I want my family to come to Denmark

Even before you get asylum, you should prepare the application to save important waiting time. But you can only hand in the application after you got asylum – do it as fast as possible. And if you were granted asylum on §7,3, you must wait 2 years before applying (see the question: Can I change my status?) unless you are an unaccompanied minor.

If you want to apply for a child, you must do it within 3 months after getting your own permit or after the birth of the child.

We have made a guide for family reunification to refugees which you can find here in English or Danish.

You must get your MitID (digital ID) from your kommune in order to fill out the form to Immigration Service (online, on newtodenmark.dk). You must attach all the documents that are required. If your spouse is in a country with a Danish representation, he/she must hand in his/her part of the form there. It is also possible that you fill it out for her/him with a power of attorney.

After a short time you will receive a confirmation in your e-Boks, and your family member abroad will be asked to identify themselves at a Danish embassy early in the process. In many cases, Immigration Service will ask you for more information – for instance, if a passport or an address is missing, if they need some answers to specific questions, or they might ask for DNA-test to prove the family tie. The total waiting time should be maximum 8-12 months.

For refugees, the application is free of charge, but you must pay for official translation if you need it, for the visa fee at the embassy, and for the flight tickets if you get the permission. If your outcome is negative, read more under "My family was rejected".

As a rule, only your spouse and children under 18 years will be allowed. In certain cases, children above 18 can be included, but normally not. If you are an adult, your brothers and sisters under 18 years can be allowed if you have been a substitute for the parents before you arrived in Denmark.

If you are under 18, you can get permission for your parents and siblings under 18, but it depends on your age – in many cases, they will say no if you were 15 or more at the time you applied, or if you already have a family member in Denmark to take care of you.

Refugees have the right to family reunification, so all the requirements for Danish people do not have to be met (24-year rule, self-support, bank guarantee etc.). But a marriage must be recognized according to Danish law, and if it's not, you must have been living together for a period of minimum 18 months to get a permit on grounds of cohabitation instead.

If you and your spouse are related, it will be considered an arranged marriage, and you will have to prove that you married each other of your own free will.

For children, it must be proved that the children are really yours, for adopted children they must be officially adopted, and for children of a former spouse you must have the custody and the child must have been part of your recent household. You must apply for children within 3 months after you got your own permit!

It has been up to 2 years for many cases between 2015 and 2017, but recently the time goal has been set to 12 months in total. This may rise again if more refugees will arrive in the future. To make things go faster, you can start preparing everything before you get asylum (the forms, documents and translations).

If it says in your letter that you have been granted permission because of cohabitation (samliv) and the marriage was not recognized, the two of you can get married again in Denmark if you want.

When both of you have CPR-numbers and MitID, you log into borger.dk and choose your kommune - Familie og børn - Ægteskab og parforhold - Når I vil giftes. You must fill out the form and attach a copy of the permit from Immigration Service. You also have to order a proof that you are not married to someone else from Familieretshuset, this is called "prøvelsesattest", it costs a fee of 1.900 kr and it takes up to 5 days. When you get a permission from your kommune, you can choose where and how to get married.

You have 8 weeks to make a complaint. It must be handed in to the Immigration Board (Udlændingenævnet).

It doesn't have to be done by a lawyer, but it's a good idea to get help from somebody who has experience. There are local branches of Dansk Flygtningehjælp and free legal aid in many libraries. You can also get help from us in Refugees Welcome.

If the complaint is rejected again, the next step is the Danish courts. A lawyer might take the case on a basic fee and ask for state support if you can't pay, but the process is long. We can recommend good lawyers if you want to take your case to the courts. However, most cases are decided according to the rules and will not stand a chance in court. It is usually a better idea to consider other options.

It is very hard, in many cases even impossible, for a refugee to get a visa for a family member to Denmark, if the person is still in the home country. It depends on how stable that country is, and on how well-established that family member is (job, house, family). If the person has legal stay in a safe country such as for instance USA or Canada, it is easier. The visa rules for a number of countries are very strict because Denmark suspects the visitor to ask for asylum once they arrive. You can read more about the rules for visas here.

There is a big risk that Danish authorities will not consider a couple to have "an established family life" or may consider the marriage to be proforma (fake) if a refugee living in Denmark marries someone after he/she arrived here. If the couple has met each other several times before deciding to get married and maybe even has a child together, the chances improve significantly.

Examples of two Syrian men, who both have asylum on §7,1 in Denmark (to illustrate the assessment of marriage and family life):

A had a girlfriend in Syria, and they wanted to get married but couldn't because of the war. He mentioned her in his asylum interview. They stayed in contact with each other over phone and internet. She fled to Turkey, he met her there shortly after he got asylum in Denmark, and they got married following the official Turkish rules. They applied for family reunification, and they got permission because they already established their relationship before he left the country, and they could document being in contact with each other during the whole time.

B knew a girl in Syria, and after he arrived in Denmark they started chatting on the internet and decided to get married. He did not mention her in his asylum case. One year after he got asylum, they met in Turkey and got married. He went back and applied for family reunification. They got rejection, and Immigration Service wrote that there had never been a relationship outside the internet, and the marriage was mainly for the purpose of getting a residence permit in Denmark.

If you have been granted asylum and afterwards your family has received a permit to join you (family reunion), Refugees Welcome can pay for the flight tickets. But only if you don't have a job yet. Apply here.

The state or kommune does not help with this expense, unfortunately. And the banks will not give you a loan. So if you don't fit our criteria, you have to raise the money by saving, or getting private loans and donations from friends. 

Don't ever take a loan from gangs, criminal groups or quick loan companies – you will get in trouble with high interests, fees and punishment.