Understand the 24 year rule in minutes

[Kim P. Nyberg]

Understand the 24 year rule in minutes

The 24-year rule was originally introduced for two reasons. Firstly, the law makers wanted to avoid forced and arranged marriages, secondly, they wanted young people to complete their education before starting a family.

The forced and arranged marriages were not usual among Danish-international couples, but primarily occurred in purely Muslim relationships. Moreover, there was already legislation in place prohibiting such marriages. But as a politician you need to appear dynamic and forceful, and the 24-year rule was the result. The law preventing forced marriages still applies.

Unfortunately, some people misunderstand the 24-year rule to mean that you may not marry until you are 24 years. That is not the case, you can still get married from the age of 18. The 24-year rule has nothing to do with the formal wedding as such. It only has to do with the subsequent family reunification.

The 24-year rule means that you cannot be granted family reunification under the rules of the Aliens Act until both parties are at least 24 years old. However, you can submit an application when the youngest party has reached the age of 23 years and 6 months.

As a curiosity, the UK had at one point copied our 24-year rule with a few modifications. It was a 21-year rule and was purely about preventing pro forma marriages. The rule was in force until a Briton woke up and sued the authorities, which HAD admitted that his marriage was not pro forma. In spite of this, they still wanted to apply the 21-year rule on the couple. The British Supreme Court ruled against the authorities, stating that once it has been established that a marriage is not pro forma, the rule cannot be upheld.

15 minutes after the ruling, the British Parliament removed the rule completely.

Note: This requirement does NOT apply to you if you submit an AO1 application.