Marcie
My friend Marcie complained that I had not mentioned her in my blog. My rule is not to mention anyone by name, mostly to avoid lawsuits.
But Marcie gave me her permission. Well, it was more like she threatened me and she is quite a bit taller and younger than me. Basically I am not sure I could wrestle her to the ground. Otherwise she is a perfectly likeable person. Really.
She is one of the few volunteers, apart from my husband, to have moved to Iceland. Iceland has a really strict immigration policy for people who love the country- or one of its citizens. Unless you were born within the EU or EFTA of course. You must have X-amount of money, a job or other means to support yourself. If you intend to marry any Icelandic person and still stay in the country you must be over 24 years of age.
However, if you are really poor and prepared to leave your family and country in order to take jobs Icelanders refuse at minimum wage, there is no problem. An Icelandic company can apply for visas for their workforce and basically import people at will. Often the employer will hold on to the papers as the visa is issued in the name of the company.
I find this interesting.
Think about it, the word Iceland, does it sound inviting? Apart from a decent healthcare system and semi decent public school system, there aren't that many people who grow up thinking of it as El Dorado.
There is 285 000 of us, surely we can afford to welcome people?
Another friend of mine, who shall remain unnamed, had various problems with immigration. She speaks the language, is college educated and worked hard in order to stay. But to no avail.
Yet another friend, a Registered Nurse who had worked as such in Iceland for three years, left after immigration officials told her she had not taken the proper Icelandic classes. However, if you call them to get a list of what Icelandic classes they consider qualified, they don't have any criteria.
And now my friend Marcie is leaving, having not even bothered to apply for a work visa. Why should she? It's not like we are going out of our way to make her feel welcome. She is highly educated and would be a tremendous asset to any country. I wish she weren't leaving, she might intimidate me but I like her all the same.
But Marcie gave me her permission. Well, it was more like she threatened me and she is quite a bit taller and younger than me. Basically I am not sure I could wrestle her to the ground. Otherwise she is a perfectly likeable person. Really.
She is one of the few volunteers, apart from my husband, to have moved to Iceland. Iceland has a really strict immigration policy for people who love the country- or one of its citizens. Unless you were born within the EU or EFTA of course. You must have X-amount of money, a job or other means to support yourself. If you intend to marry any Icelandic person and still stay in the country you must be over 24 years of age.
However, if you are really poor and prepared to leave your family and country in order to take jobs Icelanders refuse at minimum wage, there is no problem. An Icelandic company can apply for visas for their workforce and basically import people at will. Often the employer will hold on to the papers as the visa is issued in the name of the company.
I find this interesting.
Think about it, the word Iceland, does it sound inviting? Apart from a decent healthcare system and semi decent public school system, there aren't that many people who grow up thinking of it as El Dorado.
There is 285 000 of us, surely we can afford to welcome people?
Another friend of mine, who shall remain unnamed, had various problems with immigration. She speaks the language, is college educated and worked hard in order to stay. But to no avail.
Yet another friend, a Registered Nurse who had worked as such in Iceland for three years, left after immigration officials told her she had not taken the proper Icelandic classes. However, if you call them to get a list of what Icelandic classes they consider qualified, they don't have any criteria.
And now my friend Marcie is leaving, having not even bothered to apply for a work visa. Why should she? It's not like we are going out of our way to make her feel welcome. She is highly educated and would be a tremendous asset to any country. I wish she weren't leaving, she might intimidate me but I like her all the same.
posted by disinterpreter at 3:20 PM
2 Comments:
I'm really sorry your friend Marcie will not be able to stay in Iceland. It does seem like a disservice to the country when good people are put aside in favor of policy. It seems like the argument between the letter of the law vs. the spirit of the law is rearing its ugly head in this situation.
As far as Iceland seeming like "El Dorado", I think you will find that there will be a number of curious American readers of your blog looking for exactly that. In the U.S. there seems to be an image of Icelandic culture that is part Viking-inspired "wild wild north" and part exotic, artsy-fartsy intellectuals who maintain their cultural hegemony as a result of the country just being so damned cold.
For my part, as a religion student (but lets face all grad students can only really deal with things in terms of their disciplines), I maintain a deep interest in the Icelandic/Norse/Northern religious traditions. What you have (in the mind of US religion thinkers) is a modern-day country with an officially recognized "native" religious tradition, existing alongside northern European Chrisitanity. This rocks in terms of religious diversity, and creates new areas of "valid" spiritual exploration to study. Anything that opens up such a wide new (?old?) area in my discipline is definately welcome in my book.
Absolutely, and I cannot abide religious rigidity. I have a hard time taking the Norse worshippers all too seriously, but I wouldn't be able to live anywhere where they could not worship.
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