medborger_i_danmark_engelsk.pdf - Ny i Danmark

28 Danish citizenship (nationality)ENTRY AND RESIDENCEUnder the Danish Constitution, the powerto grant Danish citizenship generally lieswith the Parliament. It exercises thispower by issuing so-called CitizenshipActs on a regular basis. In order to beeligible for Danish citizenship, you musttherefore satisfy certain criteria establishedby the Danish Parliament.These criteria include a certainknowledge of the Danish language,documented by a certificate issued by alanguage training centre or othereducational establishment. You must alsomeet certain requirements concerning theduration of your stay in Denmark.Basically, you must have been acontinuous resident in Denmark for atleast nine years. For stateless citizens andrefugees, the required period of residenceis only eight years. An applicant that hascommitted a criminal offence cannotattain Danish citizenship until after acertain period of time. If the offence isvery serious, he or she may never becomea Danish citizen. Nor can you become aDanish citizen if you have any outstandingbalances with public authorities, e.g.overdue (re)payment of certain publicbenefits, loans, taxes and duties.You must be at least 18 years of agebefore you can apply for Danish citizenship.You should submit your applicationto the police in the police district in whichyou reside. The police will also tell youhow long it usually takes to process anapplication.Some citizens may be granted Danishcitizenship by declaration. In addition toDanish-born citizens and citizens of theother Nordic countries, this applies toyoung foreign nationals with no criminalrecord who have lived in Denmark for atleast 10 years. You may obtain furtherinformation and an application form atthe state county in which you reside.When you have been granted Danishnationality, you are entitled to hold aDanish passport and to vote and benominated at national elections.