New to Denmark

Citizenship

What is a citizenship?

A citizenship is a person's status as entitled and obligated in relation to a particular state.

In Denmark, Danish citizenship is also called 'dansk indfødsret'.

The granting of citizenship is mostly a national matter and is primarily important in the specific state, which reserves certain rights to its own citizens or imposes certain duties on them, e.g. the right to reside and work in the state, the right to vote, the right to social benefits, the right to owning real estate, military service, civil attorney, etc.

Internationally, citizenship entails a right for a state to exercise diplomatic protection for the benefit of its own nationals who get into difficulties abroad.

According to international law, other states are only obliged to respect a granted citizenship if there is a real connection between the person and the country that granted the citizenship in question.

In Denmark, it is the Ministry of Immigration and Integration that processes applications for Danish citizenship.

Stateless persons born in Denmark

Special rules apply to persons who were born stateless in Denmark and who apply for Danish citizenship.

In this connection, the Danish Immigration Service and SIRI draw attention to the fact that certain countries do not recognize the transfer of citizenship from mother to child. It is not possible to make a definitive list of these countries. However, every year UNHCR prepares a list of countries (currently 24 countries) where mothers cannot pass on citizenship to their children on equal terms with the fathers. The list serves only as a guiding document.

If you are born to a woman from one of these countries, you can be stateless if your father is either stateless or unknown. If you are in that situation, you may be covered by the special rules for citizenship for stateless persons born in Denmark.

Your options for becoming a Danish citizen as a stateless person born in Denmark depend on whether you are under the age of 18, between 18 and 21 or over 21.

Possibility of Danish citizenship for stateless persons under the age of 18

If you were born stateless in Denmark, under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, you can be admitted on a bill of citizenship notification without meeting the general conditions for obtaining Danish citizenship, if you apply before you turn 18 and reside in Denmark.

Possibility of Danish citizenship for stateless persons between the ages of 18 and 21

If you were born as a stateless person in Denmark, under the UN Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, you can be admitted to a bill on the notification of citizenship, without meeting the general conditions for obtaining Danish citizenship, if:

you have permanent residence in Denmark,
you are 18 but not yet 21 at the time you submit the application,
you have had permanent residence in Denmark for either 5 years immediately prior to the time you submit the application, or for 8 years in total,
you have not been found guilty of any crime against national security or have been sentenced to imprisonment of 5 years or more for a criminal offence, and that
you have always been stateless. It is also a condition that you provide information in good faith that you have not been found guilty of any crime against the security of the state or have been sentenced to imprisonment of 5 years or more for a criminal offence.

Possibility of Danish citizenship for stateless persons over the age of 21

You can read more about the rules for Danish citizenship for stateless persons over the age of 21 at uim.dk, including the rules for people who have been mistreated or misguided about their rights.