maghalil said:
Hello Ronja ,
thanks for the advice , i will consider the scandinavian countries too (witch of these countries you have more experienced with ? ), i am planing to leave south-africa at the beginning of next (january or feb).
i used to have Canada in my mind , but i really do not know the IR situation there. but thanks i will keep that in mind and try to see possibility of going there.
Sorry it has taken me so long to come back to you.
I don't really know much about Canada. But it's probably OK there. I've got a friend (African) who after graduating from uni couldn't find a job anywhere in US or Europe. He only applied for 2 jobs before he got one in Canada. So, based on my limited experience, it might seem like there is at least less institutionalized racism there... "Normal" life might reflect that, although my friend's still single. That could be because all he does right now is work though
About Scandinavia. I'm a mix from all the countries (Norway, Sweden, Denmark) and have grown up in all three countries. Mostly Norway and Denmark though. The cultures are very similar, and the languages are so close that people easily understand each other. Which country I'd recommend you to choose, if you consider Scandinavia, would depend on what your plans are though.
Norway and Denmark got the strictest rules, and it's not likely you'll get a visa unless you're going here to study, you already have job-offer here, or you're going to get married to a Norwegian/Danish (equal rules for everyone from outside EU). If your plan is to study though, any of the countries would be OK. If you hope to settle down afterwards, you'll need to choose an education that more or less guarantees you a job here after graduation though, as your visa will expire when you've graduated.
Also, if you want to settle down permanently in Europe, via Scandinavia, I'd probably recommend you to go to Norway. Because of the oil-industry, in several parts of Norway (Oslo and Stavanger- especially the latter one actually) they're already very used to immigrants, and if you got a relevant education you should have a good chance of getting a job.
Really good educations would be: anything within in healthcare, engineering relevant to the oil-industry or construction (preferably civil-engineer, but normal engineers have a fairly easy time getting jobs too), or a master in Chemistry/Physics/Geology. Point is, the oil-industry and public services just hire more immigrants... An education from here is preferred...
For IR Scandinavia isn't too bad. I've looked it up

Approx 10% of marriages in all the countries are between a Scandinavian and a non-westerner (usually coloured person). Considering how low the immigrant population actually is, that's actually a very high number.
Downside to any Scandinavian country is that you have to learn a new language. You'll be offered free courses though. And you might already know several languages, then new languages comes much easier. My BF (from Cameroon), knows English, French and Dutch, and he'll understand some of our "gibberish" already now before he's even started taking courses.
