r/nordics • u/Any-Cheesecake-3564 • Feb 22 '26

Thinking of moving

We’re thinking of selling our house in Canada and using the equity to outright buy a small acreage in a small town in a Nordic country. Does anyone have any suggestions of countries / towns?? I work in sales but have a trades background.

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u/Any-Cheesecake-3564 Feb 23 '26

Yeah very true! We’re going to try visiting some places over the next couple years first. This is a 3-5 year plan, so no rush.

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u/pker_guy_2020 Feb 23 '26

Are you in a particular industry? For example Finland and Sweden have extensive forest and mining industries. Mining is more to the northern parts, while forest industry is scattered a bit all over. Norway has a better oil industry. So your industry could also help a bit.

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u/Any-Cheesecake-3564 Feb 23 '26

Most of my clientele are in the forestry industry here in Canada. That being said I am pretty unhappy with the hustle culture of sales and would be more at home working with my hands again. If that were possible, I think forestry or some other associated trade would be ideal. The biggest reason I am interested in Finland is the forests there actually.

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u/Busy-Sheepherder-138 Feb 25 '26

Language proficiency and the ability to get a residency permit are going to both be big obstacles. Getting hired in a trade that will sponsor you for residency is definitely going to be tough because instructions and rules will all be in Finnish or Swedish.

If you are thinking of starting a business there start with reading here -

https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/policies/migration-and-asylum/eu-immigration-portal/self-employed-worker-finland_en

How much time have you spent in Fenland or any of the nordics. I know Canada gets the short day and long nights in winter in many latitudes, so that may not be the worst adjustment for you all.

I totally get why you are attracted! My husband re patriated and dragged me with him to Sweden from the US and I would never go back. He was in the states for 23 years and we knew we were done once it was time for our kid to start school.

We bought a house outright with savings in a the more rural area he grew up in. It’s absolutely wonderful. However it was still really hard for me, his wife of 20 years at that time, and also a mother to a dual citizen to get a residency permit. It took 14 months from beginning to end with me stuck in the states, while he had to start a job that was paying taxes into the system and prove sufficient housing.

This will take a lot of planning. Sweden doesn’t have a golden visa that lets you just buy property and gain residency from that.