Declaration pursuant to section 11 b of the Danish Marriage Act of awareness of the rules of the Danish Aliens Act on reunification of spouses

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Pursuant to section 9(1)(i)(a) to (d) of the Aliens Act, a residence permit may be granted, upon application, to an alien over the age of 24 who cohabits at a shared residence, either in marriage or in regular cohabitation of prolonged duration, with a person permanently resident in Denmark over the age of 24 who is a Danish national (sub-paragraph (a)), or a national of one of the other Nordic countries (sub-paragraph (b)), or is issued with a residence permit as a refugee (sub-paragraph (c)), or has held a permanent residence permit for Denmark for more than the last three years (sub-paragraph (d)).

To be granted spousal reunification, the following conditions must be fulfilled.

• The spouse living in Denmark must prove that he or she is able to maintain the applicant, cf. section 9(3) of the Aliens Act.
• The spouse living in Denmark must provide a financial security to cover any future public expenses for assistance granted to the applicant under the Act on an Active Social Policy or the Integration Act, cf. section 9(4) of the Aliens Act. The amount is subject to rate adjustment and amounted to DKK 54,158 as of 1 January 2005.
• The spouse living in Denmark may not have received any assistance under the Act on an Active Social Policy or the Integration Act for a period of 1 year prior to the date when the application for a residence permit is submitted and until the residence permit is issued, cf. section 9(5) of the Aliens Act.
• The spouse living in Denmark must prove that he or she disposes of his or her own dwelling of a reasonable size, cf. section 9(6) of the Aliens Act.
• Unless the spouse living in Denmark is a Danish national and has been so for 28 years, or was born and raised in Denmark, or came to Denmark as a young child and was raised in this country, and has stayed lawfully in Denmark for – in all essentials a consecutive period of – at least 28 years, the spouses’ aggregate ties with Denmark must be stronger than their aggregate ties with any other country, cf. section 9(7), first sentence, of the Aliens Act. If the spouse living in Denmark was adopted from abroad before his or her sixth birthday and acquired Danish nationality not later than at his or her adoption, such person will be considered to have been a Danish national from birth, cf. section 9(7), second sentence, of the Aliens Act.
• It may not be considered doubtful that the marriage was contracted at both parties’ own desire, cf. section 9(8), first sentence, of the Aliens Act. If the marriage has been contracted between close relatives or otherwise closely related parties, it is considered doubtful, unless particular reasons make it inappropriate, that the marriage was contracted at both parties’ own desire, cf. section 9(8), second sentence, of the Aliens Act.
• The person living in Denmark may not have been sentenced by final judgment to imprisonment or other criminal sanction involving or allowing deprivation of liberty for violent assault on a spouse or cohabitant within the last 10 years, cf. section 9(10) of the Aliens Act.
• No application for family reunification under section 9(16) of the Aliens Act from the applicant’s accompanying child may have been refused. According to this provision, a child’s application may be refused if within the last 10 years the person living in Denmark, or his or her spouse or cohabitant, has been sentenced by final judgment to imprisonment or other criminal sanction involving or allowing deprivation of liberty for violent assault on under-age children, cf. section 9(11) of the Aliens Act.

One of the considerations taken into account by the immigration authorities in their assessment of whether particular reasons make it inappropriate to require fulfilment of the above conditions due to the regard for family unity is:

• There may be no definite reasons for assuming that the decisive purpose of contracting the marriage is to obtain a residence permit, cf. section 9(9) of the Aliens Act.

We, the undersigned, hereby declare that we are both aware of the above provisions on reunification of spouses as prescribed in section 9(1)(i) and section 9(3) to (11) of the Aliens Act, cf. section 11 b of the Formation and Dissolution of Marriage Act (Marriage Act).

Section 11 b of the Formation and Dissolution of Marriage Act:

”In cases where one of the parties is not a Danish national or a national of one of the other Nordic countries or does not hold a residence permit under sections 6 to 9 f of the Aliens Act, and where the other party is a Danish national, such Nordic national or holds such residence permit, the marriage may not be contracted unless each of the parties has submitted a declaration of awareness of the provisions of section 9(1)(i) and section 9(3) to (11) of the Aliens Act. This does not apply if the person living in Denmark is either a EU/EEA national issued with a residence permit under section 6 of the Aliens Act, a Swiss national issued with a residence permit under section 6 of the Aliens Act, or an Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, Slovakian, Slovenian, Czech or Hungarian national issued with a residence permit under section 9 a of the Aliens Act.”

Therefore, EU/EEA nationals issued with a residence permit under section 6 of the Aliens Act, Swiss nationals issued with a residence permit under section 6 of the Aliens Act, and Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, Slovakian, Slovenian, Czech and Hungarian nationals issued with a residence permit under section 9 a of the Aliens Act do not have to sign this Declaration.

This Declaration has been issued by the Danish Ministry of Refugee, Integration and Immigration Affairs and is effective as from 1 July 2005.

Publiceret: 14-01-2005

Sidst opdateret: 07-05-2009