A multinational family's difficult move to Finland – "Without Jenny, we would still be making WhatsApp calls"
Ville-Veikko, Noemi, Milli, and Theo, a Yorkshire terrier puppy, at the Saarnio family home in Rauma.
Ville-Veikko Saarnio from Rauma was on assignment in Uruguay building a pulp mill when he met Noemi. They started dating, moved in together, and got married in Uruguay.
As the project neared completion, Ville-Veikko and Noemi wondered where the family should settle. Finland seemed like the best option. It took half a year to implement the decision because the family has three different nationalities.
”The bureaucracy took me by surprise. Without Jenny, we would still be making WhatsApp calls and trying to get the family together”, says Ville-Veikko.
A strong recommendation for GMCFinland
Based on his own experience, he can easily recommend GMCFinland's services to employers.
"Absolutely. It saves time, effort, and stress when you outsource these matters to a professional”, he says.
The Saarnio family is multinational. Noemi is from the Dominican Republic, and his daughter Milagros is a citizen of Uruguay.
"We first tried to apply for a residence permit in Finland ourselves. I visited the Spanish embassy in Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay. From there, I was directed to the Finnish consulate in Argentina. I contacted a million different places, but after six months of trying, the result was a total disaster”, Ville-Veikko recalls.
“It was a huge relief when Jenny jumped into the driver’s seat. She knew what to do and calmed us down.”
“I thought I would never make it to Finland”
Ville-Veikko and Noemi had no idea how difficult and lengthy the process would turn out to be.
“It was really frustrating. There was so much to remember, and I didn’t really understand what was being asked of me. I told Ville that I would never make it to Finland,” Noemi recalls of that difficult time.
Ville-Veikko contacted his employer, who suggested that he contact GMCFinland. His employer agreed to cover the cost of this service. That's how Jenny Rajahalme took care of the permit issues in March 2024.
"It was a huge relief when Jenny jumped into the driver’s seat. She knew what to do and calmed us down. Don't stress, it just takes time, Jenny said," Ville-Veikko recounts.
GMCFinland first figured out what had been done wrong due to a lack of information.
"I gathered all the original documents, had them legalized, translated into English, and legalized again. It was quite a pile, as we needed passports, a marriage certificate, the child's birth certificate, and a court decision stating that the mother is the child's sole guardian”, says Jenny.
Fast permit process in Finland
It turned out that Noemi's daughter could enter Finland without a visa, but Noemi could not. She would need a visa even to visit the Finnish Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from Uruguay.
Jenny made an appointment and asked the embassy for an invitation, on the basis of which Noemi would be granted a visa for specific dates. Noemi had to apply for a travel visa in Montevideo, about a three-hour drive away.
More than three months later, after Midsummer, the family finally arrived in Finland and met Jenny face to face for the first time during the long process.
"It took us a whole working day to go through all the papers and scans to make sure they were acceptable for the Migration Agency Migri's electronic application system. I did the family background checks, Noemi's and the child's applications, and booked an appointment for Migri's identification check in Raisio. Everything went smoothly once everything had been filled in correctly. The processing was quick, and we received one-year residence permits in less than a month," says Jenny.
"I've already made friends in Rauma"
Noemi's daughter "Milli" was happy and excited to arrive in Finland, which Ville-Veikko had told her so much about. It's clean and safe here, and the schools are good.
"I like living here. I don't miss Uruguay, except for my friend Olivia. But I've already made new friends in Rauma, and school is going well," says Milagros.
GMCFinland's work did not end when the family moved to Finland. There were still many permits and other matters to take care of.
More on that in the next article.
