Denmark’s immigration ministry has quietly announced that it has stopped processing almost all citizenship cases for an indefinite period. The decision feels like a cold rejection, The Local Denmark editor Michael Barrett writes.
It’s election season in Denmark, a time for discussing and considering political opinions and viewpoints, making a decision on your personal standpoint and placing your vote to help shape the country’s future.
For most people.
Long-term foreign residents of Denmark, who decide the country is part of their future and want to commit to it, must meet stringent requirements if they want to become naturalised Danes, usually including living in the country for at least nine years.
They must also have clean criminal records, be financially secure, speak fluent Danish and demonstrate understanding of national culture and values.
READ ALSO: How to apply for citizenship in Denmark
After this, they can submit an application to the Ministry of Immigration and Integration, which will approve it if it meets the requirements before sending it to parliament for final approval as part of a naturalisation bill.
At least, that’s been the case up until the general election was called, after which the ministry quietly announced in a statement on its website that almost all applications for naturalisation would no longer be processed “until clarity comes after the election” on what conditions will apply in future.
This vague statement left me, as someone with an application for citizenship pending, more than a little frustrated.
Until the outcome of the election and identity of the new government is known, changes to citizenship rules, if indeed there are any in the near future, are a matter of speculation.
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What is this “clarity” that is so desperately lacking that the ministry must halt the objective administrative process of checking citizenship applications?
Does it mean they want to know what the next government’s specific policies will be? Wait until a new law is passed? For the results of the ongoing commission on screening to be published?
Maybe it’s for none of these reasons and there’s something else, because I can’t see the logic in halting an administrative process because rules might change in future. You could make that argument for any state function.
The Local has been in contact with the ministry by phone and email to ask for elaboration on the statement, and we’ll report any additional information we receive.
What is certain is that the processing time for citizenship applications, which stood at 24 months in 2025 — before parliament cancelled one of last year’s naturalisation bills — will be lengthened even further by the decision to halt processing until an as-yet undefined time in the future.
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When I applied for Danish citizenship last year, I realised that it probably wouldn’t be approved in time for me to vote in the 2026 election. That is something I would love to have done given how passionately I feel about Denmark, a sense of loyalty that has only grown stronger during a period in which the country has been subjected to insults and disinformation from across the Atlantic.
The latest news from the ministry leaves me wondering whether I’ll be able to vote in the next election after this, or indeed any Danish general election at all.
It feels like another cold shoulder to those of us who weren’t born in Denmark, but want to be accepted by the country and make the best contribution we can.
Members can join our live Q&A today from 2.30pm as The Local Denmark’s editor Michael Barrett responds to your comments after the announcement that processing of applications for citizenship has been suspended. More information here.