The government has reached an agreement with the Liberal Alliance party to raise fees for foreigners wishing to obtain Danish citizenship, according to the Danish Ministry of Immigration and Integration.
The current cost is 4,000 Danish kroner to apply for Danish citizenship, and under the agreement, the fee is raised to 6,000 Danish kroner per application, so that the new fee is commensurate with the costs of processing applications.
Under the current rules, if a citizenship application is rejected, the application can be resubmitted an unlimited number of times without any additional cost. However, this will now change after the new agreement so that only the first resubmission is free, while the applicant will then have to pay a fee for resubmitting applications again, as the resubmission fee will be 3,000 Danish kroner.
Today, young people who were born or raised in Denmark pay the same amount when applying for citizenship as anyone else, i.e., 4,000 Danish kroner. The government and the Liberal Alliance have decided that the first-time application fee for young people born or raised in Denmark will remain the same, i.e., 4,000 Danish kroner. This should be viewed in light of the fact that Denmark has special international obligations for this group.
Immigration and Integration Minister Kaar Dybvad Beik of the Social Democratic Party, a member of the governing coalition, stated: “I am pleased that, through this agreement, we are now increasing the application fee for Danish citizenship to more accurately reflect the expenses actually incurred by the Danish state in processing applications. It is only fair. At the same time, the ministry has seen numerous instances of applicants who have applied multiple times and been rejected each time. In my view, it is not right that people can apply repeatedly without paying, as it obviously costs the treasury money to process these reapplying applications. Therefore, I am very satisfied with the agreement. However, I regret that I now have to consider the Conservatives as having withdrawn from the citizenship agreement. Naturally, I would have preferred them to remain in the agreement.”
As Heidi Bank, the immigration law rapporteur for the Liberal Party, which is part of the governing coalition, stated: “It is only fair that we now increase the application fee for citizenship so that it more closely reflects the costs associated with processing. We will therefore now introduce a reapply fee, so that people who repeatedly apply without the prospect of obtaining citizenship have to pay part of the costs associated with processing the case when they reapply. In general, it is absolutely essential that we review the citizenship rules repeatedly and close the loopholes that can be exploited by people who should not be granted Danish citizenship.“
Immigration law rapporteur Mohammed Rona of the Moderate Party, a member of the governing coalition, stated:
”In Denmark, we have strict rules for obtaining citizenship – and we shouldn’t tamper with them. However, we do have some applicants who repeatedly apply and are rejected. That’s why we’re now setting a fee for applying for citizenship, to match the costs associated with reapplying. We shouldn’t change the right to apply for citizenship, but I think it’s reasonable to pay when reapplying, for example, for the fourth or even fifth time. Too many reapplying would likely create a huge administrative burden, and the risk of increasing the overall processing time is too high. On the other hand, we’re not tampering with the first opportunity to reapply; a few minor errors don’t have to be a barrier to obtaining citizenship.“
Immigration law rapporteur Sandra Elizabeth Scalvig of the Liberal Alliance party, which is a party to this agreement with the government, stated:
”In the Liberal Alliance, we believe that the application fee for Danish citizenship should reflect the costs associated with processing the application, as it costs the treasury every time the case has to be re-examined. With this agreement, we are taking a step in the right direction by increasing the application fee for Danish citizenship and the fee for re-applying. The revised fee will also help ensure that fewer people who do not meet the necessary criteria apply for Danish citizenship.“
The agreement has already been concluded and will come into effect after the fees are amended through an amendment to the Citizenship Act, which will be presented to Parliament in the next session. It appears from the agreement that the government has secured the necessary votes for its implementation, thanks to the Liberal Alliance party.
