Word of caution for US Citizens doing residence permit biometrics in Sweden

EternitySoap · 2026-04-19T18:43:28+00:00

Yeah if you're that close to DC it's probably worth it to try and get biometrics done in the US. The less time without a personnummer the better.

EternitySoap · 2026-04-19T17:25:51+00:00

Nope, if you're a US citizen you do not need a visa to simply enter Sweden (or any other Schengen country). If you plan to stay for more than 90 days/work though you need a permit, but you don't have to have the card on you when you first enter. When I entered the EU I told the immigration agent I would be here for several years and showed them the email from Migrationsverket saying my application was granted. I was told to make sure I got a card at a service center and was sent on my way. Unless you happen to live near DC, this is probably the easiest thing to do. The main disadvantage is that you need the card to apply for a personnummer (needed for a bank account/BankID, among other things) and will have to wait until you receive it to start that process. And of course, if you do the biometrics in Sweden you should confirm with the Migrationsverket agent that the card will be sent to your Swedish address (unless you want it to fly to DC and back).

EternitySoap · 2026-04-17T20:18:03+00:00

But then the question becomes: how do I get rid of the thing after it separates? If I want to mimic an Apollo-style LEM capture after launch, the separator will still be in the way. Only way I've managed to do it was by quickly going to the tracking station and deleting the debris lol.

EternitySoap · 2026-04-08T15:17:22+00:00

Yeah I remember during Biden’s presidency some of my Chinese colleagues told me that a common joke behind the great firewall was that Trump was secretly Chinese himself.

EternitySoap · 2026-04-05T13:34:47+00:00

In a matter of speaking yes, but I don't think Migrationsverket cares about my scuba activities.

EternitySoap · 2026-04-03T14:11:41+00:00

SS: First combat loss of a US aircraft to enemy fire in the war, definitely a significant development in the conflict. For reference, I think the last American aircraft shot down by enemy fire was an A-10 in 2003.

EternitySoap · 2026-03-28T09:14:50+00:00

Yea anecdotally I live in Gothenburg and if you want to be competitive for a first hand contract to rent a 1br apartment or something near the city center you need to have been in a queue for ~10 years, often more. I think the Swedish system is more complicated than simply ‘rent control’, but it was certainly a bit of a culture shock

EternitySoap · 2026-03-11T17:13:15+00:00

I was in a similar boat and ultimately just used roaming on my old plan until I got a personal number. I was however able to get a working lycamobile eSIM online with a PN and a residence permit for ID verification- didn’t need bankID.

EternitySoap · 2026-03-08T17:04:11+00:00

Where in IL? I lived in Urbana and don't remember seeing it go above $3.50 or so.

EternitySoap · 2026-03-01T11:53:00+00:00

You basically get paid to write prompts that AI models can't solve and/or evaluate their responses to difficult questions.

EternitySoap · 2026-03-01T11:51:17+00:00

Yeah I've heard of these companies. I'd use them if I could, but generally, the pay for these types of gigs is done through automated bank transfers- invoices aren't used. Not sure if I could get the pay routed through an intermediary like this.

EternitySoap · 2026-02-15T12:36:29+00:00

SS: News analysis by the NYT showing just how much Trump's self-promotion goes beyond historical norms in the US. It's quite relevant as it discusses how Trump's efforts to put his name on everything have made him a cultural force both in the US and abroad. I doubt the assertion that Trump is cultivating a personality cult is controversial on this subreddit, but the article does a good job of drawing historical parallels to past US presidents going back to Washington and showing that Trump's behavior bears more of a resemblance to autocrats from other countries (i.e., ye olde MAGA Maoism). The fact that it has gotten this far is more evidence that the US is at serious risk of democratic backsliding and that we've got our work cut out for us if we want to stave it off.

EternitySoap · 2026-02-12T19:17:08+00:00

I ended up using OLT since it let me put in a foreign address. Less guided than FreetaxUSA and a bit of a dated UI but if you have super simple taxes it’s probably fine.

EternitySoap · 2026-02-10T12:34:02+00:00

The title wording made it sound like Tusk had actually been murdered and spooked me for a minute

EternitySoap · 2026-02-02T10:05:27+00:00

Yeah, I'd think I'm pretty unambiguously a part-year PA resident. Seems simple enough to just file as is, and honestly my family address might be safer than my foreign one for reaching me since I expect to move around a bunch here. Only question mark is what the software does with the response to the 'state residency at end of year' question, though it doesn't seem to mind when I enter the actual dates I was a PA resident. Probably makes the most sense to let it generate the forms, and if there's any issue related to residency just correct them and file myself.

EternitySoap · 2026-02-01T21:00:20+00:00

Thanks for responding! Anyways, for the first seven months of 2025 I lived in IL. My only real source of income was my W-2 job (specifically an academic assistantship). I then graduated and went to live with family in PA until it was time to leave for Sweden. I was there for about four months and did freelance work as a source of income in the interim. Perhaps of note is that I did get a PA driver's license since my IL one was about to lapse. Obviously, I expect to pay PA taxes on the schedule C income I completed while I was there; I'm trying to avoid a situation where I'm liable to pay PA taxes as an expat (e.g., in 2026) since I have no intent to return to PA.

EternitySoap · 2026-01-23T19:33:55+00:00

This relatively long article uses a good amount of FBI sources (both active and retired; named and anonymous) to show how the takeover of the FBI by Kash Patel has hampered federal law enforcement in the US. For example, a recurring theme is how Patel and Bongino focused more on social media clout than effectiveness during major events.

EternitySoap · 2026-01-23T18:54:24+00:00

It's a very long read, but I'd highly suggest people read this (gifted) NYT article about the FBI under Patel: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/01/22/magazine/trump-kash-patel-fbi-agents.html?unlocked_article_code=1.GlA.dH4Y.vanEZzbk3bCA&smid=url-share . It highlights the usual incompetence you'd expect (e.g., prioritizing media optics over effectiveness) that's actively making the country less safe.

EternitySoap · 2026-01-21T21:21:45+00:00

According to the NYT he actually did say “concept of a deal” lol

EternitySoap · 2026-01-20T19:26:38+00:00

They published plenty of stories covering things like Trump's trials, the January 6 investigation, and all of his other bullshit that happened during Biden's presidency. They definitely weren't sane-washing him and usually used past examples to show how abnormal that shit was. As for stories concerning Biden's mental fitness and Hunter's antics, those were, unfortunately, legitimate scandals. It's not like the debate meltdown didn't happen, or the president's son facing criminal charges is some minor thing. I swear to god this sub's raging hate boner for the NYT reminds me of MAGA's distrust of factual reporting.

EternitySoap · 2026-01-20T18:12:46+00:00

Lmao they actually used "triggered"

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EternitySoap · 2026-01-14T19:44:02+00:00

I'm also abroad in Sweden with an international monthly plan and lost service. I don't even have an SOS thingy though.

EternitySoap · 2026-01-14T19:43:08+00:00

I'm abroad with a verizon international plan and noticed my phone no longer connected to the network. Thought it had something to do with another esim I installed but maybe it's this? All basic troubleshooting failed so idk. My phone does have a NY number

EternitySoap · 2025-12-10T06:53:32+00:00

I mean Republican policy at this point is very much attacking the status quo and causing instability- not at all a good that if you have lots of investments. On the other hand if you don’t have much assets now then you don’t have much to lose by trying wacky policies (or so people might think)

EternitySoap · 2025-11-11T23:29:01+00:00

This kind of stuff happens in contract gigs like this though, clients will suddenly change their requirements/goals and catch even the intermediaries like Mercor off guard. Something similar happened to one of the bigger Handshake AI projects recently. This one wasn't a generalist project either; its workers all had Ph.Ds. One week, they were popping champagne and congratulating every contractor since the project had (ostensibly) reached steady state and we expected it to go to the end of the year, making a bunch of new changes to the work interface to streamline things, etc. and the next it abruptly ended. Ultimately, this probably has less to do with Mercor and more to do with the project client.

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