New to Denmark

The rules relating to re-education trips are intended to prevent you as a child or young person from being sent on a re-education journey.

The rules are also intended to ensure that a previous re-education trip abroad does not have any negative implications for your right to reside in the country.

What is a re-education trip?

A re-education trip or any other trip abroad with negative implications is when the stay outside of Denmark has a negative impact on you, e.g:

because the purpose of the trip is that you are sent back to your parents' home country or another country, so that you can be influenced by the norms and values of that country to the detriment of your integration in Denmark, or

because the conditions during your stay abroad seriously endanger your health or development.

A re-education trip will typically be involuntary.

Below you can read more about which rules apply if you are at risk of or have been sent on a re-education trip or any other trips abroad with negative implications for you.

The Immigration Service can prevent the trip by revoking your passport

The Immigration Service has the option to revoke your current passport if it is suspected that your parents will send you abroad for a re-education trip or any other trip abroad with negative implications.

The Immigration Service can also refuse to issue a passport for you if there is suspicion of an upcoming re-education trip.

The aim is to prevent your parents from sending you on a re-education trip or any other trip abroad with negative implications for you.

The Immigration Service can only do this if you have an alien’s passport or convention passport that has been issued by the Immigration Service, not if you have a passport from your country of origin.

Your residence permit in Denmark does not lapse if you have been on a re-education trip

If you stay outside Denmark for an extended period, your residence permit will usually lapse. Normally, however, this will not be the case if the stay resulted from you being sent on a re-education trip or any other trip abroad with negative implications before you turned 18. This applies even if you have stayed outside Denmark for an extended period.

The aim is to ensure that your parents having sent you on a re-education trip or any other trip abroad with negative implications does not have any negative effect on your right to reside in Denmark.

Easier access to permanent residence if you have been on a re-education journey

If you have been granted a dispensation from the lapse of your residence permit as a result of having been sent on a re-education trip or any other trip abroad with negative implications, you can obtain a permanent residence under more lenient requirements.

The purpose of this is to ensure that you are not disadvantaged compared to other young people in regards to obtaining a permanent residence permit in Denmark.

Do you want to speak to the Immigration Service or SIRI?

You can have an interview in the form of a physical or virtual meeting with a caseworker at the Immigration Service or SIRI, if you are at risk of being sent on a re-education trip, or if you have already been sent to a re-education trip.

The purpose of the interview is to allow you to talk about your situation concerning a re-education trip or any other trip abroad with negative implications. The interview can be held without your parents participating and without them knowing that it is taking place.

You also have the option to call the Immigration Service and receive guidance on what a possible re-education trip means for your stay in Denmark. To that end, the agency has a special hotline. It is also through this hotline that you can arrange a meeting with the Immigration Service or SIRI.

Your municipality has a duty of disclosure

The municipality you live in has a duty to pass on suspicion or information about you being sent on a re-education trip or any other trip abroad with negative implications to the Immigration Service or SIRI.