Moving to DK with Icelandic girlfriend

[lpommers]

Hi everyone,

Like a lot of people here, I'm looking for help and clarifications.

I am American and my girlfriend is Icelandic. She is registered to live in DK and will shortly be attending CBS to get her Master's. We plan to move there. The short question is whether we qualify under the Family Reunification visa under EU law as co-habitants. We are unmarried partners. I'm a bit confused about it all because Nordic citizens seem to have special agreements with Denmark, and I was wondering if this extended to bringing over partners. If anyone has any advice, help, clarifications, or anything at all really - please let me know.

About Us:

-We are both over 24.
-We have not shared the same house for over 18 months, so I don't think we would meet that requirement. We have travelled together and have plane ticket receipts and other things in both our names, but not sharing the same house for all 18 months.
-She'll be working full time until the school year starts in August.
-I only have a Bachelor's degree from the USA, no Master's.

Are there any other Americans who have gone through Family Reunification as cohabitating partners with a Nordic citizen or any Icelanders that have move to DK with non EU/EEA partners.

I understand that some people are going to say Just Get Married, but we would prefer not to do that just yet. We've been together over a year are at the stage where we want to give our relationship a real shot, but aren't quite ready for marriage, which is something both of us take seriously.

Thanks everyone.
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I may not be Icelandic, but .. Ég er víkingur!!!

[fundiver199]

Iceland is an EØS-country, so the free movement rules of the EU applies to your girlfriend in Denmark. However you are not a family member of her, so they do not apply to you, unless you get married. And hence your only option is to get your own residence permit to study or work in Denmark independent on her.

[mh1]

The Danish rules also require either marriage or a longterm relationship which shows 'commitment' to each other. For a relationship to be accepted as 'longterm' it is just like according to the EU-rules usually necessary to prove 1 1/2 - 2 years of cohabitation.

If the couple cannot show that, but in other ways can prove 'commitment' by for example showing long-distance relationship during a long time, common children or other proofs of commitment, it can be accepted as 'longterm relationship'.

This does not seem to apply to you, however, since you have only been together 'over a year'. Had you been traveling together for 1 1/2 - 2 years, for example working your way around the world or something like that, then you might have had a chance. It doesn't sound like that is the way you have been traveling.

You may look into what possibilities you have to get accepted to a Master's program and get a scholarship. Check out this: http://www.amscan.org/study_denmark.html

[lpommers]

Thank you for your replies.

I am interested in what you (mh) say about other kinds of commitment because by the time we get around to applying, will have been together for 1.5 years (with lots of world travel with at least 6 continuous months sharing a flat).

The plan as of now is for me to arrive on a 3 month tourist visa (which can be extended to 6 months as a cohabitating partner - https://www.nyidanmark.dk/en-us/coming_ ... ension.htm) during which time I would look for a job that would grant me a work/residency permit. If that appeared not to be working, then we would consider applying under the FR visa as we have read the 18 month cohabitation was more a rule of thumb than exact. We have plenty of documentation that we are a couple - we just won't have been living together in Copenhagen - we've been travelling (and working to fund our traveling) for some time.

We are also confused about which FR visa to apply under, the FA1 or FA8 or EU/FA form.

Is it true that under the new regulations for FR that because she is a student we will only need to post 25.000 DKK instead of the usual 50.000DKK? Does anyone have any experience with this? How about with doing family reunification with a nordic citizen?

Am I correct that her being a Nordic Citizen does not really grant us any special circumstances? The only reason I ask is because they seem to make a big deal of it on the NyiDanmark site - there are always links about special cases for Nordic Citzens.

[fundiver199]

I am interested in what you (mh) say about other kinds of commitment because by the time we get around to applying, will have been together for 1.5 years (with lots of world travel with at least 6 continuous months sharing a flat).

You are not cohabitating partners based on the information, you have given here. The 18 month need to be a consecutive and uninterrupted stay at the same adress. Having a relationship, visiting each other on holidays and travelling around the world is not enough.

The plan as of now is for me to arrive on a 3 month tourist visa (which can be extended to 6 months as a cohabitating partner - https://www.nyidanmark.dk/en-us/coming_ ... ension.htm) during which time I would look for a job that would grant me a work/residency permit.

Since you are not cohabitating partners, no part of the EU-rules apply to you. And therefore you can also not extend a schengenvisa boyond 90 days.

If that appeared not to be working, then we would consider applying under the FR visa as we have read the 18 month cohabitation was more a rule of thumb than exact.

This is true to some extend. If you had been cohabitating for 16 month, but had also shown other long term commitmend like having one or more children with each other or buying a house together, then you could probably be considered cohabitating partners, even though you were "lacking" 2 month of actual cohabitation. But you are obviously not in such a situation.

The whole reason why you don`t like to get married, is, that your relationsship is still "new". And therefore, obviously, you will not be able to convince danish authorities, that your relationsship is so well established, that it is in fact the same as a marriage. Can`t you see, that It is self contradicting?

We are also confused about which FR visa to apply under, the FA1 or FA8 or EU/FA form.

You can apply under both danish law and EU-law, but it is definitly most advantageous to apply under EU-law. That is unless both of you plan to study in Denmark, and you like to receive danish SU. In that case you should apply after danish law (FA1). But you cant do neither, unless you get married first.

Is it true that under the new regulations for FR that because she is a student we will only need to post 25.000 DKK instead of the usual 50.000DKK?

No.

Am I correct that her being a Nordic Citizen does not really grant us any special circumstances?

Yes and no. It means, that you can apply for family reunification after danish law without her meeting the requirement of having had a permanent residence permit for 3 years.