Robel and Kisanet, Eritrea

Robel came to Denmark alone and was granted asylum in 2015. Shortly afterwards, he got in touch with Kisanet, who had been his girlfriend since 2010, via Facebook. She had also left Eritrea but was living in Ethiopia, where she was registered as a refugee. They kept in touch, and in 2019 Robel travelled down to marry her.
 
They had both a traditional Orthodox wedding in a church as well as an official wedding administered by the Ethiopian authorities, the certificate of which was stamped by the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. At that time, a number of Eritrean couples had been granted permission for family reunification in Denmark in this way, as Ethiopian marriage certificates, unlike Eritrean ones, were accepted by the Danish authorities.
 
However, Kisanet's application was rejected in November 2020. A new and extremely unclear memo from the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs had been interpreted as meaning that marriages involving refugees fell under the jurisdiction of a different Ethiopian office. However, Kisanet obtained confirmation from the Ethiopian authorities that the certificate was from the correct office, and the Danish embassy had even confirmed the requisite stamp on the certificate.
 
RW complained directly to the head of office at the Danish Immigration Service as well as to the Immigration Appeals Board. We finally asked the head of office to explain the case at an Asylum Forum meeting, which is a regular information meeting held by the agency for NGOs. Shortly afterwards, the agency reopened the case on its own initiative and granted permission – without a word of explanation.
 
We have referred to this case in subsequent case descriptions, so it helped to change practice in similar cases.

The couple now live together, they have two children, and Robel became the first certified glazier from Eritrea in Denmark – just 6 years after his arrival.