizenship that will then mean all of EU is open for you + Norway as well since the Nordic countries allow their citizens to move about very easy.
Now as a Dane my knowledge is mainly on what it takes to move here, but it is likely to be pretty similar for Norway and Sweden.
To come here and work you will need a "Residence and work permit". As mentioned earlier in this thread there is a "positive list" of professions which may apply, but there is also other schemes and companies can be registered as places that offer easier access as well(which does not mean working for other companies is not an option). Here is a couple of sites you should take a look at:
https://workindenmark.dk/Moving-to-DK/Important-registrations/Citizens-from-a-country-outside-of-the-Nordic-region-EU-EEA-or-Switzerland
https://nyidanmark.dk/en-us/coming_to_dk/work/work.htm
What ever you do I'd say finding work as part of getting access is properly the easier way, but it is not the only way. As caligynefob mentioned above being allowed in has become harder the last couple of years than it was before, but that is unfortunately so for much of the world and it is not like coming to Denmark, Sweden or Norway has become impossible or even close to that so not as bad as he suggests.
Finally let me suggest youtube as a resource for research. You can find a lot of material on how it is to live here, not only official stuff but also vlog and so by those that have moved here.
Here is one of those videos(it could really have been about Norway or Sweden also):
I am also Turkish and once got a job offer from a Danish multinational for a position that is in the positive list. It makes things much easier both for you and your prospective employer as far I understood from the HR people.
Also another thing you should consider is naturalization laws if you are at all thinking about becoming a citizen. Denmark has one of the toughest requirements (up to 9 years of residency if I remember correctly) while Sweden has the most relaxed (4 years).
Good luck.
I'm looking into mobile game development at the moment. I basically have experience in 2D/3D illustration and asset building in games. I have also taken classes for UI/UX design and have done some freelance work in that regard but that is one area I do not showcase that much in my portfolio which I probably look to fix before making more applications. I will be checking out the positive list for sure. I came across some youtube channels (Greater Copenhagen) that were really trying to market the Danish game development scene to potential foreign workers so I'm assuming it's in the positive list.
Totally! Thanks for the video and yeah I have been looking at a lot of videos on all of them. (I already know what places I want to go and eat at..) As you mentioned I think just getting the invitation from a company seems to be a better choice than applying for a permit. I currently live in San Francisco, and as much as I love the city, I am hoping for my next destination to possibly be a more permanent or long term destination. Also considering to take a more academic route in the future where I teach more rather than being a grunt in the industry.
Thank you Basar! Citizenship is something I would definitely consider down the road. (Assuming I get hired and they want me to stick around for the long haul) Which is why I have been considering Sweden a little more over DK, and I believe Norway doesn't allow dual citizenship yet? If everything works out in my favor, I would probably just want to stay somewhere there permanently and only come to the US as a tourist every now and then. (or maybe if I ever have baby Meerkats they could benefit from it if they wish) but wouldn't mind dropping a citizenship for it either. I'm well aware of the headaches dropping US citizenship is, so it's not something I'm really considering at the moment.
Thanks! While I don't know any programming languages that well, working in games and some UI design I did learn how to work with them for sure! I'm not quite sure how much companies are in need of UI designers at the moment. I have been mostly looking into games directly and have not yet considered tech companies who have visual people working for them. Any suggestions on that would be wonderful!
It may be that you can sort of combine Denmark and Sweden. The two countries are just a bridge apart and Copenhagen together with Malmö in Sweden is being build up be "Greater Copenhagen". More info here: greatercph.com/
Also I came across this whole bunch of videos by a guy from the states covering a lot stuff on living and working in Denmark. I won't say he gets all details right, but there is lots of good info:
Playlist on Denmark
You could look in to automotive companies (Scania in Södertälje/Stockholm, Volvo cars/trucks in Göteborg). There
Sweden have a few automotive companies which probably needs UI design, namely Volvo cars, Volvo trucks (both based in Göteborg) and Scania, based in Södertälje, close to Stockholm.