Hi all. Forgive the post in English, but I'd only embarrass myself with my current level of Danish.
I'm half English, half Danish adult (30yo). I have English citizenship. My mother (100% Dane) has lived in France, and England for the past 30ish years, having left Denmark in her early 20s for work. She has Danish citizenship exclusively. I have vastly more family members in Denmark, than in the UK,
I never thought England would actually let brexit happen, and that has put me and my brother in a bind. We both thought we would always be welcome in Denmark with a European passport. Now, with British passports, we've essentially become 'half stateless'.
The older I get, and the more time I spend in the UK, the more I'm losing faith with this country. I fully understand the whole 'grass is always greener on the other side' irony to this point, but after having recently had a child, a large part of me wants to be able to claim the right to work and live in Denmark, for the safety and security of my family in the event that I no longer feel safe here.
In 2017, we tried to secure citizenship for myself and my brother. We were rejected on the premise that we hadn't spent enough time in Denmark (roughly 6 months since birth).
Recently, I'm really hoping to try again as I now have the realization that if my English father were to pass away, my mother and I would essentially have no legal right to live in the same country indefinitely. This also goes for my very elderly grandparents in Denmark.
At this point, I'd be willing to move to Denmark for as long as it took, hell, maybe staying if things worked out, to try and get my citizenship of both Denmark and Europe. However, I've never seen any suggestion that this is an option.
TLDR: are there any other half-Danes who grew up in another country who managed to get citizenship as an adult? Are there any new avenues that could be explored?
Thanks.
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The original was posted on /r/denmark by /u/evthrowawayverysad at 2024-03-14 00:26:00+00:00.
Ok_Dog98211 at 2024-03-14 00:41:02+00:00 ID:
kurjyqhSince I'm the first one here, I'll give you fair warning, every time this board sees these posts, it gets pretty ugly. People are likely not going to be kind.
As it stands, Denmark is not an easy country to move to, irrespective of parentage. Making the transition at this stage of your life is incredibly difficult. You'll likely face exactly the same hoops, jumps and hurdles as anyone else wishing to migrate. There's the obvious Googling to be done since it's a fairly oft asked question, you'll find good resources. Alternatively, I would ask your mother to reach out to the Danish state and ask the questions directly, they'd be the people best suited to help.
Lastly, search the board, those posts pop up a couple of times a day/week, you'll find the same answers given there most likely.
Best of luck.
evthrowawayverysad (OP) at 2024-03-14 00:47:34+00:00 ID:
kurl0o1Thats a shame. I'd have thought there'd be some sympathy since I'm essentially trapped between being a citizen of a country I don't much enjoy living in, and rejected by a country I'm half born of.
She has herself, and so have I. We were essentially stonewalled without much explanation, other than due to brexit, the number of applicants made citizenship applications slow or stopped entirely. This was in 2017, and I'm hoping to find out if someone who has been through the process more recently has found it to be better.
proevligeathoerher at 2024-03-14 08:24:26+00:00 ID:
kut2pqaHonestly, I think it's because of a difference in what we understand as 'being Danish' than what other countries might consider in regards to similar situations within their country.
A great example I always use to describe how Danes view you as Danish or not, is by looking at the difference between Viggo Morten and Scarlett Johanson. Both are born to Danish father and an American mother. Both are not considered Danish. If you ask any Dane, Viggo is a Dane. There's no doubt about this - he's Danish, he speaks Danish, he's spent a lot of time in the country and he knows and shows appreciation of our culture.
If you ask Danes, Scarlett is not Danish - she's American with Danish heritage. This is because she doesn't speak Danish, she seems to have no interest or connection to Denmark, and she's never really been here. (Unlike her bother who is considered Danish, because unlike her he does have/do all of those things above).
A perfect example of this is to go look at the Danish version of their wikipages. On there Viggo is described as a 'Danish actor' and Scarlett is described as American-Danish and "American with Danish roots".
So in summary: to Danes having a Danish parent does not automatically mean that you in their eyes are Danish. And that where you are going wrong with your interactions here. To Danes you are coming off as if you feel like you are entitled to a country that you yourself admit you have no bond to other than a Danish parent and some grandparents you've apperantly only visited a total of two months in your entire life. It comes off as entitled and against the Danish spirit.
(And to add, so you don't feel attacked here, because it's not my intention to acttack, simply to explain cultural difference: I'm Danish but my husband is not, I'm currently pregnant with a half-Danish child. I have nothing against any form of immigration and this isn't me saying you are not welcome here).
evthrowawayverysad (OP) at 2024-03-14 01:29:21+00:00 ID:
kurrprpYou were not kidding... there's a really surprising resentment here. I just want to be able to live in the same country as my family.
HeroeDeFuentealbilla at 2024-03-14 05:54:52+00:00 ID:
kusqa40I’ve read all comments on here and haven’t seen a single one that’s anywhere near this lmao.
chaos-consultant at 2024-03-14 06:18:08+00:00 ID:
kussd6iReally, though? Is that really the case?
In another reply, you say that may have spent enough time in Denmark to meet the requirements, which are really very low. That's not a lot, by any means.
The thing is, you have lived your entire life in the UK and evidently not felt any more Danish than having spent at most a few months here, and don't really know any Danish. Which is totally fine. But realistically, you have not been in Denmark any more than some of the more zealous German tourists that vacation here every year.
But then you decide on what seems like a whim that maybe you could just like, become a citizen, with almost zero real attachment to the country, because you think it might be nicer over here.
You really can't see how this comes off as sort of opportunistic and naive?
I'm not even a Danish citizen myself, I migrated here as a kid, but I can still see why people might feel that way, and surely you can too.