Scandinavians

[N-o-l-a 7,167]

I got my smartphone in Norway, operator locked. Got to the US, simply removed the SIM card and got added onto my wife's family plan with no problems at all. If it's operator locked, you may or may not have to pay someone $50 - $100 bucks to "unlock it." It's not exactly 100% legal so they don't do it at the customer service desk at Best Buy. However, it's not like it's enforced in any way, shape or form.

I think mine isn't locked, although I'm not 100% sure. We aren't locked into a plan and I know you can switch carriers here at any time.

It is worth a try, I think.

[turion2 2]

Got the passport back! just in time!

POE JFK tomorrow!

[jaycali 415]

Got the passport back! just in time!POE JFK tomorrow!

Congrats! Don't forget to write a review.

I've been working part-time - 15 hours a week for meager pay since I got here. Just got a call-back today from a job I've been eying for quite a while. I'm hired! Full-time with benefits. Woohoo! Funny thing is, they want a police clearance certificate from Norway - which of course our dear friends at the USCIS is in possession of. Told them I'll try to have it within a month, they said I can start on Monday, and that unless the PC shows up with a severe criminal history, I'm good. I tried to explain to them that if I did have anything severe on my rap sheet, I probably wouldn't be here to apply for the job anyway lol.

[N-o-l-a 7,167]

Definitely don't forget a review because that is where we will be POE-ing most likely (unless we go Boston). I sense that my mother won't want to drive my big truck into Queens (that is where JFK is, right?). I know we fit the 4 suitcases, bike, and trailer into the Volvo with us, but one extra person might make that hard.

Congratulations Jay Jay! A new job sounds great!

[jaycali 415]

Thanks! It's such a huge relief.

Your NOA2 is coming soon!

[N-o-l-a 7,167]

Thanks! It's such a huge relief.

Your NOA2 is coming soon!

I hope so, if it doesn't come after the senator and the expedite I'm just going to assume we did something major to piss the universe off.o

[LlamaInvasion 76]

Man, immigrating to America was easy. Husband and I have been looking at the possibility of moving to Norway a ways down the line, and I don't even know how we're going to do it.

[Alaska2012 462]

I hope so, if it doesn't come after the senator and the expedite I'm just going to assume we did something major to piss the universe off.o

I know the feeling, the waiting part sucks!! I had my senator involved and got my Noa2 after exactly 200 days!! And yes I was counting lol Then i had some kind of speeding record through NVC, took me 8 days from they got my papers until case closed, but I'm telling you during those 200 days i was having nightmares!

[N-o-l-a 7,167]

I know the feeling, the waiting part sucks!! I had my senator involved and got my Noa2 after exactly 200 days!! And yes I was counting lol Then i had some kind of speeding record through NVC, took me 8 days from they got my papers until case closed, but I'm telling you during those 200 days i was having nightmares!

The I-129f took 183 days and I had just given up on it ever coming, so of course we got married and it comes a month later.

I think the hardest is that the two other Ameri-Dane couples who filed this fall/winter have been approved in under 60 days with no expedites. I think I'd be ok with waiting if I knew everyone else was too, yah know?

Part of me has the trigger finger on the IcelandAir site and I'm just ready to say "F it, I'm going home" and the other part is just hoping it is right around the corner. I just don't know what we are going to do if takes much longer (and yes I know other people have taken a really long time).

[N-o-l-a 7,167]

Man, immigrating to America was easy. Husband and I have been looking at the possibility of moving to Norway a ways down the line, and I don't even know how we're going to do it.

Is it particularly hard? Besides the cash help issue, it would be easy for us in Denmark. We become eligible in about 1,5 years for the cash help thing to go away. It is fairly easy for me to just live here without it, but I am a UKC.

I find the American one particularly awful and drawn out more so than most countries.

[LlamaInvasion 76]

Is it particularly hard? Besides the cash help issue, it would be easy for us in Denmark. We become eligible in about 1,5 years for the cash help thing to go away. It is fairly easy for me to just live here without it, but I am a UKC.

I find the American one particularly awful and drawn out more so than most countries.

Ridiculously easy for almost any European citizen.

Harder for American citizens. Harder still for American citizens with spouses who don't work in Norway, on a Norwegian salary (ie, me). I have no clue where I'm going to find a $50k+ year job in America to meet the income requirements, especially without a college education (which is, btw, not on the table). On top of that, there's the language and the job situation for my husband.

Going from a country within the eu/eøs/efta countries, TO a country within the eu/eøs/efta countries is a cake walk. American immigration takes long - but it's not difficult at all. Going from America to Norway? Total ###### show.

[N-o-l-a 7,167]

Ridiculously easy for almost any European citizen.

Harder for American citizens. Harder still for American citizens with spouses who don't work in Norway, on a Norwegian salary (ie, me). I have no clue where I'm going to find a $50k+ year job in America to meet the income requirements, especially without a college education (which is, btw, not on the table). On top of that, there's the language and the job situation for my husband.

Going from a country within the eu/eøs/efta countries, TO a country within the eu/eøs/efta countries is a cake walk. American immigration takes long - but it's not difficult at all. Going from America to Norway? Total ###### show.

I hate to say it, but oblige me, I really do think the laws are meant to keep people from marrying outsiders. There is a stigma, whether spoken or not about it. I think I'm largely tolerated because I'm American and can pass on the street for Danish, but there is this "aren't you quaint and delicate" type thing that goes on besides that.

The job thing is the hardest - I suppose the Norwegian spouse has to go back first and get a job then? Or is an American job sufficient proof?

We got lucky with me being a UKC and living here, but we were also instructed by an organization here on how to properly circumvent the Danish immigration laws. They even set us up with contacts who could...ummmm...."find me a job" so I could be properly registered. I declined on account of morality, but perhaps there is something similar in Norway? The problem is that yes, I can be here "looking for a job," but as a SAHM, it isn't really up my alley. For us to come in under the Danish spouse visa type thing and me get to retain my SAHM status, I'd be treated the same as a UKC or USC, I believe, but no permanent residence unless I want to work full time even with that.

They also suggested getting around it by living in another Scandinavian or EU country to try and push with family reunification rather than the Danish laws. I'm not sure if that works in Norway, though.

[LlamaInvasion 76]

I hate to say it, but oblige me, I really do think the laws are meant to keep people from marrying outsiders. There is a stigma, whether spoken or not about it. I think I'm largely tolerated because I'm American and can pass on the street for Danish, but there is this "aren't you quaint and delicate" type thing that goes on besides that.

The job thing is the hardest - I suppose the Norwegian spouse has to go back first and get a job then? Or is an American job sufficient proof?

We got lucky with me being a UKC and living here, but we were also instructed by an organization here on how to properly circumvent the Danish immigration laws. They even set us up with contacts who could...ummmm...."find me a job" so I could be properly registered. I declined on account of morality, but perhaps there is something similar in Norway? The problem is that yes, I can be here "looking for a job," but as a SAHM, it isn't really up my alley. For us to come in under the Danish spouse visa type thing and me get to retain my SAHM status, I'd be treated the same as a UKC or USC, I believe, but no permanent residence unless I want to work full time even with that.

They also suggested getting around it by living in another Scandinavian or EU country to try and push with family reunification rather than the Danish laws. I'm not sure if that works in Norway, though.

Oh, don't be coy about it; there's a certain level of "acceptable" xenophobia, and racism, in the Scandinavian countries. Being white (or passing for white), with a Western name, will definitely provide you with an advantage, but even my husband occasionally run into the "oh ha ha, dumb Americans, I bet you love guns and hate women's rights!" thing. In that regards, America is much friendlier. I have no clue about ways to circumvent the law, but I (like you) have morality issues with that. XD I'm mostly just grumbling about it. I SAH with my kid as well, but personally I'd ###### LOVE to be able to work a McJob without seeing the whole paycheck (and then some) go to daycare. The four nearest daycares to my parents' address in Oslo are public daycares and charge around 400 NOK a month. The two closest daycares to where we live in Pittsburgh charge roughly $1000/month. Huzzah!

[N-o-l-a 7,167]

Oh, don't be coy about it; there's a certain level of "acceptable" xenophobia, and racism, in the Scandinavian countries. Being white (or passing for white), with a Western name, will definitely provide you with an advantage, but even my husband occasionally run into the "oh ha ha, dumb Americans, I bet you love guns and hate women's rights!" thing. In that regards, America is much friendlier. I have no clue about ways to circumvent the law, but I (like you) have morality issues with that. XD I'm mostly just grumbling about it. I SAH with my kid as well, but personally I'd ###### LOVE to be able to work a McJob without seeing the whole paycheck (and then some) go to daycare. The four nearest daycares to my parents' address in Oslo are public daycares and charge around 400 NOK a month. The two closest daycares to where we live in Pittsburgh charge roughly $1000/month. Huzzah!

Trust me, I know how that goes. I'm a little jealous of the young single mothers here who can afford to work and live on their own. Without relying completely on state services, I couldn't have done that in America (which is why I had to move back in with my mother after getting divorced - which is a huge pride hit).

That is kind of the problem with both countries, I think women who are immigrants or not should be financially and culturally free to choose whether they want to be a stay at home mother or not. Being forced to work or stay at home isn't going to sit well with a certain percentage of women. I don't know that much about it in DK, but I know in America it is much easier for a guy to find a job that pays a living wage when he has no education versus a woman and those low paying retail type jobs are almost designed around the employee turning to the government for healthcare, daycare subsidies, food stamps, etc.

My husband almost hit the floor when I told him 1/7 of all Americans are on food stamps (and it is probably a lot to do with those too low paying jobs).

As an aside to the first thing, I think I reinforce those stereotypes.

[An-chan 1]

I'm maybe somewhat questionably Scandinavian, but I figured being from a Nordic country is close enough so I decided to pop in and say hi.

Hi!

I'm not officially quite started on my visa, but I'm mailing my documents and evidence to my fiancé in the US this Monday so he can file sometime soon. We're trying to get an early enough start on the whole thing so that we can get married once we graduate in 2014. So, yay, lots of waiting and annoyance is about to happen, and I'm the sort of overworrying kind of person who will be hanging out on these boards a lot and re-reading guides to be sure we haven't overlooked something... Like my sidebar says, I live in Finland, so I'm one of the weirder kind of Nordic people With our strange language and all that. And I'll be heading to San Diego, provided my visa is approved one day, however long that'll take.

Also, just as a thought, maybe moving to Scandinavian countries is more difficult than moving to the US because our social security is so much better... So the government is jealously protecting the money they give to people, or something. That would make sense, at least.