MPs from the Social Democrat, Liberal and Moderate parties – the three parties in Denmark’s ruling coalition – all voted in favour of the bill, as did those from the Red Green Alliance, Socialist Left, Social Liberal and Alternative parties.
MPs from the Denmark Democrats, Danish People’s Party, Liberal Alliance, and Conservative parties all voted against, meaning the bill passed with 78 votes in favour and 29 against.
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In a statement posted on its website on Thursday, the Danish Immigration Service said that the rules would be applied to applications made after April 11th, and would start to apply from July 1st.
When the new law comes into force, the bankgaranti that Danes who want to bring their foreign spouses to Denmark need to leave with their municipality, will be halved from 114,000 kroner to 57,000 kroner (both 2024 level).
The Danish language requirements for Danes who apply for family reunification for their partners will also be “considered fulfilled” if the Danish partner has spent five years or more in full-time employment or been self-employed in a job that has “significantly involved communication in Danish”.
Formerly, they needed to provide academic records which some Danes had either lost or never received.
The new law will give Danes returning to Denmark following several years abroad, the same rights to bring their families to Denmark as foreigners who have received residency via a work permit, so long as the job they have received in Denmark would qualify them for a work permit under one of Denmark’s many work permit schemes.
Finally, in a section designed to stop the measure seem like a relaxation of immigration rules, the bill changes the law so that anyone charged or indicted for a certain type of offences, will in future not be issued with permanent residence.
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