I was talking in the previous post about making my stay in Denmark official. About finally having the headspace and time to devote time to studying and learning what I need to do for the citizenship test and then figure out the steps towards applying for citizenship.
A couple of weeks earlier I had even turned down a position abroad, partly because I put getting citizenship higher on my list of priorities and I didn't want to lose all the accumulated years that are required for applying both on the working side and on the permanent residence (a bit of a sunk-cost fallacy, I guess).
Nevertheless, the process looked relatively straightforward:
25 Nov 2026 • Citizenship test → Dec 2026 • Results → Jan 2027 • Send application → Early 2029 • Case processed → 2029 • Folketinget adopts naturalisation law → some months later • Constitutional ceremony = Danish citizen
I was already SUPER ready for this to take time. And I thought I knew what I was getting myself into. I also knew it was a tough process, but all in all clear-cut, transparent. What I wasn't ready for was this whole Pandora's box of information and, especially, the discourse around this process.
Since late 2024 there has been a huge debate over the naturalisation process, with many people having issues with people receiving Danish citizenship. Because during the processing of a naturalisation bill, three of the thousands of applicants were singled out because statements they had made (particularly on social media) raised questions among some politicians about whether they held ‘undemocratic’ views.
T H R E E
The Naturalisation Committee held interviews with the three, amid substantial controversy about the procedure and its legal basis, but in the end they remained on the bill and it was ultimately approved, granting citizenship to everyone, including those three.
In 2025, only one bill was introduced, in April, because the October one was going to be merged with the April 2026 bill due to the heavier workload given that Denmark held the Presidency of the Council of the EU from 1 July–31 December. In January 2026, they introduced in Parliament the now infamous naturalisation bill L98 (containing 2,055 applicants + 1,120 children). When the general election was called in February, L98 lapsed. Then everyone on that list waited patiently for the election to run its course, and as soon as Mette Frederiksen formed her new government, everyone expected that it would be reintroduced.
But guess what??? It was not. Not right away anyway, and they weren't going to, but due to pressure from other political parties and press, it was finally decided that it would be reintroduced in the first half of 2027.
Since March this year, there has been an effective freeze on the review of ordinary citizenship applications, with more than 14,000 applicants waiting for an answer.
Because now, the desire is to upgrade the citizenship application process to involve some sort of screening for 'democratic' or, better said, 'undemocratic' views. A team is currently investigating the legality of it all and possible ways of adding this extra step. But who can decide what is democratic or undemocratic? Where would be boundary be? And in which context? And what about the native-born Danes who hold these the very same, undemocratic, views? They too exist.
And I get the intention of ensuring that new Danes really are Danes at heart, but on the other hand, how would one ensure that the things people say are actually true, and they aren't lying? The statements that raised questions about those three applicants were found on social media. Then wouldn't that just make someone stay off social media or use a pseudonym instead for the entire duration of the application or maybe longer?
One of the concepts that I have been studying for the test was the Danish Constitution and the rights it ensures for everyone. One of these rights is the right to express oneself. That makes me wonder how a future system that screens applicants' statements, opinions and viewsis is supposed to distinguish between genuinely undemocratic views and the democratic ones that the citizenship seekers are expected to understand and embrace.
Reading through the Danish press horrifies me. It's making me more and more discouraged by this entire thing. Just the number of applications to be processed is already scary and that would definitely add HUGE delays if the freeze were to stop today (it won't but let's imagine).
But the thing that disgusts me the most is the tone with which politicians talk about the citizenship seekers, making assumptions about their background and generalizing, giving me such a weird vibe. Take this debate about introducing a naturalization bill in the first half of 2024 for example. At 15:27 Mikkel Bjørn challenges the ministry's usual rhetoric that many applicants are Western Europeans, with some hard-working Eastern Europeans, by reading out names such as Yasin, Yusuf, Ali Hussein, Ahmed and Muhammad. He then argues that immigration and naturalisation have made labels such as British, German, European and even Danish “diluted concepts”, before describing citizenship as an investment on behalf of the Danish people that should only be granted when there is strong reason to believe the applicant will benefit Denmark socially, culturally and economically.
Where are all these serial naturalization seekers, travelling from country to country collecting citizenship like they're Pokemon badges? Because who spends years building a life somewhere, meeting all the requirements for residence and integration and then going through administrative hell just to add another passport to their collection? Make it make sense ... pls.
Moreover, the way they're describing getting Danish citizenship as 'the finest gift Denmark can give' (Ulrik Knudsen - Danmarksdemokraterne's spokesperson on naturalisation according to this article + official Ministry of Immigration and Integration article).
I feel the need to scream ... what about the Law of Jante???
For context, the Law of Jante is the Scandinavian cultural idea that you shouldn't think you're better, more important, or more special than everyone else. I was hit with this idea when I first started university here back in 2010. It is often associated with the egalitarianism behind Denmark's famously flat social and workplace hierarchies.
Back to the topic ... how can Danish politicians and even some Danish citizens, who very often invoke this law towards immigrants coming to Denmark, now stand up and say that getting Danish citizenship is 'the finest thing one can possibly attain'? Morten Bødskov, the Minister for Immigration and Integration here in Denmark, recently said that in an answer to a question about his position on the introduction of conditional citizenship. I guess that it is a law only for immigrants ... not everyone in Denmark. Pardon me!!
And his answer was that he would like Denmark eventually to be able to implement conditional citizenship, because people should earn it both before and after getting it. LIKE WHAT? Also ... the example he was asked about concerned committing a criminal offence that results in a prison sentence. But ... somehow, given the current international climate everywhere, I can imagine it evolving even further. What worries me is that it is enough for them to find a way to implement this, and once they had a foot in the door, they would then be able to change it into whatever they wish.
But any such system would have to contend with Denmark's international obligations, including the 1961 UN Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness and the European Convention on Nationality, so for now let's say we're safe? :D
Still, how is it OK that getting citizenship isn't the final goalpost? Why are they always looking to move the goalpost? How much stricter can the citizenship application process get?
I was talking with a colleague from work, who applied twice for citizenship and was rejected both times because the rules changed while his applications were ongoing.
I have such a bad taste in my mouth that over the past two weeks, I have slowed down my studying, and I am rethinking whether I should wait or keep trying. I am usually not a quitter, but the more I learn and read, the more I am getting discouraged.
Maybe having this critique means I am not a Dane at heart ...
