Hi all
Are there any pinays / pinoys working and living in Sweden in this forum?
I am a male Danish citizen, currently still living and working in Denmark.
Since late 2012 I have had a girlfriend from the Philippines. I have visited her three times in the Philippines and she has lived with me in Denmark for 2 months last year on a visitors Schengen-visa.
Currently my girlfriend is still living and working in the Philippines (assistant chef in a restaurant / culinary) but we want to find a place in the world where we can live together. Denmark has very strict immigration laws - so unless we marry - Denmark is no option, and we can not live together here permanently. I dont feel ready to marry her yet, and I would like to live with her for some time first, before we marry.
To those of you pinays / pinoys who live and work in Sweden - how did you get to Sweden? Did you apply for work from the Philippines? Do you have a European girlfriend / boyfriend living in Sweden who made it possible for you to move to Sweden?
If you applied for work in Sweden when still living in the Philippines how did you do that? Online? How did you get the job?
I have contacted the Swedish "Migrationsverket" to hear about the possibilities for my girlfriend to live in Sweden together with me. They told me that I basically have 2 options:
1) I move to Sweden and get a "fixed" address there - meaning I live there permanently. Then I apply for a recidence permit for my Pinay girlfriend. The back side of this option is, that the waiting time for a decision from the "Migrationsverket" for this residence permit can be up to 18 months. For those up to 18 months I would have to live alone in Sweden, not knowing if they grant her the residence permit.
2) The other option is that my girlfriend gets a job offer and a job in Sweden which would give her a work permit and the right to stay in Sweden. If my girlfriend can find a job in Sweden this would be a faster solution than solution 1. However, I dont know where and how to find a job for her. Can you recommend any good job sites? I assume there might also be som Filipino job agencies - who can coordinate jobs in Sweden. However I dont want to pay them money for nothing (No offense!).
The challenge for me and my girlfriend is the coordination of everything. If I have to move to Sweden, I also have to find a new job there too - either in Sweden or alternatively in Copenhagen.
Any inputs and comments from Pinays / Pinoys living in Sweden are MUCH appreciated.
Thank you!