I am considering moving up north because life in my country (Italy) has become unbearable.
Fascism and criminality is on the rise here and there are no real opportunities for someone like me. Only lately I’ve come to fully realise how bad things are getting.
I’d like to ask to people from Denmark, Sweden, Norway if they can tell me how hard it is for a foreigner to find a job and a house there (even shitty ones).
I’ve been squatting for some time now because it’s very hard to find someone who is willing to rent a house to me and my partner (we have a dog and nobody wants to rent you a house here if you have a pet and no steady income)
I don’t speak northern germanic languages, but am very willing to learn.
I’m quite poor and have no valuable work experience, except as a caretaker (I’ve studied nursing, but did not graduate).
I’d be very grateful if anyone here can give me some insight and tips.
I have a friend that moved from the UK to Denmark for work, they now live in Denmark and work in Norway. They’re a professional that found a job that was willing to sponsor their visa so it’s a different situation to your own.
I suspect being in the EU it will be much easier, but I know that for them it was challenging - lots of beauracracy and difficult timings. It didn’t sound very fun. Even getting a bank account was a challenge!
Not sure how helpful that is but thought I’d share the experience.
Oh, I should add, that they absolutely love it there. They consider it a lifelong move, so although challenging I have no doubt they’d say it was 100% worth it.
Although I understand some of the issues in Italy, you might find that there is some level of unrest everywhere at the minute. There have been two public shootings in the past couple months in Denmark/Norway - unfortunately even our scandinavian brothers/sisters have their problems.
I would suggest that you try and find a way to obtain some job skills or find a way to obtain some formal qualifications. Without them it will be difficult to easily move around and obtain employment and housing.
Well… Supposedly leftist prime minister of Denmark proposed to select and accept “caucasian” immigrants only…
I know Italy has a particular history with fascism (it’s an italian word, after all) and all facisms are different from a country to another, but prepare to be surprised…
The only european country that seems to be quite ok now is Portugal, and suprisingly enough Spain (after too many years of Rajoy). But I may be wrong, that’s what I can see from where I am (I’m french).
Good luck
I moved from the UK to the Netherlands 20 years ago.
I was 30. Had a backpack, a fender telecaster, jazz bass and a shitty acoustic guitar and probably less than 500 gbp in the bank.
I had worked in finance, catering and had a degree in Fine Art which in all honesty is worthless (though I thoroughly enjoyed my time as a student and learned a lot).
I knew a couple of people in Amsterdam - one person being one of my best friends from the UK who had moved there to be with his girlfriend. Via him and friends I met via him I slept on floors and couches for a few months and eventually got a job working in a bookstore. Me an my friend setup a band - we got a record deal with Universal. I played as a guitarist or bass player in other gigging bands and all the time needed to work in other jobs because quite frankly the music ‘career’ didn’t give me any decent pay or security. I worked for a brilliant Media art institution and international documentary film festival part time and now I am working for a very cool TV company in IT. I make music more as a hobby these days but take it quite seriously.
My point is you will never know where you end up until you just got for it.
It helps if you know someone where you are headed of course but the bureaucracy can be overcome always. Be brave, stay determined and change your life if you really want to. You can make it work.
Very best of luck to you
Im a native danish but living in Berlin for the past 15 years. When living in Denmark I worked 10 years as a caretaker for a disabled man while doing music. It was pretty easy to get work and doing night shifts the pay was very good for a non educated person. Plus I could work on my music skills on those night shifts. Of cause there is the language barrier but if your English is decent it might work.
After 10 years I moved to Berlin and started from scratch and have been able to live from music since so sometimes you just have to take a chance and see where it takes you.
This is great advice. You’re taking a good first step right here. Keep the brainstorming going and follow some avenues. I’d definitely consider a recon mission around the countries you have in mind. Couchsurf, hitch, whatever you need to do, check out the vibe, make some connections. Based on your username, there could be potential in reaching out to relevant communities, again make some useful connections. Fortune favours the brave, etc
I’m from norway. Language can be a barrier for a lot of jobs. But there should be possible to get a job if you aren’t picky. A friend from Brazil struggled a bit when she moved here, and said it was harder than getting a job in places like Spain and Italy because of not speaking Norwegian. She worked as a waiter for some years and picked up the language pretty quick.
Everything is expensive here, but salaries are mostly decent.
