All that you need to know about Denmark’s Permanent Residency new rules

Naqeeb Khan Executive member of DGCA and Voice for Justice speaks at Aarhus Meeting regarding Bill L154

The Venstre government along the anti-immigrants Danish People’s Party (DF) with the support of Social Democrats, Conservative Party and Liberal Alliance passed the controversial Bill L154 on 4th May 2017.

MP Josephine Fock from Alternative party speaks at Demonstration

Kingsley Ezeoma, Executive Memeber DGCA and Voice for Justice speaks at demonstration.

Despite the 6 months long campaign against the bill by all immigrants supported by rest of the red block parties i.e. Alternative, Radikale Venstre, Enhedslisten and Socialist People’s Party for immigrants’ legal and justifiable demands, Social Democrats not only supported DF immigrations austerities but also voted against immigrants’ proposed amendments.

Read more: Danish parliament rejects campaign to soften residence bill

Expats demonstrates against the Bill L154 enfront of the Danish Parliament

 

Here is what the final version of rules means for a foreigner who wish to apply for Permanent Residency in Denmark.

The requirements are categorized  in basic and supplementary.

Basic requirements

In order to be granted Denmark’s permanent residence permit you must meet the following basic requirements:

• You must still meet the requirements for the residence permit you hold.
• You must be over the age of 18.
• You must have resided legally in Denmark for at least 8 years.  If you meet all of the 4 supplementary requirements (see below) you only have to have resided legally in Denmark for at least 4 years. Read more about legal residence.
• You must not have committed certain types of crime. Read more about crime.
• You must not have any overdue public debts unless you have been granted an extension of the repayment of the debt. Read more about debt.
• You must not have received public benefits within the last 4 years under the terms of the Active Social Policy Act or the Integration Act. Read more about public benefits.
• You have to accept a Declaration of integration and active citizenship in Danish society. Read more about Declaration of integration.
• You must have passed the Danish language test 2 (Prøve i Dansk 2) or a Danish language test of an equivalent or higher level. Read more about Danish language skills.
• You must have held a regular full-time employment or been self-employed for at least 3 years and 6 months within the last 4 years. Read more about employment.
• You must still be working at the time when the Danish Immigration Service decides the case. Read more about current employment.

Supplementary requirements

In order to be granted a permanent residence permit you must meet at least 2 of the 4 supplementary requirements in addition to the basic requirements:

• You must have passed an active citizen exam test or have exhibited active citizenship in Denmark. Read more about active citizen.
• You must have held a regular full-time employment or been self-employed for at least 4 years within the last 4 years and 6 months. Read more about employment.
• You must have had a yearly taxable income that over the last 2 years has been DKK 275.400 (2017 level) or above on average. Read more about income.
• You must have passed the Danish language test 3 (Prøve i Dansk 3) or a Danish language test of an equivalent or higher level. Read more about Danish language skills.

The 4 supplementary requirements are equally ranked and therefore it is insignificant which 2 of 4 requirements you meet. If you meet all 4 supplementary requirements, you can be granted a permanent residence permit after having resided legally in Denmark for at least 4 years.

Credit: www.nyidanmark.dk

 

Reported by Naqeeb Khan, who is a graduate of University of Glasgow, Scotland and currently resides in Denmark. He is President of Green Human Resources, Executive member of Danish Green Card Association (DGCA) and Spokesperson for Voice for Justice Unfair Permanent Residency Rules Denmark. He can be contacted at qau2005@gmail.com.