Moving from U.S. to Tallinn, what should I think of that I haven't?
Tere r/Eesti!
After living in the U.S. for 6 years, it looks like we, a family of 5, are moving to Tallinn by the end of this year. It has been casually thought of for more than a year now. We have visited Tallinn a few times and have family in nearby countries.
None of us know the language. I took a basic online course earlier this year and found it relatively straight forward thanks to Finnish being my native language. We are not too concerned about this because on our visits, we've gotten by fine with English. That said, we are eager to learn the everyday basics and hopefully more than that, especially if we end up staying for more than 1 year.
We all have EU citizenships, so residency should be a non-issue.
I work in IT and will try to persuade my U.S. employer to hire me as a contractor working remotely. If they won't, I will focus on developing my side business full time. In some ways the latter is what I want to do, but I've appreciated the safety in having both. I have no plans to apply for employment in Estonia, but will have my own company there. My wife will continue to be a stay-at-home mom for the near future.
Two of our kids are in school (3rd and 2nd grade). We are planning for them to attend either the Finnish school or the European school. Tallinn English College could also be a good option, but based on my emails with them, chances of getting into the English speaking program are very slim. English is the kids' strongest language, Swedish a close second, Finnish is not good but I'm hoping they'll still pick it up relatively fast in the right environment.
Our current plan is to start by renting a place in the city. Choice of school will determine the exact preferred area, since my commute is not an issue. Kadriorg maybe. Buying a home may become relevant quickly depending on our initial experience. We have been browsing city24.ee on and off for a long time now and have a basic understanding of the price level.
I need to find a cardiologist and a neurologist soon after we've arrived to avoid disruption in managing health issues I've gone through recently (medication and some monitoring at this point). As long as I am paid minimum wage or more, I should be eligible for health care.
It is likely that we will ship our household belongings (which isn't a whole lot) in some kind of a container, but plan to sell our car and buy a new one over there. We'll fly from NYC to Helsinki and take the ferry over.
I have an EU driver's license, which I assume can (and has to) be exchanged into an Estonian one. My wife only has a U.S. license, which I think means she'll need to go through a driving test.
Off the top of my head, these are the main issues we need to sort out, can you think of anything that should be expanded or added to the list?
Posted Oct 13, 2014, 6:01 AM UTC