Our Journey to Finland — Part 2
In Part 1 of Our Journey to Finland, I shared how Finland was never part of our original plan.
Part 1 – Moving to Finland: Why It Wasn’t Part of Our Original Plan
For years, my husband and I had imagined that perhaps Canada, Australia, the UK, the US, or New Zealand would eventually become our next home after Dubai.
Then Finland unexpectedly entered the picture.
But deciding to give Finland a chance was only the beginning.
The next question was:
How did we actually get here?
The short answer is this:
I came across a recruitment post on Facebook, joined the recruitment process of Silk Road Workforce Management- now known as Silkkitie – studied Finnish while completing the recruitment requirements, passed the interview and assessments, and was eventually hired directly by a Finnish public-sector healthcare employer. After receiving my employment contract, we applied for our residence permits, completed our identification at VFS Global Abu Dhabi, waited for the decisions, resigned from our jobs in Dubai, packed up almost ten years of our lives, and finally flew to Finland as a family in April 2024.
Simple when written in one paragraph, right?
😄
But living through it was another story.
There were emails, interviews, Finnish lessons, documents, medical examinations, residence permit applications, waiting, worrying, planning, resignations, goodbyes – and a lot of uncertainty in between.
Thankfully, I kept a handwritten timeline in the notebook I was using for my Finnish studies.
Looking at those notes today brings everything back.
This is the story of how an unexpected Facebook post eventually became the beginning of our completely new life in Finland.
It Started With a Facebook Post
In 2023, while we were still living and working in Dubai, I was casually browsing Facebook when I came across a recruitment post offering employment opportunities in Finland.
At the time, the recruitment company was known to me as Silk Road Workforce Management. Today, the company operates under the name Silkkitie.
But back in 2023, I had no idea where that one Facebook post would eventually lead.
I simply saw an opportunity.
And I became curious.
Finland wasn’t a country I had spent years researching.
I didn’t grow up dreaming about moving to Helsinki.
I certainly wasn’t sitting in Dubai thinking:
“Someday, I’m going to live in Finland.”
😄
The opportunity simply appeared.
Sometimes that is how life works.
You spend years trying to open certain doors, and then one door you weren’t even looking for suddenly opens in front of you.
The only question is whether you’re willing to walk through it.
So, Who Actually Hired Me?
I think this is important to explain clearly because a recruitment agency and an employer are two different things.
Silkkitie helped facilitate my recruitment journey, but Silkkitie was not my employer.
Through the recruitment pathway, I completed the required interviews, Finnish-language training, assessments, medical requirements, and documents.
Eventually, I was connected with an employment opportunity and hired directly by a Finnish public-sector healthcare employer.
For privacy reasons, I prefer not to publicly identify my employer on this blog.
What I can say is that my employment contract was directly with the Finnish healthcare organization—not with the recruitment agency.
On November 6, 2023, I signed my employment contract.
That was a major turning point.
Until then, Finland still felt like a possibility.
Once I signed that contract, it suddenly started feeling real.
I wasn’t simply studying Finnish anymore.
There was an actual job waiting for me in Finland.
There was an actual workplace.
And suddenly we had to start asking ourselves:
Are we really going to leave Dubai?
The answer was becoming clearer every day.
Image Source: Silkkitie
When Did Our Finland Process Start?
For me, the official beginning was July 6, 2023, when I attended the online orientation.
I’m very thankful that I started writing important dates in my Finnish-study notebook.
At the time, I wasn’t thinking:
“Someday I’m going to use this for my blog.”
I simply wanted to keep track of what was happening. 😄
But now, years later, those handwritten pages have become one of the best records I have of our migration journey.
The interesting thing is that everything happened almost simultaneously.
I wasn’t finishing one stage before beginning another.
I was:
learning Finnish + going through recruitment + preparing documents + completing assessments + working in Dubai + taking care of our family + eventually preparing our residence permit applications
all at the same time.
Looking back, I’m not quite sure how we managed everything.
But somehow, we did.
Our Finland Recruitment and Residence Permit Timeline
Important: This timeline describes our personal experience in 2023–2024. Immigration procedures, fees, recruitment arrangements, and requirements can change, so anyone applying today should always verify the current information with the appropriate Finnish authorities.
| Date | What Happened |
|---|---|
| July 6, 2023 | Attended the online orientation with Silk Road Workforce Management. |
| July 23, 2023 | Completed the consent form. |
| July 24, 2023 | Received access to the NLRC Moodle platform, started studying Basic Finnish, and submitted my school documents online. |
| August 4, 2023 | Received an email inviting me to book my interview. |
| August 7, 2023 | Attended my interview at around 2:15 PM Dubai time and received instructions for uploading my medical documents. |
| August 9, 2023 | Received the wonderful news that I had passed the interview. |
| August 22, 2023 | Assigned to Finnish-language training group SU094F, with classes scheduled to begin on August 28. |
| August 28, 2023 | Started our Finnish-language training. |
| September 11, 2023 | Submitted my medical documents, which were later approved. |
| October 3, 2023 | Passed the interim assessment and received the pre-endorsement. |
| October 24, 2023 | Received the endorsement. |
| November 6, 2023 | Signed my employment contract with a Finnish public-sector healthcare employer. |
| November 10, 2023 | Submitted my Finnish residence permit application through Enter Finland, Migri’s online service. |
| November 16, 2023 | Booked our VFS Global appointment in Abu Dhabi. Our original appointment was scheduled for January 2024. |
| November 22, 2023 | Supplemental Terms of Employment documents were processed/submitted. |
| December 1, 2023 | Received confirmation of an appointment for all three members of our family. |
| December 8, 2023 | Our appointment was moved to an earlier date – December 13, 2023. |
| December 13, 2023 | Completed our VFS Global appointment and identity verification as a family. |
| December 18, 2023 | Received the customer and diary numbers for all three residence permit applications. |
| December 21, 2023 | The Employment and Economic Development Office issued the partial decision relating to my work-based permit. |
| December 27, 2023 | My residence permit was approved! 🎉 |
| December 28, 2023 | My residence permit card was ordered. |
| December 29, 2023 | My husband and daughter’s residence permits were approved! 🎉 |
| December 30, 2023 | Their residence permit cards were ordered. |
| January 6, 2024 | I received my residence permit card. My husband and daughter’s cards arrived shortly afterward. ❤️ |
| April 14, 2024 | We arrived in Finland. ❤️ |
Looking at this timeline today makes everything seem organized and straightforward.
But while we were actually living through it?
There was a lot of waiting.
A lot of checking emails.
A lot of studying Finnish.
A lot of:
“May update na ba?”
And a lot of praying.
😄
The Residence Permit Stage
Once I had signed my Finnish employment contract, one of the biggest steps was applying for our residence permits.
My employment was the basis for my own work-related residence permit application, while the appropriate applications were also submitted for my husband and daughter.
We submitted the applications online and later needed to appear personally for identification.
Because we were living legally in the UAE at the time, our residence permit appointments were handled through VFS Global in Abu Dhabi.
So we travelled from Dubai to Abu Dhabi for our appointment.
That drive itself wasn’t extraordinary – we had travelled between Dubai and Abu Dhabi before.
But this particular journey felt different.
We weren’t sightseeing.
We weren’t visiting friends.
We were travelling there because this appointment could become one of the final steps toward leaving the UAE and beginning a completely new life in Finland.
We brought our documents.
We completed the required identification.
And then came the difficult part:
waiting.
Image Source: Enterfinland.fi
The Residence Permit Approval Story We Will Never Forget
There is one funny – but at that time rather stressful – story connected to our residence permit decisions.
My residence permit was approved first.
Of course I was happy.
But was I 100% happy?
Not quite.
How could I celebrate completely when I was still waiting for the decisions for my husband and daughter?
I didn’t want to migrate to Finland alone.
This was our family’s journey.
We wanted to go together.
Then, around December 29, 2023, we received a notification relating to their applications.
Normally, you would think:
Great! Just log in and check!
Except we couldn’t.
The online service was undergoing maintenance.
😂
We had received a notification…
but we couldn’t see whether the decision was:
APPROVED
or
REJECTED.
Imagine that!
According to my notes, the service wasn’t expected to become available again until around January 1, 2024 at 00:01 Finnish time.
During winter, the UAE is two hours ahead of Finland.
So for us in Dubai, that meant waiting until around 2:00 AM.
Those few days felt incredibly long.
We kept wondering:
Was it approved?
Was something wrong?
Did they need another document?
What if mine was approved but theirs wasn’t?
Eventually, New Year’s Eve came.
People were celebrating.
Fireworks were going off.
And we were waiting for an immigration website to come back online.
😂
Finally, after midnight in Finland – and around 2 AM for us in Dubai – we were able to check.
And there it was.
APPROVED.
My husband’s residence permit was approved.
Our daughter’s residence permit was approved.
We could finally breathe.
We were going to Finland together.
That New Year felt different.
It wasn’t simply:
Happy New Year 2024!
For us, it felt like:
Happy New Life!
❤️
We really had something to celebrate.
Even now, remembering that New Year brings back such a happy memory.
How Long Did the Whole Process Take?
From my first orientation on July 6, 2023 until our arrival in Finland on April 14, 2024, the entire journey took a little over nine months.
Interestingly, our residence permits were approved much earlier.
By the end of December 2023, the decisions had been made, and by January 2024 we had received our residence permit cards.
But we didn’t immediately board a plane for Finland.
We still had an entire life in Dubai to close properly.
We had been there for almost ten years.
You don’t simply pack ten years of life into suitcases overnight.
So we used the following months to:
- complete our responsibilities at work,
- resign properly,
- settle bills and other matters,
- organize our belongings,
- prepare for Finland,
- spend time with our friends,
- visit the Philippines,
- and enjoy our final months in the UAE.
We needed that time.
Not only for the practical preparations, but emotionally too.
Resigning From Our Jobs Made Everything Real
Receiving residence permits was exciting.
But resigning from our jobs?
That was when everything suddenly became very real.
My husband informed his employer first.
Eventually, I submitted my resignation as well.
My last working day was about a month before our planned departure for Finland.
That was not an easy decision.
We had spent years building our careers in Dubai.
Our workplaces were familiar.
We knew our jobs.
We knew the systems.
We knew the people.
There was security in familiarity.
Finland, on the other hand, meant starting again.
A new workplace.
A new language.
A new country.
A new climate.
New systems.
New colleagues.
And many things we still didn’t fully understand.
Yet we also knew why we had started this journey.
We wanted growth.
We wanted something new.
We wanted to find out whether another kind of future might be possible for our family.
At some point, you can’t hold tightly to the old chapter while expecting the new chapter to begin.
We had to let something go.
Leaving Dubai Was Probably the Hardest Step
The last major step was simply:
leaving.
It sounds easy when you write it.
Buy tickets.
Pack luggage.
Go to the airport.
Board the plane.
But emotionally, it wasn’t that simple.
Dubai had been our home for almost ten years.
That was where my husband and I built our life together.
That was where our careers grew.
That was where we made friends.
That was where we experienced struggles.
That was where many of our dreams, disappointments, celebrations, and ordinary everyday memories happened.
Dubai had become part of us.
Leaving didn’t mean we suddenly stopped loving it.
It simply meant our life was moving forward.
And although we were excited about Finland, there was also sadness in leaving behind a place that had given us so much.
Some homes don’t stop being home just because you leave them.
Dubai will always be one of those places for us.
What Did the Recruitment Agency Do?
In our case, the recruitment agency played an important role in connecting me with the opportunity and helping guide us through different stages of the process.
The company I originally knew as Silk Road Workforce Management now operates as Silkkitie.
For my personal journey, the process involved things such as:
- online orientation,
- submission of documents,
- Finnish-language training,
- interview,
- medical requirements,
- assessments,
- endorsement,
- connection to the employment opportunity,
- preparation before relocation,
- and other support during the process.
But I want to emphasize this clearly:
Silkkitie was not my employer.
The agency facilitated the recruitment process and helped connect me with the opportunity, but I was hired directly by a Finnish public-sector healthcare employer.
For privacy reasons, I prefer not to publicly identify the organization where I work.
Important Disclosure
Pinoy Up North is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or paid by Silkkitie/Silk Road Workforce Management. I am sharing our own experience because the company was part of our personal journey to Finland.
Recruitment programs, partner agencies, available jobs, fees, requirements, and policies can change. Anyone interested in applying should always contact the company and the appropriate authorities directly for current information.
How Much Did It Cost Us?
This is another question people naturally ask.
In our own case, the recruitment agency did not charge us a recruitment fee for joining the pathway we used while living in the Middle East.
However, that didn’t mean moving to Finland cost nothing.
There were still several expenses we had to shoulder ourselves, including things such as:
- residence permit application fees,
- VFS-related fees,
- medical examinations,
- travel expenses,
- flight tickets,
- expenses connected with leaving Dubai,
- and money needed for settling into our new life after arrival.
Some basic household items and furniture had already been arranged for our accommodation before we arrived.
We later paid for items that had been purchased for us.
Having things already waiting in the house was very helpful because imagine arriving in a completely new country with luggage, a small child, and no basic household items at all.
At least we had somewhere to start.
What About Applicants Coming Directly From the Philippines?
Our own recruitment process began while we were legally residing in the United Arab Emirates, so I don’t want to pretend that I personally experienced the recruitment process for applicants coming directly from the Philippines.
From what I understand, recruitment arrangements may be different for applicants applying directly from the Philippines and may involve a Philippine-licensed recruitment agency and additional government requirements.
Because that was not our personal route, I don’t want to give specific information about placement fees or requirements that I haven’t experienced myself.
If you are applying directly from the Philippines, always verify the latest information with the appropriate Philippine authorities and the licensed recruitment agency involved.
Never rely solely on an old blog post – including mine – for current recruitment or immigration rules.
Things I Wish I Knew Before Moving to Finland
No amount of orientation can completely prepare you for actually living in another country.
There are some things I wish I had understood better before we arrived.
1. I Wish My Finnish Had Been Better
This is probably number one.
We studied Finnish before coming.
We knew Finnish was necessary.
But I still didn’t realize just how much I would need it immediately in everyday working life.
At work, we were encouraged to communicate in Finnish as much as possible.
And I understand why.
If you keep switching back to English whenever things become difficult, it can be much harder to develop confidence in Finnish.
But during those first months?
Wow.
😄
There were moments when my brain felt completely exhausted.
Learning vocabulary in class is one thing.
Understanding a colleague speaking naturally at full speed is another.
Communicating with patients is another.
Telephone conversations?
Another level again!
If I could go back, I would probably expose myself even more to real spoken Finnish, particularly healthcare-related Finnish.
But I also understand now that no amount of studying before arrival would have made me instantly fluent.
Language takes time.
And I am still learning.
2. I Wish We Had Spent More Time in the Philippines
Before moving to Finland, we managed to spend around three weeks in the Philippines in early 2024.
At the time, three weeks seemed reasonable.
Now?
It feels short.
Once you’re living this far away, visiting the Philippines becomes a much bigger trip.
Flights can be expensive, especially when travelling as a family.
Schedules have to align.
Annual leave needs to be planned.
And travelling with children adds another layer of expenses and preparation.
So looking back, I sometimes wish we had stayed a little longer.
Of course, hindsight always makes things look different.
At the time, we still had responsibilities in Dubai and a new life in Finland waiting.
We did what we could.
3. I Wish We Understood Finnish Taxes Better
We knew Finland had relatively high taxation.
But knowing it and seeing your first salary slip are two completely different experiences.
😄
At times, when we looked at all the deductions from our salary, the overall amount felt close to around 30% for us personally.
But that doesn’t mean everyone in Finland pays exactly the same percentage.
Income taxation depends on each person’s circumstances, income, tax card, deductions, and other factors.
So if someone asks me:
“How much tax will I pay in Finland?”
My answer would be:
Check your own tax card and current information from Vero. Don’t use our percentage as your own.
We also gradually became more aware of the taxes included in the things we buy and services we use.
At first, it could feel painful.
Then, after living here for a while, we began seeing another side of the picture.
Image Source: iltalehti.fi
4. I Didn’t Fully Understand the Services Behind the Taxes
Once we began living here, we experienced some of the systems we had only read about before moving.
We have used public services, early childhood education, and different forms of family support.
In our own situation, based on our family’s circumstances, we haven’t had to pay a daycare fee for our daughter so far.
When I later gave birth in Finland, I also experienced the parental-leave and parental-allowance system firsthand.
We’ve also experienced the possibility of staying home when our child suddenly becomes ill, according to the employment conditions that apply to us.
These are things I didn’t fully understand before actually living here.
So nowadays, when we look at the deductions from our salaries, we have a clearer idea of the society and services those taxes help support.
It doesn’t mean we suddenly enjoy seeing deductions from our salary. 😂
But at least we understand the bigger picture a little better.
Our Biggest Challenges After Arriving
Interestingly, the migration paperwork itself went relatively smoothly for us.
Our application progressed without officials requesting major additional information, and eventually our residence permits were approved.
The bigger challenges began when the paperwork ended and real life in Finland started.
The Language
This was – and continues to be – the biggest challenge for me.
Before Finnish, the languages I was comfortable using were mainly Tagalog and English.
Even though my father’s roots are in northern Philippines, I never properly learned Ilocano.
Then suddenly, as an adult, I needed to learn Finnish well enough to use it in healthcare.
My brain was probably wondering:
Why are you doing this to me now?
😂
But slowly, words began making sense.
Then phrases.
Then conversations.
Some days are still difficult.
But when I compare myself now with the person who opened those first Finnish lessons in July 2023, I know I’ve come a long way.
What We Love About Finland: Our Life After Moving From Dubai
Adjusting From Dubai to Kuhmo
Then there was the environment.
Imagine living in Dubai for almost ten years.
Huge malls.What We Love About Finland: Our Life After Moving From Dubai
Restaurants everywhere.
Businesses open late.
Bright streets.
Traffic.
People everywhere.
Then move to Kuhmo.
😄
The difference was enormous.
Kuhmo doesn’t have the huge shopping malls we were accustomed to.
Shopping and entertainment options are much more limited, and many local businesses close earlier than what we were used to in Dubai.
At first, that adjustment felt strange.
Eventually?
It became normal.
Now we appreciate other things:
the quiet,
the forests,
the lakes,
the lack of heavy traffic,
and being able to go somewhere without being surrounded by thousands of people.
Different doesn’t necessarily mean worse.
Sometimes it simply takes time to understand a different way of living.
Places to Visit in Kuhmo: Discovering Local Nature and Everyday Beauty
Then There Was Finnish Winter Driving
Winter brought another challenge.
There were days when I had to drive approximately an hour and a half from Kuhmo to school.
During winter, daylight can disappear surprisingly early.
There were times when classes ended around 4 PM and outside was already dark.
Some sections of the route had very little surrounding light.
Just the road.
Snow.
Forest.
Darkness.
And my headlights.
Thankfully, our car also had additional driving lights, which helped on dark roads when appropriate.
Winter driving became something I had to learn gradually.
Snow and ice require more caution.
Road conditions change.
Visibility can change.
And wildlife can sometimes appear.
Another Finnish habit we learned was plugging in the car during very cold weather.
Preheating became part of our winter routine.
There were definitely mornings when we suddenly asked each other:
“Did we plug the car in?”
😂
Just another little thing we never had to think about while living in Dubai.
Was the Process Easy?
I wouldn’t call moving countries easy.
But in our particular case, the administrative process was relatively straightforward.
We followed the recruitment requirements.
I studied Finnish.
I passed the interview and assessments.
I was connected with the employment opportunity and hired directly by a Finnish public-sector healthcare employer.
We submitted our residence permit applications.
We completed our VFS identification.
We waited.
We received the approvals.
We resigned.
We packed.
And we left.
There were uncertainties, but thankfully we did not experience major immigration complications.
The emotional side was probably harder.
Letting go of Dubai.
Leaving jobs we knew.
Saying goodbye to friends.
Starting all over again.
Bringing our little one into a country we had never lived in before.
Trusting that we would somehow figure everything out after arriving.
That required a different kind of courage.
So, How Did We Actually Get to Finland?
If I had to answer the question today in the simplest possible way, I would say:
We got to Finland through a work opportunity.
I discovered a healthcare recruitment opportunity online while we were living in Dubai.
I joined the recruitment program.
I started studying Finnish.
I completed the interviews, documents, medical requirements, and assessments.
Through Silkkitie’s recruitment process, I was eventually connected with an employment opportunity and hired directly by a Finnish public-sector healthcare employer.
After signing my employment contract, we applied for our residence permits.
We travelled to Abu Dhabi for our VFS appointment and identity verification.
Our residence permits were approved.
We spent the following months closing our lives in Dubai.
And on April 14, 2024, we arrived in Finland.
That’s it.
That’s how we got here.
Not through a lottery.
Not because we had relatives waiting for us.
Not because Finland had always been our dream destination.
And not because we woke up one morning and simply decided to buy plane tickets.
It began with a job opportunity.
Then came preparation.
Then language learning.
Then an employment contract.
Then residence permits.
Then a lot of courage.
And finally…
Finland.
Final Thoughts
When I look back at that old notebook today, I’m amazed by how much life changed between those handwritten dates.
July 6, 2023: Orientation.
August 2023: Finnish studies.
November 2023: Employment contract and residence permit application.
December 2023: VFS appointment and residence permit decisions.
January 2024: Residence permit cards.
April 14, 2024: Finland.
At the time, each date felt like just another step.
Another email.
Another requirement.
Another thing we needed to finish.
But put them all together, and they tell the story of how our family moved from one country to another.
We didn’t know exactly what life in Finland would be like.
We didn’t know how difficult Finnish would feel once I started using it at work.
We didn’t know how much we would miss Dubai.
We didn’t know whether we would enjoy living in a small town.
We didn’t know whether Finland would eventually feel like home.
We only knew that we had been given an opportunity.
And we decided to take it.
Sometimes that’s all you have at the beginning of a new chapter.
You don’t have every answer.
You don’t know every challenge ahead.
You simply have an open door and a decision to make.
For us, one Facebook post eventually became an interview.
The interview became Finnish lessons.
The lessons became an employment opportunity.
The opportunity became an employment contract.
The contract made our residence permit journey possible.
And those residence permits eventually brought our family to Finland.
It still amazes me when I think about it.
And yet, arriving in Finland wasn’t the end of the journey.
In many ways, it was only the beginning.
Because behind that recruitment process was also an agency that guided us through many of those early steps.
And that story deserves its own chapter.
Next in the series: The Agency That Helped Us Start Our Finland Journey
“Sometimes the biggest journeys begin with one small yes.”
“The Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.” — Psalm 121:8 (NIV)
Looking back, there were so many moments when we could have stopped.
Learning Finnish was difficult.
Leaving stable jobs was frightening.
Waiting for residence permit decisions was stressful.
Leaving a country that had been home for almost ten years was painful.
But step by step, things moved forward.
We didn’t see the entire road when we started.
We only saw the next thing we needed to do.
Perhaps that’s true for many journeys in life.
We don’t always need to know exactly where every road will lead. Sometimes we simply need enough faith to take the next step, enough courage to keep going, and enough gratitude to recognize the doors that open along the way.
From one Facebook post in Dubai to our life today in Finland – what a journey it has already been. 🧡
Important Note
This article describes our personal recruitment and immigration experience from 2023–2024. It is not immigration, legal, employment, or recruitment advice. Requirements, processing procedures, fees, available recruitment programs, benefits, and laws may change. Always verify current information with Migri, the Finnish authorities, the appropriate Philippine authorities when applying from the Philippines, and any recruitment company involved.
Pinoy Up North is not affiliated with or sponsored by Silkkitie/Silk Road Workforce Management or any other recruitment agency mentioned in this article. Any company mentioned appears only because it formed part of our personal experience.From one Facebook post in Dubai to our life today in Finland – what a journey it has already been. 🧡
For privacy reasons, I have chosen not to identify my Finnish employer publicly on this blog.
- How We Actually Got to Finland: Our Recruitment and Residence Permit Journey
- Moving to Finland: Why It Wasn’t Part of Our Original Plan
- Places to Visit in Kuhmo: A Summer Day at Roukonpuro Beach (Roukonpuron ranta)
- Places to Visit in Kuhmo: Discovering Local Nature and Everyday Beauty
- Places to Visit in Kuhmo: A Peaceful Afternoon by Lentiira River (Lentiiranjoki)
- Places to Visit in Kuhmo: Pajakkakoski Rapids
