What’s the background to the bill? 

Shortly after taking office in 2022, Denmark’s three-party coalition government said it wanted to ease Denmark’s strict rules on family reunification, and in December last year, the immigration ministry said that the three government parties — the Social Democrats, Liberal Party, and Moderate Party — had agreed on the changes they wanted to make.

In the announcement, they said that Danish language requirements would be eased for Danes who apply for family reunification for their partners, following a number of absurd individual cases whereby a family reunification was refused because the Danish partner – born, raised and schooled in Denmark – failed to meet a Danish language requirement despite Danish being their mother tongue.

However, the bill, when tabled in parliament on April 11th, also included additional changes.

The bank guarantee or bankgaranti, the amount of money those bringing spouses need to prove they can provide, was halved, and rules on barring spouses with criminal records were tightened to include those who had been charged or were under prosecution for a crime. 

The bill had its first reading in parliament on April 18th. It will have its second reading on May 28th before a final reading and vote on May 30th.

Halving the financial security needed to bring a spouse to Denmark  

The bill proposes that the bankgaranti be halved from 114,000 kroner to 57,000 kroner (both 2024 level). 

This will greatly reduce one of the greatest barriers to bringing a spouse to Denmark, as many of those wanting to bring a partner have simply been unable to afford to deposit more than €15,000 in an account that they cannot touch for 10 years. 

This security deposit can be placed with a bank under guarantee to transfer it to the local authorities in the municipality in which the applicant lives, if needed, or else placed into an account which the municipality can draw from directly.

The idea is that the deposit be used to pay for costs such as unemployment benefits, if the spouse who has come to Denmark needs them. After 10 years in Denmark – the usual point at which permanent residency can be granted – the guarantee is no longer required.  

Under the proposed law, it will still be possible to deposit a lower amount if the incoming spouse passes their compulsory Danish tests, but the amount you can save will be “proportionally adjusted” to take into account the lower security payment. 

Blocking people from permanent residency or spousal reunification if they’ve been accused of a crime

Perhaps as a way of defending what is mainly a relaxation of immigration rules, the government has also proposed changing Denmark’s rules on permanent residency so that it is not enough not to have been sentenced for committing a serious crime, but foreigners should also not have been charged or prosecuted for a crime in a case which is still ongoing. 

Danish citizens or refugees with permanent residency who apply for family reunion with a spouse are also subject to so-called “transferred conditions”, which are the conditions the partner who already has a right to live in Denmark needs to meet. 

The law proposes that the partner with an existing right to live in Denmark can also not have been charged for a serious crime. 

Change to the Danish language requirement 

The bill proposes reducing the Danish language requirement for the partner with an existing right to live in Denmark (normally because they are Danish citizens), so that the requirement will be “considered fulfilled” if the resident has spent five years or more in full-time employment or been self-employed in a job that has “significantly involved communication in Danish”. 

This is a response to the publication in newspapers of absurd individual cases whereby a family reunification was refused because the Danish partner – born, raised and schooled in Denmark – failed to meet a Danish language requirement, despite Danish being their mother tongue.

Those affected by this were primarily working-class Danes who hadn’t manage to complete formal schooling, and who could as a result not document that they had Danish of a sufficiently high level. 

The new bill also plans to change the rules to allow Danish nationals to take a Danish language test, so that they can prove that they meet the language requirement. 

Giving expat Danes same rights to bring families as foreigners 

The bill also proposes a new opholdsordning or “residence scheme” will allow returning Danes to bring their families with them based on the same rules which are currently applied to foreign nationals granted work permits in Denmark.

Currently, Danes returning home to Denmark need to meet the rules for family reunification if they want to bring a spouse to Denmark, even if they have been offered a job which, if it had been given to a foreigner, would have been grounds for a residence permit for an accompanying spouse. 

As a result, the bill proposes that if the Dane can show that their new job in Denmark would have qualified them to bring an accompanying spouse, then their spouse can come to Denmark on the same terms as a that of a foreign worker. 

What happens if I apply for family reunion before the rules come into force? 

The Danish Immigration Service wrote on its New to Denmark page on May 2nd that applications for spousal reunion would be covered by the rules in place at the time of decision rather than at the time the original application was made. 

“It will be possible to have an application submitted before this time processed under the new rules when they come into force,” the agency wrote.

The agency said it planned to contact people with ongoing applications for spousal reunion to ask them if they wanted to delay a decision in their case until the new rules come into force, so that they, for example, only have to submit 57,000 kroner as a financial guarantee.  

What have opposition parties said about the bill? 

It its first reading, aspects of the bill were questioned by MPs for the anti-immigration Danish People’s Party and Denmark Democrats. 

“Is it really a step in the right direction to now halve the bank guarantee required to achieve family reunification?” Peter Skaarup, from the Denmark Democrats, asked, accusing the Liberal Party of backing away from a requirement it had brought in. 

Fredrik Vad, who introduced the bill for the Social Democrats, pointed out that only 3,000 of the 96,000 residency permits given in 2023 were on the basis of family reunification. Of the 570 applications for family reunion refused, only 40 were refused due to failure to provide the bank guarantee. 

Torsten Schack Pedersen, who was speaking for the Liberal Party, made the same point, although he conceded that those without the required collateral may simply not be applying. 

“It may be that there are some who would like to have a family reunification, but who refrain from applying because they have had difficulty with [the bank guarantee]. That may also be part of the explanation,” he said. 

What are the chances of the bill getting through parliament unchanged and when will it start to apply?

As the government coalition has an effective majority in the parliament, it is highly likely that the bill will get voted though on May 30th, after which it will come into force on July 1st, 2024. 

What happens if I apply for family reunion before the rules come into force? 

The Danish Immigration Service wrote on its New to Denmark page on May 2nd that applications for spousal reunion would be covered by the rules in place at the time of decision rather than at the time the original application was made. 

“It will be possible to have an application submitted before this time processed under the new rules when they come into force,” the agency wrote.

The agency said it planned to contact people with ongoing applications for spousal reunion to ask them if they wanted to delay a decision in their case until the new rules come into force, so that they, for example, only have to submit 57,000 kroner as a financial guarantee.