Thursday 31 December 2015

The last post before the turn of the year... Vi ses 2016!

I hope you all had a relaxed Christmas time. We did, with loads of sleep... ;o) 

I just checked my last post from last year and I had to smile since it is quite similar to this last post in 2015, like enjoying life in Turku / Finland and meeting Michael Monroe at a signing session, this time even with his band and a special guest (Todd "Dammit" Kerns from Slash) and a live show afterwards. Last year, I really wasn't expecting to experience any of this right now since we already knew that we are going to move to Tromsø / Norway during the year 2015. Well, after all what happened (or not happened) in Tromsø, I surely don't mind this turn of events... 

No sooner had we arrived in Finland, I went to "Gigantti" and treated myself to a new mobile phone by Nokia which is very basic and yet very stylish... 



Calling and texting is all I expect from a mobile phone. And a battery life which I don't need to take care of on a daily basis (and which is apparently the case with smartphones). In thirteen and a half years, this is just the fourth mobile phone I purchased, and the previous one is not even broken yet (It was in use for over six years...). I just had the feeling that it was about time to get a mobile phone which has both English and Swedish language settings. My previous Nokia phone was ordered from Germany and those usually don't have any of the Nordic languages in their settings, so my new mobile phone is also the first one I bought here in Finland. However, the brand of my mobile phone has always been Nokia and therefore Finnish... ;o) 

As last year, we are currently getting prepared to jump on the boat from Turku to Stockholm / Sweden in a few hours since we are going to spend New Year's Eve in Stockholm this year...



On that note: Vi ses 2016! :o)
Stefanie



Monday 28 December 2015

Back at Home Sweet Home Finland!

The title says it all: After living in Tromsø / Norway for four months, my love and I are back at Home Sweet Home Finland!  

The welcome couldn't have been more perfect as one of the first things we did in Turku / Finland was jumping on the boat to Stockholm / Sweden: The Michael Monroe Band was playing a show on Viking Line's cruiseferry "Viking Grace" on 19th December 2015. In fact, this cruise was the very first thing I took care of after it turned out that we are going to be back in Finland way earlier than expected... ;o) And this show of the Michael Monroe Band was quite special not least thanks to the fact that no-one less than Todd "Dammit" Kerns (Slash / Sin City Sinners) substituted for Steve Conte (who couldn't serve the guitar as usual due to joys of fatherhood). Prior to the mentioned show on "Viking Grace", the band had a signing session at the record store "Levykauppa Äx" in Turku. And prior to that, we took some snapshots while walking through our hometown Turku... I hope you enjoy the results! :o)


The "Drummers From Pori" sculpture in the Garrison Park


 
On the way to the Turku Cathedral 



The cobblestone pavement in front of the Turku Cathedral



The Christmas tree in front of the Turku Cathedral



Sign in front of the record store "Levykauppa Äx"



Todd "Dammit" Kerns and Michael Monroe during the signing session 
at the record store "Levykauppa Äx"
 


Michael Monroe during the signing session 
at the record store "Levykauppa Äx"


Michael Monroe and Todd "Dammit" Kerns during the show 
on Viking Line's cruiseferry "Viking Grace" 
 


Enjoying life on Viking Line's cruiseferry "Viking Grace" 
 


Trophies of the day: Poster (signed by the band), autograph card (signed by Michael Monroe), 
setlist from the show and a guitar pick of Todd "Dammit" Kerns


Monday 14 December 2015

Life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans



"Life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans."

This quote by John Lennon has never been as applicable to my life as it is the case right now.

As mentioned in the fourth and so far last part of the written series "Office catastrophes in Norway", there are some news I would like to share with you, happy news, and I try to make it short: My love and I are currently packing our stuff since we are going to be very, very soon on our way back home to Finland. Not for Christmas, not for New Year's Eve - but for several months!

Despite having an ongoing exchange year here in Tromsø / Norway until summer 2016, my love received a very tempting job offer in Finland. It's a temporary employment. And despite me having much better job and career opportunities here in Norway than in Finland and specific plans for January and February 2016 in Tromsø, I decided to accompany my love to Finland - and to skip all planned events such as "Tromsø International Filmfestival 2016", "Nordlysfestivalen 2016" and the two concerts of Sivert Høyem in Tromsø. It's the absolutely right thing to do. Without any doubt. 

I mean: As much as I love to write in general, writing about catastrophic conditions in the offices of the country I currently live in is not precisely the way I want to lead my life. And so isn't paying the so far highest rent in my life while facing alternatively continuous power failures, false fire alarms or the water supply being turned off repeatedly without any notification beforehand.

The job offer my love received in Finland might turn out to be a great opportunity not only for him but also for me, and I'm looking forward to it.

We won't be back in Norway before April 2016. And the next post will probably be written in Finland. :o) 

So long!

Office catastrophes in Norway - Part 4

This is the fourth and so far last part of the written series "Office catastrophes in Norway". Sorry for keeping you waiting for so long, but it was absolutely necessary to keep everything chronological, and you might have noticed the amount of text that needed to be produced in order to tell everything as detailed and as chronological as possible. 

If you haven't read the posts about the reasons for our move to Tromsø / Norway, how absolutely horrible the local housing market looks like and how "interesting" our first, second and third experiences in and with Norwegian offices turned out to be yet, please do so and read those posts first before continuing to read this fourth part of "Office catastrophes in Norway". Everything is more or less connected with each other, and it helps to read those previous posts first in order to get a better overall picture. 

So, let's start with a short recap about me and my / our background: I am a German citizen, hence an EU citizen, and a permanent resident of Finland since 2009. Finland is not only an EU country but also a Nordic country like Norway. Moving from one Nordic country to another is supposed to be even easier than moving from a Nordic country to an EU country which is not a Nordic country. In fact, persons who hold the citizenship of a Nordic country [Finland, Sweden, Denmark (including the Faroe Islands), Iceland and Norway] can go directly to "Skatteetaten" ["The Norwegian Tax Administration"] in order to be registered as a resident in Norway. The biggest advantage of that is the fact that the registration is handled right away. Who is not a Nordic citizen, needs to go to the police first. This is where the immigration office is located, and getting an appointment there is a matter of months (!)

Although I still hold a German passport, everything else is based in Finland, including me having a Finnish social security number, so I was wondering if I could be registered directly at "Skatteetaten". Just like my love who is a citizen of Finland. This thought was also based on the fact that my love and I are registered as a family in Finland and that my registration in Norway was based on family immigration. 

During my first visit at "Skatteetaten", it was suggested that I indeed could be registered directly at "Skatteetaten". The only thing missing was the presence of my love, so I had to return with him some other time. 

During my second visit at "Skatteetaten", accompanied by my love, the registration was carried out and we left "Skatteetaten" happily - until I made the huge mistake of returning there in order to ask another question. All of a sudden, it was not possible anymore for me to be registered directly at "Skatteetaten". I had to book an appointment at the police / immigration office, so the earliest possibility to register myself in Norway turned out to be on 16th October 2015, so two months (!) later. As said, all the details can be read in the corresponding post

Part 3 of "Office catastrophes in Norway" had nothing to do with my registration in Norway, at least not directly, but with me being excluded from our rental agreement, leading to me being forced to contact the police / immigration office prior to the actual appointment for the registration. Otherwise, there wouldn't have been any contact prior to the actual appointment. All the details about the email contact with the lady at the police / immigration office can be read in the corresponding post

As a matter of fact, I nearly had forgotten about that email contact since there were several weeks between the email contact and the actual appointment for the registration, and the problem discussed during the email contact was solved without the "help" of the lady at the police / immigration office. 

So, here we go with the fourth and so far last part of the written series "Office catastrophes in Norway" which took place on 16th October 2015 at the immigration office located in the headquarters of "Troms politidistrikt" ["Troms police district"] in the "Politihuset i Tromsø" ["Tromsø police station"]. The by far worst encounter in any kind of office in my life so far! 

As said, I nearly had forgotten about the mentioned email contact. In Norway, everything prior to the actual appointment for the registration is done electronically, so usually there is no contact prior to the actual appointment. One goes to the webpage of UDI ["Utlendingsdirektoratet" / in English: "The Norwegian Directorate of Immigration"] and books an appointment for the registration at the police / immigration office there, together with the scheme that is applying. In my case, it seemed that three different schemes seemed to be applicable: 

- The registration scheme for EU/EEA nationals 

- Family immigration with Norwegian or Nordic citizen 

and then there was also a 

- Checklist for family immigration with cohabitant who has a residence permit as a student in Norway. 


When you book an appointment for the registration, you do it in connection with the scheme applicable to you and your case, and whatever scheme applies to you and your case, it always comes with a checklist which tells you what to bring with you to the appointment for the registration. In fact, you also have to print out that checklist and bring it to the appointment for the registration so that the person handling your application will know what you are supposed to bring.


So, prior to the appointment for the registration, everything is done electronically, and during the appointment, you will hand in a checklist so that the person handling your application will know what you are supposed to hand it, yet the appointment itself is going to take place over two months later. 

You might argue that we arrived at the same time as many other international students - BUT: Tromsø has currently around 70 000 inhabitants. In 2009, I moved from Hamburg / Germany to Helsinki, the capital of Finland, which had around 580 000 inhabitants at that time and a much bigger flow of international students at the time of my registration in Finland, yet the registration was a matter of few weeks, without having everything digitalised and the customers bringing any checklists for the actual employees. 

The scheme I chose was by the way the "Registration scheme for EU/EEA nationals" as it seemed to be the by far most reasonable one to be applicable to me and my case. First of all, I am an EU citizen myself, independent from my love and our family status. Second of all, when choosing the "Registration scheme for EU/EEA nationals", there is the very possibility of choosing to be a "Family member of an EU/EEA national". Easy as pie as it seems, and the documents required in the corresponding checklist were gathered and prepared in good time. Also, the other two schemes / checklists included a questionnaire whose questions seemed to be quite "out of place" in a case like ours, e.g. "Have you and the reference person spent time together since you met? If yes, where and when?" and "How and how often do you and the reference person have contact with one another?". 

But back to the actual appointment. The appointment was scheduled for 12:45. We arrived well in advance, at 12:20, and waited in the very quiet lobby at the "Tromsø police station". At 12:55, my love was wondering when it was going to be our turn as the appointment was scheduled for 12:45. He went into the office cabin of the immigration office in order to ask when it was going to be our turn. The lady in the office claimed that she had called up my name already, so then it was our turn right away. And what an attitude she had right from the beginning... My goodness! 

Instead of a greeting like "Good afternoon!", only instant questions like "Why do you register at the police?" and "What are you doing in Norway?" came. This is how the whole conversation started! I replied to the first question just briefly that I was wondering about the same since I nearly had been registered directly at "Skatteetaten". Then, as a reply to the second question, I introduced myself and my case, when she asked if I was able to solve the problems regarding the rental agreement. This question reminded me of the email contact prior to this appointment which I nearly had forgotten about, and this question also revealed that the lady serving us now was the same lady I had been in contact with via email before. Well, there was absolutely no time to think any further about it while confirming that the issue indeed had been solved, since she asked instantly if I could "please put forth the 'right' papers; I don't want to go through all of them". Now here is the thing: All papers I had gathered and prepared were required and "right" in order to finally register me in Norway. It also said so in the checklist I had to print out and bring with me to this appointment. 

Despite her being very unfriendly to us right from the beginning (and we never got to know why she was obviously so irritated by our mere presence in the first place), we tried to maintain a friendly appearance. So I kept quiet and went through the papers while the lady in her 30s was chewing her bubblegum and sitting in a "Couldn't be buggered!" position on her chair... An office lady at the police, at the immigration department... Seriously!?! 

And then, a very familiar question was asked again: "Are you married?" Since that very question pops up all the time although it's written already on page 10 in the 135 paged "New in Norway" book that being cohabitants for more than two years (and intending to continue the cohabitation) is enough to be seen as a family and therefore enough to fulfil the requirements for family immigration, I had that very book with me and showed her the corresponding paragraph. 

Instead of caring, she now started to be extremely rude and to bitch since our evidence of cohabitation, our common tenancy agreement from Finland, was in Finnish, and she doesn't understand Finnish. Well, on all the pages I checked on UDI, especially on the one with the "Registration scheme for EU/EEA nationals", it did not say anywhere that such evidence should be officially translated into Norwegian or English. Nowhere. It only says that the cohabitation should be proved. And putting the heading "Vuokrasopimus" [Finnish for: "Rental agreement"] into the Google Translator and checking the dates and the signatures at the end of the document could have helped to understand the documentation, if one wanted to understand the documentation at all. It's not that the documentation was written in Chinese characters or Cyrillic. But, no, she became increasingly barefaced and arrogant and seriously talked to me like I was nothing but a worthless piece of shit. Excuse my French, but it is not possible to describe it in a more diplomatic way. 

And then the whole situation escalated: My love asked in a total normal, if not even friendly way if an English translation of our Finnish rental agreement would be understood by every person who would or could handle my registration. A very reasonable question, given that it is not even the case in very international countries such as Germany. She replied in a total derogative tone - as my love would have been a retarded idiot [Again, excuse my French] - what he would think: "Are you kidding me!?! Of course, we understand English, we are here at the immigration office, please!" My love became speechless with shock, and for the very first time in my life, I was forced to put someone loudly in his / her place since I became once and for all fed up with her excessive arrogance and her obvious "I don't give a s***" attitude. And no-one, really no-one talks that way to my love who just asked something very reasonable in a polite way. 

She became quiet and clicked around at her computer for around one minute. Then, she asked my love in Norwegian if he understands Norwegian. Completely out of context. Otherwise, you seem to be worth nothing in Norway in her eyes. He confirmed that he understands Norwegian (and so do I, but I wasn't asked in the first place so I just kept quiet). Silence again. Then she continued to bitch, saying that my opinions about how unorganised Norwegian authorities operate weren't "up for debate", assigning any possible blame to UDI. And then it became loud again. Since the day I arrived here in Norway, in August 2015, it is me who has to tell the ladies in the offices how to do their jobs, every single time I have to deal with Norwegian offices, and that's what I told the"lady" serving us now. Then, she started to demand more documents from which I know quite certainly that she does not need them but just wanted to bully us even more by requiring them. 

First of all, she wanted the rental agreement to be translated into a language she understands, so either into Norwegian or English, and Swedish would have been - according to her - ok, too. However, she could not specify what a "proper" translation would be and in what country the translation needed to be done. From my love, she wanted a documentation of his income in order to prove that he could support me financially. However, she could not specify how that kind of documentation should look like and how long that documentation should date back. When my love asked her if bank statements since our move to Norway - so bank statements from the past two months - would be sufficient enough, she just nodded in an insecure way. She gave him a piece of paper in Norwegian [I guess that's why she asked him about his Norwegian language skills before], stating that it was "the Norwegian law"

She did not specify the exact source of the printout and continued to talk exclusively to my love although it was my appointment and he was more or less just accompanying me. Moreover, she photocopied his ID, making us wonder if this appointment even could have taken place without his presence, and stated that I should rather search for a job and not register on the basis of family immigration in Norway, "I just want to help you!". 

We were dismissed with the assignment to hand in the additional papers. Neither did the printout of the "Norwegian law" answer or even refer to any of the questions asked before nor were we told a date until which we were supposed to hand in the "missing" documents. Furthermore, she refused to keep the colour copy of my passport which was stamped and signed by "Skatteetaten" and supposed to speed up the process for my registration at the police / immigration office. 

There was no "Goodbye!", "Thank you" or any other formality when we were dismissed, so it pretty much ended the same way as it started. And while leaving, I heard her calling up the name of the next customer, so quiet and unconcerned that I did not wonder anymore how we could miss her calling up my name before. 


First of all some facts we figured out later back at home... 

1. The printout of the "Norwegian law" was nothing else but a circular letter for the employees working for the Norwegian authorities from the year 2010, and the additional documents she started to ask for were a mix of the three different schemes and checklists applicable to me and my case, not following any of those schemes and checklists accurately. So quite clearly, she did not know herself what she was doing or supposed to do, not at all, so she just clicked around at her computer and printed out something very randomly and also just 1 1/2 pages of those parts suiting her the best. Parts of a circular letter from the year 2010 for the employees working for the Norwegian authorities. In Norwegian. The fact that I obviously knew better what I was supposed to hand in, thanks to the attached checklist, made her furious. Quite obviously. One friend of mine asked me in all seriousness if it maybe wasn't just mere unprofessionalism and pure incompetence that made her act like this, but also a general hatred against immigrants. To be honest, we had the same impression, to say the least. 

2. After some more research, I found something about translations on the webpage of UDI (However, not on the page with the "Registration scheme for EU/EEA nationals"). A page the lady at the police / immigration office should be way more familiar with than we are and hence should have found in no time. It states quite clearly that documents such as our Finnish rental agreement should be handed in in its original form, so in Finnish, and also as a certified translation into Norwegian or English if the original is in a language other than Norwegian, English, French or German. According to that, a translation into Swedish is not valid, even if the lady at the police / immigration office stated so, and she would have needed to process documents in French and German even if she herself does not understand those languages, as it is not up to her personal language skills whether documents can be accepted or not. It is up to the rules of UDI and not to the personal language skills of single employees. 

3. As for the documentation of my love being able to support me financially: It says in the very newsletter quite clearly that a piece of paper written by my love would be sufficient enough as such documentation. He just needs to state with one, two lines that he can support me financially. That's it. Even the effort to provide bank statements from the past two months wouldn't be necessary. This is probably the reason why she just nodded in an insecure way when my love asked her how the documentation should look like and if bank statements from the past two months would be sufficient enough. Otherwise, he could and would have written his statement on the spot. But that was maybe not what she wanted after all, I suppose. 


We were once again extremely shocked to see how excessively arrogant, ignorant, lazy and unprofessional the ladies in the offices here in Norway act, especially in the offices of highly official institutions. After all, Norway is a country of good reputation. One of the highly praised Nordic countries. Well, neither in Finland (where I had lived the past six years) nor in Germany (where I am originally from) have I ever faced such catastrophic conditions in any kind of offices as here in Norway. As sad as it is. The "I don't give a s***" attitude overall is as surprising as the tone which is anything but friendly. Me and my love (who was rather coincidentally with me when it all happened) had a lot of time to reflect about the whole event. Family, friends and acquaintances both in Norway and abroad (Finland, Sweden, Germany et cetera) have been informed about the event, and sadly, those living here in Norway haven't had anything flattering to say about the "Norwegian office culture" either. We still cannot believe what happened and we are still at a loss for words. 

Coincidentally, I stumbled on two German-speaking blogs in the meantime whose contents about living in Tromsø sound partly very similar to our own experiences. One of the bloggers moved back to Germany, the other blogger moved back to the previous location Sweden, dedicating the very first post on living in Norway to the failed UDI registration. Surprise, surprise. 

I know that I stated in the post written on the same weekend that our new life here in Tromsø is actually quite wonderful, 95% of the time, and that only 5% are seriously catastrophic, mainly due to those "office catastrophes". I'm afraid that I meanwhile have to revise that statement. Ever since that fourth "office catastrophe" (which led to this written series in the first place) and some other small things which happened afterwards, my view on Norway and living in Norway has changed a lot. I won't go into details since this post has become very long already. And very soon, there are going to be some news anyway. All I can say for now is that I'm absolutely not impressed by the life here in Norway and that I would definitely rank living in Tromsø / Norway below all the other places I have lived in so far, namely Hamburg / Germany, Helsinki / Finland and Turku / Finland. In fact, I meanwhile reached the point where I'm seriously asking myself if moving to e.g. Denmark wouldn't have been a better choice than moving to Norway. For many reasons. 
 
 
Sweet memories: New Year's Eve 2008 / 2009 in Denmark's capital Copenhagen 


Thursday 26 November 2015

Office catastrophes in Norway - Part 3

The day before yesterday, I started with Part 1 and Part 2 of the written series "Office catastrophes in Norway", and yesterday, I delivered you an insight into the local housing market here in Tromsø / Norway. Especially the latter can be helpful to be read before you continue to read this third part of "Office catastrophes in Norway"

So, as already mentioned in the post about the very desperate housing market in Tromsø, my love and I were just extremely lucky that we never had to live in a tent as many other students when newly arriving in Tromsø. One can have everything regarding the finances put in order and use all the sources available to find an accommodation months prior to the move, just as we did, and yet getting a place to stay can be very often just a matter of pure luck. 

Right after the final confirmation of his exchange year had arrived, my love applied to "Studentsamskipnaden i Tromsø" ["The Student Association in Tromsø"] for a one-room-apartment for us. Parallel to that, we - of course - kept searching for an accommodation on the private housing market as well. One cannot expect to get one of the much sought-after student apartments just by applying for those. Of course not. The student apartments are so much sought-after amongst others because of their rental prices which are just one-third or sometimes even just a quarter of what is asked on the regular housing market in Tromsø. And unlike the student apartments, those on the private housing market might not include the costs for electricity, heating, water and internet in the rent

Since the day of our move to Tromsø was approaching and since we were still without a place to stay in Tromsø, my love called "Studentsamskipnaden" in order to ask for their emergency accommodations, in case we wouldn't have found an accommodation by the time we had moved to Tromsø. During that phone call, it turned out that his application for a student apartment had never been handled in the first place since he applied for an accommodation for the two of us, a couple, and for a one-room-apartment. Apparently, it is not allowed for a couple to live together in a one-room-apartment. A couple has to apply for a "parleilighet" ["couple apartment"], so for an apartment with at least two rooms, even though we would have been perfectly fine with living together in a one-room-apartment. Well, a rule is a rule. BUT: Just putting away the application without a single word...?!? Just not handling it...?!? Seriously!?! 

Now this is just an anecdote from what happened prior to our third "office adventure" which took place at the service centre of "Studentsamskipnaden". As in the first part of "Office catastrophes in Norway", you might think that all of this is not even worth to be mentioned - until you will get the full context... 

So, one fine day, we ended up in the service centre of "Studentsamskipnaden i Tromsø", and the occasion for that was a very happy one: We had gotten one of the much sought-after student apartments! Yay! So, there we were, in the service centre of "Studentsamskipnaden", signing the rental agreement for our "couple apartment". We haven't had the opportunity to take a look at the two-room-apartment before signing the rental agreement for it - but it didn't matter. The housing market in Tromsø is absolutely horrible and we managed to find a place to stay at relatively fast, so we were just happy and grateful. 

Before signing the rental agreement, we were going through its small print. After all, this is something one should always do before signing a contract, right? Well, the customer consultant who served us at "Studentsamskipnaden" (and was friendly and helpful at first) did not seem to agree. All of a sudden, she urged us to just sign the contract and leave. There were still three hours to go before the service centre closed and the entire service centre was empty, except for two other employees, so there was no pressure to serve any other customers present in the service centre. And even if there would have been a queue, we could have been asked (in a friendly way) to step aside while going through the small print of the rental agreement. Instead, we were suddenly urged to just sign the contract and leave, "you can read everything on our website later on". But the actual "adventure" was just about to start... 

Being surprised by the sudden change of her mood, we more or less just signed the rental agreement. Or to be more precise: My love signed the rental agreement. My signature wasn't even needed - since I wasn't mentioned in the rental agreement in the first place! 

We told the customer consultant that both of us were going to live in the "couple apartment" and that it was of great importance for us that both of us were mentioned in the rental agreement. For various reasons. Amongst others, if you remember the regulations I mentioned concerning family immigration in Norway, cohabitants over the age of 18 not only need to have lived together for at least two years before moving to Norway but they also need to intend to continue their cohabitation in Norway. So, how could a couple prove that they have continued their cohabitation in Norway if only one of them is mentioned in the rental agreement? Not to mention that the authorities in our home country Finland and other countries we might move to in the future might need such a documentation, too. We explained all that to the customer consultant... 

At first, she stated that I couldn't be included in the rental agreement since I wasn't a student. "Studentsamskipnaden" is renting out apartments to students only, hence only students can be mentioned in the corresponding rental agreements. On the one hand, this policy sounded a bit strange since there are many couples and also entire families living in the apartments provided by "Studentsamskipnaden", and it's probably not that unusual that only one person in a relationship is studying, so why would the one who is not studying been forced to live without having a valid rental agreement? On the other hand, this policy sounded logical to some degree, indeed, so I don't know why the customer consultant started to repeat the following words like a mantra: "She's not a student, so we don't care where she lives. She can live wherever she wants. She can move to wherever she wants. We don't care. She's not a student, so we don't care where she lives." 

However, we then kindly asked for a written confirmation which would just state that my love and I are living together in the "couple apartment". No more, no less. And we were both quite stunned by the following barefaced response she gave: "That's not our problem. That's YOUR problem. We rent out apartments to students. And we don't care about Finland. If you need a written confirmation for an authority here in Tromsø, you can come back with a written request from that authority and just then I will give you a written confirmation, but only if it is for an authority here in Tromsø. We don't care about Finland. That's your problem, not ours!" 

Oh my, what an attitude! What about the "Nordic cooperation"? What about "Nordic agreements"? And what if we would have returned with a written request from an authority located in e.g. Oslo since she insisted so strongly on an authority located in Tromsø? Questions upon questions... 

Well, we were so stunned about her biting tone and "I don't care" attitude that we just left. We tried to explain to her that I was going to have an appointment at the police / immigration office soon and that they definitely would need that written confirmation we kindly asked for, but she kept replying the same as before. 

So, that was our third "adventure" in a Norwegian office, and yet the worst part was still to come (→ Part 4). 


Celebrating our move-in with a ready-made "Festkake" ["Celebration Cake"] 


The problem with the written confirmation was solved as follows: Back at home, we took and printed out several screenshots from the webpage of the police / immigration office which proved that we needed the written confirmation we kindly asked for from "Studentsamskipnaden". At the same time, I contacted the police / immigration office via email, requesting a written request for a written confirmation. As absurd as it all sounds. 

A few days later, we just stopped by at "Studentsamskipnaden" with the screenshots, but this time, we were served by another customer consultant who just gave us the written confirmation we needed without even asking for the screenshots or any other written request. To date, this was the only positive experience we gained in a Norwegian office. 

The lady at the police / immigration office replied to my email just after a whole working week (!) had passed, and apparently, she hadn't even read the email I sent to her carefully since she replied that she could not force "Studentsamskipnaden" to include my name in the rental agreement when I just requested a written request from the police / immigration office for a written confirmation from "Studentsamskipnaden". After repeating all that in a second email, the lady at the police / immigration office replied that they would never request anything from "Studentsamskipnaden" as they never request anything from a third party, so I should just go back to "Studentsamskipnaden" and explain the whole situation to them again. 

Fortunately, at that time, we already had stopped by at "Studentsamskipnaden" and gotten the written confirmation we needed from the only kind and competent employee we have met in a Norwegian office so far. 

I don't even know how to conclude this third part, but it was after this third "office adventure" that I started to realise that this kind of chaos seems to be rather the rule than the exception in Norway. As sad as it is. And in combination with the absolutely horrible housing market, I wouldn't call Tromsø a hospitable place for (exchange) students either.


Wednesday 25 November 2015

The housing market in Tromsø / Norway

Yesterday, I started with Part 1 and Part 2 of the written series "Office catastrophes in Norway", and before it continues with Part 3, this post is going to deal with another catastrophic condition about living here in Tromsø / Norway (since it's connected to the third part): The local housing market.

As a person who is originally from Hamburg / Germany, I'm already quite familiar with a very tough housing market. I could write a whole book just about my experiences from Hamburg's housing market, and from what I keep hearing from my friends and acquaintances there, it's just getting worse all the time. All year round. All the more I was quite shocked when I moved from Hamburg to Helsinki / Finland where the housing market is even a lot worse. Also all year round. My three-year experiences from Helsinki's housing market could fill another book. Our years in Turku / Finland, on the contrary, turned out to be very calm and peaceful. The move from Helsinki to Turku was based on the university place my love received there, and since we moved there at the same time as all the other new students from outside Turku, it was not easy to find an apartment there either, but that was solely based on the time of our move (= high competition). Otherwise, it's not a problem to find an accommodation in Turku all year round, and when it comes to "value for money", Turku has been by far the best place to live in, amongst others because of its very reasonable housing market and real estate prices. That's maybe one reason why we never had to move within Turku during the three years we lived there. Everything has been perfect, right from the beginning. Everything has been stable. 

When we prepared our move from Turku to Tromsø, we had around two months time to find an accommodation in Tromsø (since the final confirmation of my love's exchange year arrived just around that time). We were fully prepared for the high real estate prices in Tromsø, so money wasn't the problem. Not at all. And we knew all the sources for finding an accommodation. However, when the day of our move to Tromsø came,  in August 2015, we had to move to Tromsø without having a place to stay... And we were by far not the only ones!

In Tromsø, it's not unusual that even Norwegian students don't find an accommodation, leading to them being forced to quit their studies and to move back to the places they are originally from. Not to mention how it looks like for students from outside Norway. Many of those who don't find an accommodation live temporarily in tents. Those who can afford it are living on boats, in caravans, in cars or in hostels and hotels.

At the beginning of the academic year 2015/2016, "Studentsamskipnaden i Tromsø" ["The Student Association in Tromsø"] offered emergency accommodations for 120 NOK (~ 13,30 €) per night and per person. Furthermore, many hotels in Tromsø got together and offered hotel rooms at a lower rate for students in need of accommodation. 

As you see: The housing market in Tromsø is very desperate. And that's a fact all year round. Last time we heard of the waiting list for student housing, there were still nearly 100 persons "standing in line". That was a few weeks ago.

If one has no boat, caravan or car and cannot afford to live in a hostel or hotel for a longer period, living in a tent might be the only solution left, until... 


Either winter is coming - or the local press.

Just recently, a tent has been discovered in a forest area here on the main island Tromsøya. It was "full of trash", and inside the tent, there were also found some educational books from the university, so there was amongst others the assumption that a student was living there. I don't know if it has ever been revealed who lived there, if it really was a student, but when I searched for the corresponding article, I stumbled on another article with a similar content from over three years ago, so abandoned tents seem to be a recurring topic in the local press in Tromsø. Since years. I don't know if the persons living in the tents really abandoned their improvised homes or if they felt ashamed of their improvised homes being suddenly a topic in the local press (which might have deterred them from returning there). In any case, it underlines how desperate the housing situation in Tromsø really is. And in connection with that, the final question in the older article ["Synes du det er greit at folk telter over lengre tid i Folkeparken?"; in English: "Do you think it's ok that people are camping in the public park for a longer time?"] seems "a bit" inappropriate to me. Some people really don't know where to stay otherwise and probably feel bad enough already because of that very fact.

As for us, we were just extremely lucky that we never had to live in a tent. Although everything regarding the finances were put in order and although we used all the sources available to find an accommodation months prior to our move, it was just pure luck that we found a place to stay at shortly after we had moved to Tromsø.

I will never understand why e.g. universities offer more study places than there are housing capacities in a city. In the end, it just casts a damning light on the city, if not even on the entire country (especially for exchange students who never find a place to stay and are, in the worst case, forced to quit their studies).

In the print issue Nr.5/2015, Northern Norway's biggest student magazine "Utropia" dedicated not only one but two articles to that topic. In one of these two articles, some students and professors tell about their alternative forms of accommodation, and I especially liked the statement of the biology student Torgeir who owns and lives on a sailing boat and amongst others refuses to stand for the real estate market situation in Tromsø: 

"Thinking, for example, about a young couple with children, I think the housing situation in Tromsø is not acceptable at all, as a student one should feel responsible for that, I am glad not to contribute to this market."

A lot is built in Tromsø, and even containers have been set up for incoming (exchange) students, yet things seem to develop very slowly. And in connection with that, it appears a bit weird to read headlines such as "Asylsøkere i Finland må bo i telt" ["Asylum seekers in Finland have to live in tents"] in the local press in Tromsø when you know only too well that "Studenter i Norge må også bo i telt" ["Students in Norway have to live in tents, too"]. 


Monday 23 November 2015

Office catastrophes in Norway - Part 1 & 2

Ok, I'm afraid it's time to broach the issue of something that is - to put it mildly - not so rosy about living here in Tromsø / Norway. I announced it already a few weeks ago and I decided to make a written series out of it since all of those incidents in one text would simply become too much text to read at once. 

In case you don't know me (in person) or in case of this post being the first one you are reading on this blog, please check out the post with some background information about us and the reasons why we moved to Tromsø in the first place. It might help in order to get a better overall picture. 

For those of you who might consider the title as exaggerated: It isn't. It really isn't. Even if Part 1 and 2 seem to be relatively harmless, they are getting a whole different meaning after experiencing Part 3 and especially Part 4. 

So, let's start with Part 1... 

When moving to Norway with the intention to stay longer than three months in the country, one has to go to "Skatteetaten" ["The Norwegian Tax Administration"] and register there. This is what I was going to do within the first week after our arrival in Norway. While my love was busy with sitting in the first lectures of his host university in Tromsø, I went to "Skatteetaten", in order to get myself registered. 

At "Skatteetaten", while waiting for my turn, I checked out the books and brochures displayed on the shelves. One specific book called "New in Norway" was not only available in Norwegian and English but also in German, Polish and Lithuanian. 


And already on page 10, it describes our case... 


"Family members entitled to residence permits" are amongst others: 

"Cohabitants over the age of 18, when the couple has lived together for at least two years and intends to continue their cohabitation." 

We were familiar with this section already months before we moved to Norway since this case applies to us. We lived together for three years in Finland before we moved together to Norway. In addition, my love is a Finn, so not only an EU citizen but a Nordic citizen, while I am a German citizen and thus an EU citizen. Within the Nordic countries, a Nordic citizen enjoys even more benefits than an EU citizen does, so our move should have been even easier than for a couple which holds EU citizenships but no Nordic citizenship. 

When it was my turn, I introduced myself to the lady who served me, including my intention to register myself in Norway on the basis of family immigration. Her first question was: "Are you married?" I replied: "No, we aren't, but we don't need to be married since we already lived together for over two years in Finland, and that is enough in Norway to be approved for a family immigration." While saying all this, I also opened page 10 in the "New in Norway" book. Without any emotion on her face, she just replied: "Yes, that's right." However, she requested that I would come back at some other point together with my love as it was apparently not possible to register myself without his presence. And she gave me a form to fill out at home for the next visit. 

You might think that this first part is not even worth to be mentioned as the only thing that seemed to have happened here was her not knowing the regulations about family immigration respectively knowing it but asking for a marriage certificate anyway. Well, back then, I would have fully agreed with you, but already after the second part, this first part will be looked at in a different light... 

So, here is Part 2... 

Just a few days later, I went again to "Skatteetaten", this time accompanied by my love. And this time, we were served by another lady, so the beginning of our conversation including the way I introduced myself to her was identical to the previous time, including her first question: "Are you married?" 

Ok, so the part that followed then was identical to the previous time, too: I had to explain to her what is amongst others written on page 10 in the "New in Norway" book. Fortunately, she acknowledged the facts and rules quite quickly, too, and she also confirmed that I could be registered now directly at "Skatteetaten". 

Now this is a part that needs a little explanation: A Nordic citizen - so a citizen of the Nordic countries Finland, Sweden, Denmark (including the Faroe Islands), Iceland and Norway - can go directly to "Skatteetaten" in order to be registered as a resident in Norway. The biggest advantage of that is the fact that the registration is handled right away. Who is not a Nordic citizen, needs to go to the police first. This is where the immigration office is located, and getting an appointment there is a matter of months (!). Since I still hold a German passport but have otherwise everything based in Finland, including a Finnish social security number, I was wondering if I could be registered directly at "Skatteetaten", too. 

The lady who served me the first time just gave me the corresponding form where I could fill in everything including my Finnish social security number. The lady now also agreed, saying that I have lived so many years in Finland that I can be treated like a Finnish citizen. She also acknowledged it on the basis that my German passport was issued nearly three years ago at the German embassy in Finland's capital Helsinki and that my German passport states Turku / Finland as my home municipality. 

So, everything seemed to be perfectly fine. Both my love and I could be registered directly at "Skatteetaten" and leave. And we did so and left. 

And then I did something that turned out to be a huge mistake: I wondered if the lady was going to register us as temporary or permanent residents in Norway as I did not want to be registered as a permanent resident in Norway. Our residence in Norway is of temporary nature, that was pretty clear from the beginning, and with still being a German citizen but a permanent resident of Finland, things are already quite "multinational", so I had no need to involve a third country into that chaos, at least not more than necessary. And so we went back to "Skatteetaten", in order to clarify this point. As I said: It was a huge mistake. 

First of all, after we returned, the lady started to panic, realising "all of a sudden" that I was holding a German and not a Finnish passport which resulted in me not being able to be registered directly at "Skatteetaten". I was at a loss for words since we just talked about all that, especially about my German passport being issued in Finland and stating a Finnish city as my home municipality. I also reminded her of that, but she was just panicking and ignoring my words, acting like it all didn't happen just a few minutes ago. So she was not even apologising to me for her mistake. Instead, she struck out my information on the form, stating that I would need to book an appointment at the police. Then she copied my passport, stamped and signed the colour copy and said that this copy should speed up the process for my registration at the police. At least that was a nice gesture, but nevertheless, I was quite stunned by all this. Where has that lady been with her mind when she served us!?! Where has that lady been with her mind while working in the service of the Norwegian government!?! 

All of us are making mistakes every now and then, also at work, but the whole way of this incident was just completely weird. And in the end, she answered our question with: "In Norway, there are no such things as temporary and permanent residency." 

Later on, when we did a quick research on that matter at home, that information of her turned out to be wrong, too. 

So, after this second part, you might realise that even the lady in Part 1 did not know that a German citizen should go first to the police in order to be registered as a resident in Norway, even if that German citizen is a permanent resident of Finland and thus a permanent resident of a Nordic country. Otherwise, she wouldn't have given me the form to fill out in the first place. So, both ladies didn't seem to know about this regulation. And both ladies needed to be taught about what's written already on page 10 in the 135 paged "New in Norway" book, available in front of them in five different languages including their own mother tongue Norwegian. And the second lady even claimed that there were "no such things as temporary and permanent residency" in Norway. 

Yes, all of us are making mistakes every now and then, also at work, but what these two ladies in their 40s delivered at "Skatteetaten" was a series of mistakes and misinformation. Two visits, two different ladies and partly the same mistakes and misinformation. I guess it's needless to say that our first two impressions of the work performed in Norwegian offices, on top of it at highly official authorities, were anything but positive. To put it mildly. And yet these first two impressions are nothing compared to what's going to follow in Part 3 and Part 4... Brace yourselves for those parts! 

By the way, I booked an appointment at the police / immigration office shortly after that second visit at "Skatteetaten". The earliest possibility to register myself in Norway turned out to be on 16th October 2015, so two months (!) later. And nowadays we are not even sure if one would have ever realised that I could not be registered via "Skatteetaten" if we wouldn't have returned because of that one question I had (and which has been answered wrong anyway)...