Marriage in States / Application in DK

[DanskKitty]

Hi!
This forum has helped me so much in gathering so much information. I am really grateful to have found this and to everyone contributing. I think our case is fairly simple. A little background:

I am USA citizen, working and living in NYC
He is Danish, just graduated looking for a PHD/Job
We are both 28 yo.

I've been to Denmark on Study abroad and worked there as an intern for 6 months. While there I passed level 1 module Danish and almost Level 2 before I had to leave. We are hoping to get married soon and apply for family reunification. As i had a few jobs interested, but denied me with the assumption that I am not in DK. Questions:

1) Can I apply when I am in the states and come "live" in DK 1 month in to our application, and just not leave, based on the procedural residency of the application? Or is it better to go to DK on my tourist visa then apply for reunification while I am there?

2) He doesn't have a job yet, but possibly in the next month. Can we still apply? He receives "dagpenge" which is not part of the government subsidiaries that would make our application void. A lawyer told me we could still apply, but Ny i Danmark people told me he needs a job or be self-sufficient, which I am not entirely sure what that means.

3) We also would like to move into a new place together. Do we need to find a place before we apply? I suppose the apartment would be under his name, so he could go look for a place before I come to DK.

Any help is greatly appreciated! If you were me, what would you do? Would you quit your job, move to DK, and then apply?! Wait for him to get a job first? Wait for him to get a place first?

Do you forsee any complications in the application?

Thank you!!

[OhKae]

Hey! Maybe I can help.

1. If you apply outside of Denmark, you need to stay outside of Denmark unless you’re just coming to visit. If you apply inside of Denmark (you don’t need a tourist visa to be in Denmark for 3 months since you’re a US citizen), they may give you a “temporary” visa to stay while they process your application but you won’t be allowed to work or go to school. It may be better for you to stay in America to earn money while you wait. That’s my plan! The maximum waiting time is 10 months. It may not take 10 months but that would be 10 months that you can use to earn money.

2. It is important he has a job and is self-supporting. This means he has a job and should have a savings account with a decent amount. If I was you, I wouldn’t apply if he has no job and his savings account is under about $5,000. That looks really bad. It’s easy to spend $5,000 and end up having $0 of savings. Especially with expensive housing in Denmark. $5,000 is already about 4 months of rent in some cities/areas. If the actual immigration people are telling you he needs a job, to be safe, I think he should just keep trying to find a job first + you two can try to build up a savings account. He also has to be able to post the collateral. Right now the collateral is DKK 55,375.27 but the new rules are suppose to make it DKK 100,000. If he has no job, no savings, and no money for collateral, you will be denied. After they approve your application, they will give him about 3 weeks to prove he has the collateral. If he can’t, you will be denied.

3. If he’s going to go look for a new place, make sure it’s not in a “ghetto” area and that it fits the space requirement. That would be really messed up if he got a new place and it had one or both of those problems. Under the new laws that are suppose to come, you guys would be rejected no matter what. Also, yes, make sure it’s in his name. Once you are approved and can legally live in Denmark, you guys can put it under both of your names.

If I were you...
4. No, do not quit your job. Especially if your fiancé doesn’t have a job. That would be very risky and not smart.
Two incomes are better than one.

5. You can’t legally move to Denmark because you need a family reunification visa, work permit, or student visa to live here legally. As a US citizen, you don’t need a visa to visit for 3 months but you HAVE to leave after the 3 months or you’ll be in Denmark illegally and could get deported. That would cause you a wholeeeeee bunch of problems.

6. Yes, wait for him to get a job first.

7. Yes, wait for him to find a place first that fits the requirements.

I’ll tell you what my plan is with my fiancé..
1. Make sure he and I both have jobs so we can save up money for the collateral (DKK 100,000)/add to our savings. There are two ways to get the collateral and we haven’t decided if we will try to do a Demand Guarentee Route where the bank will keep DKK 100,000 on standby or if we will try to earn the money ourselves and use the Escrow Account route. We also need to be able to pay for the application fee which is $950 - $1,000 USD.
2. Get married in Denmark.
3. If the new rules still allow it, I will take Danish A1 & Danish A2 so that we can try to reduce the collateral immediately (instead of after I’m allowed to legally move here). I’ll come to Denmark during my 3 month visit and take the tests (that costs about $900 USD total).
4. After I have successfully passed Danish A1 & A2 and have documentation of my success, we will apply for family reunification.
3. After we apply, I will wait in the US so that I can work and earn money for rent, food, etc for when I can legally move to Denmark. He will continue to work, pay rent, and save money also.
4. After I am completely approved, I’ll move to Denmark.

It’s possible to do all of this without a lawyer (that’s my plan) but that also means you can’t complicate the situation. Either way, it’s best not to complicate the situation. Prepare first. Your situation as a lot of red flags and sounds way too risky.

I hope I helped! If you have any questions, feel free to ask. I may not know the answers to all the questions but I’ll help you as much as I can and maybe other people will jump in and help too.

[OhKae]

The New Rules that could be coming July 1st, 2018 or later
(I guess “when” is not completely confirmed yet):

“As conveyed in the government law proposal from last month, applicants will be required to fulfil four out of the six new criteria for integration, thus replacing the ‘Tilknytningskravet’ criteria formula, which has long been a scourge of Danes living abroad who wish to bring their foreign spouses back home to Denmark.”

The first 3 listed are aimed toward the Danish citizen living in Denmark (your fiancé) and the last 3 are aimed at the applicant (you). On the website I’ll be linking, it shows the law in text form but it’s in Danish. You should let your fiancé read it and you can google translate it so you can look at it too.

“1. In order to seek reunification, you have to pass Danish at level 3 (this is compulsory)
2. In order to seek reunification, you must either have been employed or self-employed for at least five years in Denmark
3. In order to seek reunification, you have to have had at least five years of education in Denmark
4. In order to come to Denmark, you have to speak reasonable English or pass Danish at level 1
5. In order to come to Denmark, you have to have been in full-time employment or self-employed for three out of the last five years.
6. In order to come to Denmark, you have to have been in education for at least one year at a level comparable to a Danish higher education or Danish trade school education”
http://cphpost.dk/news/government-passe ... -laws.html

On the nyidenmark website, it tells you the base requirements that you two still need to pass and then apparently these new rules will be added on top of those.

[mh1]

Look into this: https://www.nyidanmark.dk/en-GB/You-wan ... itivlisten

AND the good news is, if your Danish spouse has a job on the positive list, you also qualify to use this way to obtain residence permit! It does not prevent you from also applying for family reunification, but the terms are so much easier, and this kind of permit can also be made permanent.

[OhKae]

Look into this: https://www.nyidanmark.dk/en-GB/You-wan ... itivlisten

AND the good news is, if your Danish spouse has a job on the positive list, you also qualify to use this way to obtain residence permit! It does not prevent you from also applying for family reunification, but the terms are so much easier, and this kind of permit can also be made permanent.

Don’t forget about the new requirements that are suppose to take place. The positive list helps some of the current requirements to be waived. There are still many other things from the current requirements and the new additional ones that the positive list doesn’t change.

[DanskKitty]

Thank you so much for the replies so far!! They are so in depth and so helpful!

Ohkae how do you know about this new 6 point requirement for him and I? And is it really rolling out July 1? Do you have a source I can reference?

I'm/we are so grateful for all the advice!

[OhKae]

Thank you so much for the replies so far!! They are so in depth and so helpful!

Ohkae how do you know about this new 6 point requirement for him and I? And is it really rolling out July 1? Do you have a source I can reference?

I'm/we are so grateful for all the advice!

It’s being talked about a lot. News, articles, etc. I linked the website for you. You can then read the law in text form but it’s in Danish. You’ll need to google translate it and/or have your fiancé read it. Apparently, they speak more about it in Danish than in English but if you google it, you’ll still get info in English.

I’ll just directly link it here.
http://uim.dk/filer/nyheder-2018/aftale ... reform.pdf

It’s not 100% verified when it will be put in place but July 1st is what has been being talked about. We’ll just have to see!