Public benefits (family reunification and permanent residence)
If you as the applicant or your spouse/partner has received public benefits it may have influence on whether you can be granted a residence permit, an extension of your residence permit or a permanent residence permit. This is the case if the benefits are granted under the terms of the Active Social Policy Act (lov om aktiv socialpolitik) or the Integration Act (integrationsloven).
Below are a number of examples of benefits granted under the terms of the two Acts, and which therefore will normally prevent you from being granted a residence permit, an extension of your residence permit or a permanent residence permit. There is also a list of examples of benefits, which will not prevent from being granted a permit.
If you are in doubt about which Act a payment is awarded under, you can contact the authority that has granted you the public benefits.
Examples of benefits granted under the terms of the Active Social Policy Act or the Integration Act which will normally prevent you from being granted a residence permit, an extension of your residence permit or a permanent residence permit:
- Integration benefits (integraitonsydelse).
- Start help benefits (starthjælp)
- Social security (kontanthjælp), including supplementary social security.
- Rehabilitation benefit (revalidering).
- Resource course grant (ressourceforløbsydelse).
- Educational grant (uddannelseshjælp).
Benefits granted under the terms of another act than the Active Social Policy Act or the Integration Act, will not prevent you from being granted a residence permit, an extension of your residence permit or a permanent residence permit. Examples of such benefits are:
- Student grants (SU).
- Benefits paid during periods of unemployment (arbejdsløshedsdagpenge), illness (sygedagpenge) or paternity leave (barselsdagpenge).
- Pension (including early aged pension and old aged pension).
- Housing assistance (boligstøtte) granted under the terms of Individual Housing Assistance Act (lov om individuel boligstøtte).
- Financial support granted to an employer upon hiring you in a wage subsidies (løntilskud) or flexjob (fleksjob) position. Be aware that if the employer has received public funds to pay all or some of the wages (løntilskud) the employment will not be considered as regular employment and therefore the employment does not meet the employment requirement.
- Fully subsidised places for children in day-care (friplads).
- Tax-free educational grant.
- Compensation received under Vocational Education and Training for adults (Euv). Be aware that education and work that are part of an education do not meet the employment requirement.
Benefits that are exempt
If you have received small, one-time benefits not directly related to assistance, you can still be granted a residence permit, an extension of your residence permit or a permanent residence permit. An example of a one-time benefit is financial assistance from the municipality in connection with treatment for an illness or benefits received when moving.
Another example is that you may receive a benefit that is comparable to wages or a pension or the equivalent, such as unemployment benefits paid to individuals working in local-authority subsidised positions (fleksjob) while they are on holiday.
If your spouse/partner has received unemployment benefits under the terms of the Active Social Policy Act (lov om aktiv socialpolitik) after being referred to a flex job it does not prevent family reunification.