Welcome to Ringkøbing-Skjern Municipality

New neighbours and friends

We would like to have more citizens in Ringkøbing-Skjern Municipality, and we do our utmost to make newcomers feel welcome and settle in well in our municipality. A good job, a good home is of vital importance, but as a newcomer new neighbours and new friends are equally important.

Of course we cannot guarantee that you and your family will instantly make many new friends and socialize with neighbours and colleagues. This also takes an effort, openness and commitment from you when you are to establish relations in a new place. In return Ringkøbing-Skjern Municipality offers quite a lot of opportunities of meeting active and committed citizens who would like to share experiences and solve tasks together with others, which is also a good way of learning Danish.

Ringkøbing-Skjern Municipality is one of Denmark’s biggest tourist destinations, so we are used to giving our many international guests a good reception. Our companies export on a global scale, and the employees are used to cooperating with foreigners, both inside and outside the company. And as a newcomer you are not alone. In Ringkøbing-Skjern Municipality we already have many foreign citizens. We have a total of 5,250 citizens from 99 different countries.

 

Network for newcomers

If you feel like joining a non-committal community with other newcomers you can become a member of the Facebook group: INTERNATIONALS RINGKØBING-SKJERN.

Antoniya Petkov, who originally comes from Bulgaria, took the initiative of starting a network in the summer of 2019.

INTERNATIONALS RINGKØBING-SKJERN is an informal network where citizens with a foreign background meet each other as well as Danes. A network which can help you settle in well as a new citizen in the municipality and where you can draw inspiration, exchange good advice, experiences, and for instance job advertisements.

Here it is also possible for you to make friends and meet people in the same life situation as you. This was exactly what Antoniya Petkov needed when she and her husband moved to Ringkøbing-Skjern Municipality nearly three years ago.

 

Here you can see a glimpse from the first big joint arrangement in Internationals Ringkøbing-Skjern in the summer of 2019. (Foto:flytmodvest.dk)

 

Club for young people

As a young newcomer you can also become a member of the network INWESTJYLLAND, The club for young people in the Realm of Nature.

The club primarily aims at young adults in the age group 20-35, and the idea is to create new networks through joint experiences approximately once a month.

You can follow the club on FACEBOOK.

 

In Westjylland

This photo is from the first arrangement in InWestjylland, The club for young people in the Realm of Nature. The main theme of the evening was Watersports and Garden Play at Ringkøbing Town Hall. (Foto: flytmodvest.dk)

 

Become active and meet new friends

In Western Jutland, which our part of Jutland is called, we have a tradition of sticking together and making things happen. Our municipality has a very active association and club life and very many people lend a helping hand as volunteers - actually 60 PROCENT of us are volunteers in an association, organization, or institution.

So kill three birds with one stone. Join an association of interest or which you would like to learn more about. Do sports together with others, sing in a choir, or lend a helping hand as a volunteer, while learning Danish and at the same time meeting new people. Speak with your colleagues and join social arrangements at your place of work, so you get to know your colleagues and practice speaking Danish. Be active in your children’s day care or school. Say hello to your neighbours, invite them over for a cup of coffee or take up an invitation from them or if they contact you. And do participate in local arrangements and activities in your neighbourhood.

In Western Jutland we are used to helping each other and pulling together, so do not hesitate to ask your neighbour for help, if you need a hand. They will gladly help you and will also accept your help if needed.

 

Velkomstarrangement

A glimpse from a welcome event for newcomers in Skjern. (Foto: flytmodvest.dk)

 

Join Our welcome arrangement for Newcomers

As a newcomer to the municipality you will receive welcome gifts and an invitation to a welcome arrangement with other newcomers. Here you will be able to establish new contacts – both with others in the same situation, but also with volunteers welcoming you.

In the individual towns and villages, you will also find local ambassadors welcoming you when you and your family have moved to the area. They will be pleased to help you with information concerning practicalities and local offers.

  

Meet other newcomers

In Ringkøbing-Skjern Municipality we welcome new citizens. We are also proud of having newcomers who will advertise our municipality with the aim of making people take up residence here. Meet some of them below and a few more here.

 

Charlotte and Ian

 
Danish/English couple:

Wish of living the good life

”Above all, we just wanted to be together and live the good life. We love being together” says the Danish/English couple Charlotte and Ian Coles who have settled down in an idyllic old farm house at Kloster, halfway between the Ringkøbing Fjord and the Stadil Fjord and close to the town of Ringkøbing.

It is not surprising that the couple had a wish of the good life in peaceful surroundings with lots of nature. Ian was a Major in the British Army, which meant the couple had moved around military bases in England and Germany for years. Ian had also been deployed close to the world’s war zones, leaving Charlotte alone and suffering months of deprivation during their first year in Ringkøbing-Skjern Municipality.

They bought the old farmhouse overlooking the Stadil Fjord in 2013, and Charlotte moved in full-time, while Ian could only come home as work allowed. But now the good life has really started as Ian retired this summer.

Ian is 48 years old and he has just landed a job with Vestas - the wind turbine manufacturer – as a Project Training Leader. 

Charlotte and Ian - Read the full story here

 

Ioana and Sorin

 
Romanian Family:

We have been made very welcome

”We love our country, Romania, but we have also grown very fond of Denmark which has become our home,” says 37-year-old Sorin Ungureanu who - together with his wife Ioana and their two children - find themselves so much at home that in the autumn of 2017 they bought the house of their dreams in Borris. Borris is a town with approximately 800 inhabitants in Ringkøbing-Skjern Municipality – geographically the biggest municipality in Denmark.

“We have been living here since 2011 and our children are fully integrated in the local community and gradually, so are we. We have been made to feel really welcome in this town. People gladly help us and we are very happy about living here,” Sorin says whilst simultaneously smiling at Erling Søndergaard - one of the passionate locals who likes to give a lending hand. Erling has helped the family with the purchase of their house, and as a friend of the family he joins our conversation as to why Sorin and Ioana came to Denmark and what it is like for a foreign family to move to Ringkøbing-Skjern Municipality.

”We are also happy having you here. We can tell that you like being here, and you have also done a great deal to become a part of the community,” Erling points out referring to the fact that Sorin among others has been active in leading a father-child gymnastics team and a table tennis team in town.

Ioana und Sorin - Read the full story here