New to Denmark

A foreign national who does not have permission to reside in Denmark and who is not cooperating with the immigration authorities on his/her departure will usually be required to stay at a return centre.

Residents at Return Centre Kærshovedgård are typically single men and childless couples, including:

Rejected asylum seekers who have exhausted all avenues of appeal and who are not co-operating on their departure.
Foreign nationals ordered by a court to leave Denmark.
Foreign nationals ordered to leave Denmark but who cannot be deported (tolerated stay/tålt ophold).
Foreign nationals whose residence permit has lapsed under the Aliens Act section 21 b (1)
Foreign nationals who are administratively expelled under the Aliens Act section 25.

Residents at Return Centre Sjælsmark are typically single foreign nationals and childless couples, including:

Rejected asylum seekers who have exhausted all avenues of appeal and who are not co-operating on their departure.
Foreign nationals who are to be returned to another EU/EEA country in accordance with the Dublin Agreement.
Rejected asylum seekers whose requests were processed according to the expedited procedure for manifestly ungrounded claims.

Residents at Return Centre Avnstrup are typically families without legal residence in Denmark as well as single women, including:

Rejected asylum seekers who have exhausted all avenues of appeal and who are not co-operating on their departure.
Foreign nationals ordered by a court to leave Denmark.
Foreign nationals ordered to leave Denmark but who cannot be deported (tolerated stay/tålt ophold)
Foreign nationals whose residence permit has lapsed under the Aliens Act section 21 b (1)
Foreign nationals who are administratively expelled under the Aliens Act section 25.

Entry and departure from Return Centre Kærshovedgård is controlled by an electronic access system. For the time being, this access system is not in effect at Return Centre Sjælsmark and Return Centre Avnstrup.

Return centres are staffed at all times.

At Return Centre Kærshovedgård and Return Centre Sjælsmark, residents receive three daily meals in the centres’ cafeterias. At Return Centre Avnstrup, families with children have the possibility to order and cook their own meals, while single women receive three daily meals as at the other return centres.

Residence duty, notification duty and reporting duty

Many of the foreign nationals accommodated at return centres have been ordered to comply with so-called control duties. These duties are imposed by the Danish Return Agency (Hjemrejsestyrelsen).

Common to foreign nationals who may be ordered to comply with one or more of these duties is that they no longer are entitled to (continue to) stay in Denmark.

A residence duty means that you must reside at a specific return centre and, as a general rule, spend every night there. The rules on residence duty are set out in section 13 (1) and (2) of the Danish Repatriation Act.
A notification duty means that if you are subject to a residence duty at a specific return centre, you must notify the centre if you stay outside the centre between 11 pm and 6 am. The rules are set out in section 13 (4) of the Danish Repatriation Act.
A reporting duty means that you must report in person to the staff of the Danish Return Agency at the return centre during a specified period of time. The rules are set out in section 12 of the Danish Repatriation Act.

The Danish Return Agency monitors whether foreign nationals subject to residence, notification and/or reporting duties comply with these duties. Breaches may be punishable.