Any Finnish/American Couples?

[susan. 11]

Anyways, I don't know if you guys got married in Finland or if you already have a social security card in your current name, but if you do need a new card, I would recommend getting an extra vaestorekisteriote from the magistrate with the words marriage certificate added to it and have them add an apostille just in case. Would maybe save you guys the gas money we spent on driving around

Thanks for the tip! We did get married in Finland and I've never had a US Social Security card, so it's good to know. We got married at the registrar office and not at a church, so our marriage certificate is pretty simple and straightforward, but it's always better to prepare! I'm dreading the whole process of getting the SS card, opening a bank account, getting my driver's license exchanged and all... and filing my taxes for the first time! I have actually filled out the forms for my husband while he's been here, but it's been easy with the foreign income exclusion. I'm usually pretty good with forms but the IRS forms (and especially the instructions!) beat me even...

Ellinora, did you get an international vaccination card for your child before moving or some kind of proof of all the shots given at neuvola? I guess the kids will also need their records for school... we'll be able to get the second set of MPR for our son before moving and then he should be eligible to sign up for school health-wise.

[Ellinora 72]

Thanks for the tip! We did get married in Finland and I've never had a US Social Security card, so it's good to know. We got married at the registrar office and not at a church, so our marriage certificate is pretty simple and straightforward, but it's always better to prepare! I'm dreading the whole process of getting the SS card, opening a bank account, getting my driver's license exchanged and all... and filing my taxes for the first time! I have actually filled out the forms for my husband while he's been here, but it's been easy with the foreign income exclusion. I'm usually pretty good with forms but the IRS forms (and especially the instructions!) beat me even...

Ellinora, did you get an international vaccination card for your child before moving or some kind of proof of all the shots given at neuvola? I guess the kids will also need their records for school... we'll be able to get the second set of MPR for our son before moving and then he should be eligible to sign up for school health-wise.

Yup, the amount of paperwork here is insane. My husband keeps telling me to take one step at a time haha.

We didn't get our lil one an international vaccination card, but you can ask your local health center (terveyskeskus) to print out a more official looking paper that has all the vaccinations given to a child. The local pediatrician here accepted that one and just typed the information into their system and then gave me a print out to take to the school. There's a lot more vaccinations in the program here, so he had to get 4 more for school sign up, poor thing

[Ellinora 72]

I have to give the SSA office some credit; I went to the office on Monday and the new card came by mail on Friday!

[Lenny&Sanna 114]

I have to give the SSA office some credit; I went to the office on Monday and the new card came by mail on Friday!

Wow seriously? You didn't happen to go to the Annapolis office did you? I heard they knew what they were doing and were fast. I think that is the one I will be going to next due to nothing but problems at the local one by us

[Ellinora 72]

Wow seriously? You didn't happen to go to the Annapolis office did you? I heard they knew what they were doing and were fast. I think that is the one I will be going to next due to nothing but problems at the local one by us

It was the Glen Burnie office, they got really efficient people working there!

[Lenny&Sanna 114]

It was the Glen Burnie office, they got really efficient people working there!

I have heard good things about the Glen Burnie one as well. Anne Arundel county is very large and they have a good amount of population so I bet they get many of these coming through there office. The one we went too was clueless and gave us nothing but trouble.

[Ellinora 72]

I have heard good things about the Glen Burnie one as well. Anne Arundel county is very large and they have a good amount of population so I bet they get many of these coming through there office. The one we went too was clueless and gave us nothing but trouble.

Hope you guys have better luck next time! We first went to the Columbia office and that was a complete waste of time, the lady there was rude and didn't know what she was doing. Wish we'd just gone straight to Glen Burnie.

[Lenny&Sanna 114]

Hope you guys have better luck next time! We first went to the Columbia office and that was a complete waste of time, the lady there was rude and didn't know what she was doing. Wish we'd just gone straight to Glen Burnie.

Well we certainly plan on going to the one in Annapolis for her last name change to avoid problems like before. And I would have to agree that both of the people who worked at the one we went to were extremely rude and not helpful at all

[Lenny&Sanna 114]

Any other Finns out there going through this process??? Want to keep this thread alive

[Lenny&Sanna 114]

bump

[BirdyGirl85 23]

Hey, here's a Finnish/American couple! I know this thread hasn't been posted in for a few months, but I just discovered it now. My husband is Finnish. We did the K-1 visa in 2010, got married in the same year, did AOS in 2011 and ROC in 2013. Now we are thinking of having him apply for Naturalization very soon. But he believes that he read somewhere that Finnish citizens need to apply for something in Finland and pay a fee to be able to keep their Finnish citizenship when obtaining a new citizenship. But I am having trouble finding this information. He doesn't know if it's something you have to do before applying for a new citizenship, or after? I am just confused. I am starting to wonder if he remembered this correctly.

Edited September 17, 2015 by BirdyGirl85

[pddp 240]

Hi there! Finland allows dual citizenship so there's no risk of losing the Finnish one. You do have to register your new citizenship with the Finnish authorities though afterwards, and from what I've understood, aside from obtaining an apostille, the process is free of charge. The registration can be done through an embassy abroad. I'll find out soon enough, my oath ceremony is next week... Here's info about the policy in Finnish:

http://www.finland.org/public/default.aspx?nodeid=35852&contentlan=1&culture=fi-FI

[BirdyGirl85 23]

Hi, thanks for responding to my post! That cleared up some confusion! I showed my husband that link. I asked him if he would have to register his new citizenship with the Finnish authorities within a certain amount of time after getting his new citizenship, and he said it seemed like you can do it at any time. He is planning to go to Finland next June, maybe he can even do it then. We sent in his N-400 package off in the mail yesterday, so we are thinking he will be having his oath around February or March. (Hopefully!) I see you had your oath already, and you were approved! Congratulations!

[NinaDavid 0]

Checking in. Just started the process. Our K1 is being processed at the CSC where times between NOA1 and NOA2 have been fast lately...averaging 40 days. Excited to get this journey started!

10/19/15 - I-129F sent

10/26/15 - E-Notification NOA1 received

Service Center: California Service Center

Edited October 27, 2015 by NinaDavid

[Lenny&Sanna 114]

Checking in. Just started the process. Our K1 is being processed at the CSC where times between NOA1 and NOA2 have been fast lately...averaging 40 days. Excited to get this journey started!

10/19/15 - I-129F sent

10/26/15 - E-Notification NOA1 received

Service Center: California Service Center

Yay another Finnish/American couple starting there journey Yes you are quite lucky to have gotten CSC as they have processed applications very fast even when we were going through it. Good luck and if you have any questions feel free to ask

Hi, thanks for responding to my post! That cleared up some confusion! I showed my husband that link. I asked him if he would have to register his new citizenship with the Finnish authorities within a certain amount of time after getting his new citizenship, and he said it seemed like you can do it at any time. He is planning to go to Finland next June, maybe he can even do it then. We sent in his N-400 package off in the mail yesterday, so we are thinking he will be having his oath around February or March. (Hopefully!) I see you had your oath already, and you were approved! Congratulations!

Yes as far as the Apostille that is all you will need. We needed one in order to change my wifes status to married and same goes for Duel Citizenship as we inquired about that at the same time