Ægteskabudengrænser.dk

Let me see if I understand this correctly. Is it easier for our Dutch friend to bring his American wife to Denmark, and for her to get temporary and permanent residence, than it is for my Danish husband to bring his American wife (me), and for me to get temporary and permanent residence?

In very short: Yes, it is.

Such is the crazy rules in this country, invoked by an unholy alliance between two power-hungry mid-to-right-wing parties. and a decidedly racist right-wing party.

In order to keep the dreaded "Muslims!" out, these parties has tightened the rules again and again.

However, Denmark has also signed several treaties as part of the EU, and these are "untochable" in the sense that they allow travelling EU-citizens to be united with their families, if they so wish, in the countries they reside in.

Thus the danish government has only been able to tighten the rules for danish citizens, who have not worked in another EU country, not for any other EU citizen residing in Denmark.

if your danish husband wants to take benefit of same EU rules, he will first have to transfer to another EU country with you, for at least three months.
Then you can both come back, and enjoy the same freedom of living together, as your dutch friend had all along.

Welcome to Denmark..

Thank you, Henrik. I am just LIVID! I have been working my tail off and waiting here for over seven years just to have the laws changed on me, just as I was about to go permanent. I don't have enough confidence in the system now to go to the trouble to take the citizenship test, so I'll just have to be a gypsy until somebody with some common sense does the right and fair thing.

I understand how you feel. And I feel sorry for you.

But thats what happens when humanity goes out the window.

Here I am myself a refugee from my own country.

I am living in Sweden with my foreign wife, and our little danish son.

We have done that, in order to be together in a civilized manner.

And we don't expect to come back.

So I know where you come from..

It looks like they probably monitor this site, based on Søren Pind's remarks, and they realize how many Danes they are losing. But no law would be Fast, Fair og Fornuftig if it does not make it at least as easy for a Dane as it is for other EU citizens. Do other EU citizens get to enjoy the social welfare benefits in Denmark if they live here? Grrrrrrrr!

Yes with the exception of maintainance grants for studying (SU) during the first 5 years of the stay and social welfare (bistandshjælp) during the first 3 month of the stay, an EU-citizen, who move to another memberstate than her own, is entitled to equal treatment.

The right to free movement is however not completely unconditional. To have a right to live in another EU-country than her own, an EU-citizen must either find a job in this country or be selfsufficient in another way, eg. by being a pensioner or having income from another country.

However, if an EU-citizen is sacked from her job after 12 month, she can remain in Danmark and receive social welfare (bistandshjælp) as long as she is available for the job market. If she is sacked after less than 12 month, she can only remain for 6 month.

After 5 years the EU-citizen require an almost unconditional right to permanent residence. After 5 years she can only be expelled, if she represent a danger to society eg. is a suspected terrorist or such things.

The free movement in EU should be seen as a kind of transitory state to where, the US is today. As far as I know, a person from California can also completely freely move to New York and vice versa. And as I have understood it, many of the civil rights in the US was actually developed to secure this free movement. So it is a quite similar proces, that Europe is going though today.

Yes, you are right about the USA. You can travel and move freely to another state, no problem. Just watch out for laws about transporting liquor and minor children. An alien just has to let the immigration service know where he is, and everyone must transfer their driver's license and car license plates to the new state. An alien gets a residence permit from the federal government, not from the state they live in. If you are an alien and cannot get a residence permit, you can't stay in any state. If you are a citizen, you have an American passport, regardless of which state you live in, and immigration doesn't have to know anything when you move.

There are, however, differences in the state laws you have to abide by, and there can be special circumstances that can restrict a person's movement to another state.

So it's not completely like the EU, but I can see the similarities.