Divorcing EU partner as Non EU

[user881313]

Hello
Will be getting divorced from my EU partner, me being non EU. We've been married for over 3 years (got married in Denmark), and been living in Denmark for over 2 years. When the divorce conversation happened with my partner, I asked my company to apply for my residence permit, which they did and I just got a positive answer. While searching about if it was safe now (from an immigration standpoint), to submit the divorce request I found about the EU rules (here the link: https://www.retsinformation.dk/eli/lta/2019/318) that state that I can maintain my current EU permit, because of having been married for more than 3 years, and living in Denmark for more than one year.

So my questions are as follow:
- Has my family reunification under EU rules permit lapsed, by getting my new work permit?
- If my family reunification permit has not lapsed, do I need to apply for some permit at SIRI after filing the divorce at familiehuset? I have checked all around nyidanmark but haven't found anything that applies to this case
- If I'm able to get divorced and continue under EU rules, will the over 2 years of already living here count towards the 5 years for permanent residence?

I appreciate any responses, and now realise that I should've done my research before applying for my work permit (for which the conditions are of course not as convenient as if I can maintain my permit as EU).

Thanks in advance to anyone that can offer some info.

[user881313]

I was able to answer all the questions by calling SIRI so posting them here, might be useful for someone else:

The rule about the three years + 1 year is indeed valid, but it took some time until someone at SIRI could actually confirm this. On the nyidanmark website there is no mention of this, and they insisted that when the divorce happens the permit will lapse. After they internally rechecked the info I got another call confirming the validity of the rule.

Answers to my questions:
- No, the previous permit didn't lapse. A person can have several simultaneous residence permits, that as long as conditions for those are met are all valid.
- No, there is no application that needs to be made. According to SIRI official the process gets started automatically after the divorce has been filed. I'm supposed to be contacted by them at some point, once all the different offices get the info (familieretshuset, kommune, SIRI)
- Yes, the previous time on permit counts towards PR

[mhg]

I suppose you took a deep sigh of relief. And as long as you stay self-sufficient, you will qualify for pr in three years time.

[nathan]

May I ask if you know that you can only stay because of your new work permit? I’m in the exact same situation(3y married and 2 of these years living in Denmark with a salary above the 309k minimum per year, so self sufficient) except that I can not apply for a work permit, I asked my work and they only hire people who already have a visa.
Do you think I could stay in Denmark in my case? With the family reunification visa under EU law?

Thank you in advance

[mhg]

@nathan, user881313 can stay with double residence permit/right. One EU-card, and another one under Danish rules.
If you got family reunification under EU-rules, have been married for at least three years, and lived in DK for at least one of the three, before you divorce from the person you got reunited to, you may keep your EU-residence right, and if you stay self-supporting (that is: do not claim any benefits under 'Aktivloven'), you may after 5 years of residence gain the right to a permanent EU-residence.

I do not quite understand why your job refuses to help you get a work visa, but on the other hand it is not really an advantage, as it is so tightly tied to a specific job that changing jobs means you have to apply for a new permit. The EU-visa just requires you to be self-supporting be either job, independent business/income, income from 'A-kasse', living off income from assets, or even spousal support, and in two years time you will qualify for your permanent residence card - after getting which, should you for some reason need to apply for benefits it will no longer affect your residence right negatively.

[user881313]

Coming back to this after a year and a half. My divorce was finalized on December 2023, and since then I have not been contacted by SIRI about anything related to my EU permit. I didn't bother much about that, since I though that I would just apply to permanent residence under the 4 year rule. It turns out that I cannot do that, because the grounds of residence for the 4 year rule don't include permits under EU rules. That is a big bummer, as I've been working towards getting PR as soon as possible.

So today I've sent a eboks message to SIRI, asking them about both things:
- If I'm able to apply to PR under the 4 year rule, considering that I had both EU permit and work permit (Type J). This is probably not gonna fly, but who knows, maybe I'm actually reading things wrong in the SIRI website.
- Since I was never contacted by SIRI (or anyone else for that matter) after my divorce was finalized, want to know if my EU residence is still valid. This one is a bit tricky, because I think technically yes its still valid, I have my residence card and I haven't gotten any letter telling me that its not valid. But I want to somehow get a confirmation on it.

In short, maybe I will be able to apply for PR in about a year if my EU residence is still valid, or maybe I'm totally screwed and will need to wait for 2,5 more years to apply to PR under the 4 years rule.

Hope I'll be getting an answer from SIRI soon.

@mhg if by any change you read this, do you know for sure that the 3 + 1 years rule applies automatically?

[mhg]

If you refer to the rule that the non-EU-spouse can retain their residence right if they have been married at least three years, and being living in Denmark for at least the last one of them, then yes. It is laid down in the EU DIRECTIVE 2004/38/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 29 April 2004, art. 13/2:
"2. Without prejudice to the second subparagraph, divorce, annulment of marriage or termination of the registered partnership referred to in point 2(b) of Article 2 shall not entail loss of the right of residence of a Union citizen's family members who are not nationals of a Member State where:
(a)
prior to initiation of the divorce or annulment proceedings or termination of the registered partnership referred to in point 2(b) of Article 2, the marriage or registered partnership has lasted at least three years, including one year in the host Member State; or
(b)
by agreement between the spouses or the partners referred to in point 2(b) of Article 2 or by court order, the spouse or partner who is not a national of a Member State has custody of the Union citizen's children; or
(c)
this is warranted by particularly difficult circumstances, such as having been a victim of domestic violence while the marriage or registered partnership was subsisting; or
(d)
by agreement between the spouses or partners referred to in point 2(b) of Article 2 or by court order, the spouse or partner who is not a national of a Member State has the right of access to a minor child, provided that the court has ruled that such access must be in the host Member State, and for as long as is required.
Before acquiring the right of permanent residence, the right of residence of the persons concerned shall remain subject to the requirement that they are able to show that they are workers or self-employed persons or that they have sufficient resources for themselves and their family members not to become a burden on the social assistance system of the host Member State during their period of residence and have comprehensive sickness insurance cover in the host Member State, or that they are members of the family, already constituted in the host Member State, of a person satisfying these requirements. "Sufficient resources" shall be as defined in Article 8(4).
Such family members shall retain their right of residence exclusively on personal basis."

[user881313]

@mhg thanks!
I'm now waiting for the call back from SIRI, to get confirmation about my EU permit still being valid. I don't count on them replying very fast to my eboks message...
Now, what they told me over the phone a year and a half ago, that my working permit doesn't affect my EU permit for some reason I don't trust so much on it. Hope to get a clear and straight answer from them on that.

[Mcky1]

Thank you for this information… I’m also facing this issue right now … my eu spouse want to divorce and leave Denmark immediately.. we have been on this fight since end of last year … she doesn’t like this place anymore and she knows that I don’t want to leave … then she has been threatening for divorce … we’re married for 3 years plus now and will be one year in Denmark by next week on the 12th of April … she has applied for multiple divorce earlier in which we cancelled as im working towards applying finally after my one year in Denmark … I’m being stressed a lot from this ..regarding the rules or if I will lose my right of stay in Denmark …
After reading ur post.. I’m relieved. And I’m just ready for the divorce as she claims she wanna leave by next month and if I don’t want to follow her she’s just gonna leave and announce to Siri that she left …

Question : should I allow her to leave without divorcing here ? She claims she can go to divorce somewhere else … she’s from Romania and she’s going back to Romania.

I have a job and I can stand on my own… so shall I just be looking for another house ? because I’m afraid to also change house address so as Siri not to know that we’re not living together anymore… and where we live now is expensive for only me to carry the expenses.

Any additional response / info would go a lot .

Thanks

[Mcky1]

@mhg

Please can I have a suggestion regarding my question up there ?

I asked if it is advisable for my Eu spouse to leave me here in Denmark without divorce ? She said she doesn’t need to divorce me in Denmark , that she can divorce me anywhere ? She’s going to Romania where she’s from. We’re 3 years plus in marriage and one year in Denmark.
Please advice .