So, I was deported earlier in the year as my residence application is stuck amongst the Ukraine mire. This is not a bad thing, insofar as I am delighted that Sweden is a country so willing to do right by those in need. It is though, a pain in the arse. Having spoken to the immigration people, it seems unlikely my application will be seen* (let alone accepted) by the end of my current 90 days, which is early November.

I'll need to be out of the EU for another 90 days then. Given the current situation in the UK I am loathe to return there - it was tough enough last time - so I'm opening up this thread to anyone who fancies giving out some ideas.

Things to note:

1) I manage a chronic pain condition which means I can't reliably anchor myself to a 9-5;
2) I'll be showing up with pretty much nothing in credit, so the less required to get by the better;

I did look into getting a position on one of those The Thing styled Arctic stations, as it would have also made for good research for a piece of work I'm playing with. Didn't get it, sadly.

Anyway, have at it, and in the spirit of this place at its best, feel free to have a laugh at it too. It's a lousy situation, but it doesn't mean this thread needs to be.

A_M_W_T

* There's a hail Mary meeting I'm having tomorrow which might change this, but it's unlikely tbf.

I'll think about this more and get back to you (every "top of my head" thought has at least one significant fallacy).

Have you thought about living in and attending to a lighthouse?

jfv wrote: Tue Oct 11, 2022 7:57 am Have you thought about living in and attending to a lighthouse?

Funnily enough, my mother's old place is not fifteen minute's walk from a lighthouse. They tend to be automated or out of use these days, barring the odd case in which a long-term custodian earns them quaint points.

A_Man_Who_Tries wrote: Tue Oct 11, 2022 8:15 am

jfv wrote: Tue Oct 11, 2022 7:57 am Have you thought about living in and attending to a lighthouse?

Funnily enough, my mother's old place is not fifteen minute's walk from a lighthouse. They tend to be automated or out of use these days, barring the odd case in which a long-term custodian earns them quaint points.

Yeah, I figured, though every now and then I do see one of those random "stay and work at a lighthouse" articles, which - though I've seen the articles - probably are very rare.

Taking into consideration cost of living and also cost to get there from Sweden, my initial thought would be to try one of the former Yugoslav countries that hasn't joined the EU, e.g. Serbia. If you need a job, too, though, I'm not sure if that suggestion is particularly helpful.

My other thought as of this moment is India... but if you are loathe to return to the UK (which it's not part of... but still a commonwealth nation), this might be a horrible suggestion.

EDIT: just to wrap-up the lighthouse discussion, it's definitely a thing here in the USA. That being said, I'm not sure if you're at all interested in this, it seems to be more short-term, and it also would involve travel to the USA, which introduces other problems. But anyway I'll leave this here:

https://uslhs.org/fun/lighthouse-accommodations

Have you looked into Svalbard? It's technically part of Norway, but you don't need a visa to live there. Might have an Arctic station job on offer.

Krev wrote: Tue Oct 11, 2022 4:31 pm Have you looked into Svalbard? It's technically part of Norway, but you don't need a visa to live there. Might have an Arctic station job on offer.

It's within the region I have to be outside of, unfortunately.

A_Man_Who_Tries wrote: Wed Oct 12, 2022 12:09 am

Krev wrote: Tue Oct 11, 2022 4:31 pm Have you looked into Svalbard? It's technically part of Norway, but you don't need a visa to live there. Might have an Arctic station job on offer.

It's within the region I have to be outside of, unfortunately.

EDIT: I had written some things about Svalbard here, but some of the rules about Svalbard changed recently, and I think what I originally wrote here is no longer correct, so I deleted it. Regardless, Svalbard is prohibitively expensive and I'd guess not a good option anyway.

Was thinking of work you could do at your destination. My first thought was fairly obvious - English teacher - but to be in demand you'd have to go someplace where there weren't already good English speakers (which would rule out most remaining places on the European continent and India; maybe somewhere in Africa or the Middle East?). This would make your life complicated for other reasons. Also, you'd probably have to market yourself as a tutor so you can set your schedule and not be on a 9-5 shift.

The other thought, as long as you have a computing device and a network connection... was crowdsourced work... but you'd really have to live somewhere dirt cheap to make that work.

I'm not sure if any of this is helpful. Sorry. Will keep thinking.

My policy here in the States when my life is in flux- go work at a National Park. The concessionaire jobs are easy to come by.

Dave N. wrote: Wed Oct 12, 2022 11:19 am My policy here in the States when my life is in flux- go work at a National Park. The concessionaire jobs are easy to come by.

This suggestion had me searching for "volunteer w/ expenses paid" opportunities online and I came across this website, https://www.goeco.org/

Some of the opportunities on here sound like they could meet some of your criteria, but I have no idea if any of them would be of interest to you.

It's a good site that, but it's generally not so great if you can be out-of-action with little warning. A pity because these kind of things would have been ideal on so many occasions.