Tag Archives: immigration

in english

The kind of foreigners I know in Finland

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Well, I'm still not very happy about the police doing spot checks on people who look or sound foreign, since it assumes that we are all in some way or other breaking the law just because we don't look like the mainstream and happen to live here.  Of course, the most ironic thing of it all is that this activity is financed with my taxes.

Since in the news you only hear about those foreigners who are breaking the law, I wanted to show plenty of examples of those of us who aren't and are not exactly of Caucasian origin.

  • A, Turkish, male, works as a consultant, has two masters degrees.  Is married to a Finn.
  • B, Mexican, female, works as a designer, also has a masters degree.
  • C, Indian, male, works as a computer engineer.  Married to an Indian.
  • D, Malay, female, works in marketing.
  • E, Thai, female, is an IT specialist.
  • F, Venezuelan, male, is finishing his studies doing his thesis in an IT company.  Is married to a Finn.
  • G, Mexican, female, works in finance.  Is married to a Spaniard.
  • H, Japanese, female, works in finance.
  • I, Pakistani, male, also an IT specialist.  Is married to a Pakistani.
  • J, Turkish, male, owns and runs his barbershop.  Married to a Finn.  Has Finnish citizenship.
  • K, Nigerian, male, is an IT specialist.
  • L, Chinese, female, works as a strategist.
  • M, British of South Asian origin, male, works in business development.
  • N, American of Central American origin, male, works as a consultant.
  • O, German with African roots, male, works in a media-facing role.

I have plenty more, but I guess you get my drift.

I feel like I should be wearing a T-shirt reading "Olen ulkomaalainen.  Mitä sitten?" (I'm a foreigner.  So what?).  Who's with me?

in english

WTF?!?!

Finnish police is now spot-checking foreigners to find those without residence permit (myös suomeksi). Is racial profiling making its way here?  This, and the fact that I have to renew my residence permit again (after 7 years altogether living in Finland) and have to tell the authorities how I met my wife for the third or fourth time shows how welcome foreigners are over here, even when we contribute to society and pay our taxes just like everybody else.

I'm sorry if I sound rude, but I find this just insane.

in english

The importance of the Spanish language in the United States

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Se habla español
Se habla español
I had heard about the "Latin wave", but I hadn't experienced it until my last trip.  All over the city I heard people speaking Spanish, and at many places was indeed served even better when I spoke Spanish.
However, on the other hand, when watching TV at my hotel, of 40 channels none of them was in Spanish.  They didn't even have Telemundo or Univisión.  Nevermind international channels, in Spanish or otherwise.
in english

Multicultural Spain

One thing that I couldn’t stop noticing when I was in Barcelona was the amount of foreigners and people from other parts of Spain who call the place home (which I personally think is a good thing). Whereas before Spain used to be a point of origin of emigrants (one only has to remember the large amount of people who fled the Civil War and the resulting Franco rule) now there is plenty of people from all over the world here, which doesn’t detract from its “Spanishness”. Now, the small neighbourhood stores are operated by Chinese or Pakistanis, many waiters are Filipinos, Ecuadorians or Argentines, and I have Mexican and British acquaintances who operate IT consultancy companies there.
Even though the immigration climate doesn’t seem hostile, it’s not all rosy and fine, as anybody who’s been shouted “sudaca” in the street will tell you. I was, however, pleasantly surprised with the relative peace I found between the different communities (then again, I was not there for long).

in english

Special report on migration by the Economist

I found this special report in the Economist last month, and was meaning to comment on it here.  I am not surprised by the general optimistic tone of the report, and being an immigrant myself I'm probably not the most impartial person to comment on its benefits for the immigrant, the origin and host countries.

One thing that I would like to bring to the fore, is however, the backlash against immigration and immigrants currently going on in many places around the world.  Given that many people don't see the benefits for them, they strongly oppose it, with sometimes rather ugly attitudes showing up.

in english

P.S. Mexico’s 33rd state

On my way back from Mexico I picked up Newsweek magazine's yearly edition of the issues that will dominate in the next 12 months.  I was rather surprised when I found this article by former Mexican foreign minister Jorge Castañeda, where he explains a very interesting manifestation of the law of unintended consequences, if such exists.

He argues that the border fence that the United States has started to build to keep illegal immigration out is instead keeping them in.  Before, it used to be a cyclical phenomenon where people would cross, work in the United States for a season and then move back to Mexico.  Nowadays, they cannot risk going back and not being able to return, so when they are able to cross they stay and try to bring their families along.  That's most probably the opposite of what the proponents of this initiative originally wanted.

Whereas I don't agree with breaking the law, the first step in fixing a problem is acknowledging that it exists and what its reasons are.  As we've seen initiatives like this don't seem to help much.

en español

Concurso de historias de migrantes

Recibí una invitación de la embajada mexicana para participar en el Segundo Concurso de Historias de Migrantes.  El primero, como suele ser el problema de los mexicanos en general, se enfocaba únicamente a la manifestación del fenómeno en Estados Unidos, ignorando al resto del mundo.

He pensado en participar tomando algunos apuntes de este blog, pero no creo que les agraden demasiado mis posiciones críticas sobre muchas cosas que pasan en México.

in english

Bureaucracy

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You EU citizens have no idea how easy you have it to move around.

I'm going to switch planes in the US on my way to Mexico for Christmas, so I had to renew my American visa.  The amount of papers required is astonishing, as not only do you have to fill 3 different forms, but they also ask for bank statements, pay slips, letters from your workplace, a copy of your contract, and some other things.  You also have to e.g. detail what do you do at work, who is in your family and list the countries you have visited in the last ten years with the years when you have been there.

I ended up with a file that measured a couple of centimetres, which could almost mean that now Uncle Sam knows more about me than my wife and my mother, and it truly shows how afraid they are of illegal immigrants and terrorists.  Went to the interview and a few days later received my visa, so all's well that ends well.  I understand that being Mexican in their view increases the chances of me overstaying my welcome, but I really have no intention nor motive for doing so.  Frankly, the least I go there, the better, which is a pity as I would like to visit New York and Boston again, for example.  Comparing this with the UK IRIS scheme, which took me ten minutes to get enrolled in the last time I was in London, shows the difference between tough talk accompanied with cumbersome procedures and an implementation of border control that combines security with business friendliness.

This whole ordeal made me wonder (again) about this whole Finnish citizenship story, since Finns don't need a visa for short trips to the United States.  Called the guys at ulkomaalaisvirasto since according to their new web questionnaire I would fulfill the requirements for citizenship, as I have lived here long enough (pretty much all of my adult life), speak Finnish fluently (still waiting for my diploma on that one), and have no criminal record.  However, they told me that I can't get it since I have lived abroad in the past two years, meaning that if I hadn't gone to Belgium I could be a Finn.  The law was changed this autumn, so I had no way of knowing, and there is another catch: all male Finnish citizens under 30 have to serve in the army.  If I were 18 I wouldn't mind doing that, and furthermore if push came to shove I would probably volunteer anyway, but currently I'm at a stage of my life where putting everything (family, career, finances) on hold for six months to a year is not an option.

We'll see what happens, but it's definitely getting interesting.

Edit: And, oh boy, in March I have to renew my Finnish residence permit.  Ugh….