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Moving to Reykjavik with my Korean wife?

stewy88
#1
Hello guys! This is my first post on the Reykjavik forums and actually, I'm looking for a bit of advice...

I visited Iceland a few years back and it's one of the most amazing landscapes and countries I have ever seen. It has always been a personal dream of mine to live there and these days I have been looking into it, along with my wife that is. The trouble is, we are in a bit of a predicament and our situation is not great. Allow me to tell you our story...

Our Story

-    I am 23 and British; my wife is 21 and South Korean.
-    We met when I was teaching English in Korea, via the Couch Surfing website to be exact!
-    Times were tough and for personal reasons I don聮t really want to delve into, we decided to up and leave together.
-    My wife聮s family have never really supported her through her entire life and true to form have chosen to disown her.
-    We left for Malaysia and together, managed to hitchhike from Kula Lumpur to Bangkok.
-    We soon tired and money became tight. Stuck in the Bangkok floods we made the move back to the UK and have been back for a couple of months now.
-    My wife received a 6-month tourist entry pass. At that time she wasn聮t my wife, we only recently got married here in the UK. During this time we have been living with my Mum and times have been tough, both financially and emotionally for all parties involved!

Our Situation Today

Things are not looking up and having exhausted so many options, it seems like we are back at square one again. Let me give you an overview of our options聟

-    Even though we are married, this doesn聮t give my wife any immediate visa extension of chance of residency. She must first return to Korea, apply for a visa and return back here. This runs in to the thousands and at the moment is out of the question.
-    She only has 6 months here and has to leave by the end of April. She cannot do any border runs of sorts because she is only entitled to enter the UK again after 6 months have elapsed.
-    You might say: why not go to Europe and then return to the UK? Well she is only entitled to 3 months in Europe under the Schengen visa rules.
-    I can聮t really return to Korea seeing as I ran out on my contract. I can but it is difficult. In addition, we are both aware that life in Korea would put such a strain on our relationship just like before. Her friends would be poisonous and it would drive us apart.
-    ASIA: We could go to Asia and she could in some fashion be attached to my work visa. The upside to this is that the Korean community and demand for Korean is greater out there. The downside is that flights are costly and we would be so far from home and without funds if things were to go pear shaped again.
-    EUROPE: EU Treaty rights dictate that she can live with me in an EEA country provided I could prove self-sufficiency or find work. That being said, the cost of living is high in Europe and I聮m not entirely sure about our chances of finding a job.

Our Credentials

So what do we have to offer? Well I have a 4-year degree in English and American Literature. I have work experience in the UK, Italy and South Korea (English teaching). I also have an online TEFL certificate.

My wife on the other hand does not have a degree. Her talents lie in 3D Graphics and she has a high proficiency in the related software. We understand that a good portfolio is the most important thing, however her portfolio is in Korea and her mother being typically cruel as ever, decided to destroy it聟other than that she speaks Korean to a native level and her English, whilst being good, is by no means fluent.

Back to the Question

That takes me back to my initial question. In this case, could we live in Iceland? I suppose I need some advice on the following聟

1. If we were in Iceland and I had a job, could she find work? Could I find English teaching work or work somewhere which I could use my language skills as an asset? Could my wife find work from within the Korean community or maybe within a Korean company or maybe even 3D graphics related?

2. If I found a job, would it be easy for her to join me in Iceland as my wife and on some kind of residency permit?

I am of the belief that if we are strong enough we can stand on our own two feet and survive anywhere. On the other hand I want to build a future for the both of us that lets us live a happy and normal life for a change!

I realize this is long winded and I thank you again for taking the time to read it. Any advice is warmly welcomed and the both of us very much appreciate it.

Cheers,
See also
ECS
#2
your post seems to contain a lot of information here that's not particularly relevant to the question you're asking, but what I gather is you're from an EEA country, and you are married.

so, I recommend you read this link from the Icelandic immigration site:




It seems fairly easy for you to actually live here, but finding work is going to be the tricky thing since the skill you offer is probably not in high demand here. Most people speak extremely good English already, having learned it through school and all the media in English (films and TV shows from the US/UK aren't dubbed, they're subtitled). I think you need to think a bit more broadly about what you can do for work.

I'd say your wife's employability depends on how limited her English skills are more than the lack of degree (if you can demonstrate the skills, I think people are less concerned with your degree or type of degree). Plenty of offices are fine not working in Icelandic but that generally means English is the next language of choice. Also, does she have ANY samples of her work? If not, sounds like she needs to work on building up some kind of new portfolio.

More generally regarding the job market, it's not great still, but in the summer there's demand for tourist-related services, and based on my recent experiences in the high tech sector, there's work to be had there too. As I've said before in plenty of other threads here, the best asset you can have in trying to find work in Iceland is connections. If someone local can vouch for you, that goes a LONG way.

one final point.. I see that you're posting about how your dream is to move to Frankfurt in another thread- if that's the place you think of as a great location, I'm not sure Iceland going to be quite the right fit. I don't think there's much (if any) Korean community here, and compared to Frankfurt, this is a very tiny town and very isolated. Visiting family always requires flight tickets which are generally quite expensive, and the weather can also contribute to the feeling of being isolated. It's a very close-knit community where most foreigners are here because they're married/related to Icelanders, and if she starts to miss home-cooked foods, finding the right ingredients to replicate her favorite meal will be a challenge.

I'm not trying to discourage you with these comments, just pointing out some of the features of island life which might have not occurred to you when you were busy being dazzled by the gorgeous mountains and waterfalls here :)
stewy88
#3
Thank you very much for your reply! It does sound particularly easy to live there judging by the information on that link. I did consider that it would be difficult to find employment in a place where my English skills are a little obsolete. If I went to Iceland, do you think that if I hunted around, I could find something? I am not picky about what I do initially, just to find employment would be great.
ECS
#4
the best chance you'll have finding work here is obviously to be here, but you're not the only person hunting for a job that doesn't require Icelandic. Having not tried to find such a job myself I can't say how likely your chances are.

Here's the job listing section from one of the major newspapers:


there aren't a lot of listings here - a few shops looking for people, the American embassy needs a security guard, a hotel needs staff of some sort (not specified)

here's another job listing site showing similar trends:

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