It has been more than 4 years since the Danish government hastily adopted a special law for Ukrainians, which was an almost exact copy of the temporary protection directive that the rest of the EU activated.
Since then, more than 68,000 Ukrainians have been granted residence under the special law. Approximately 48,000 of them are currently living in Denmark, and all of their residence permits expire on March 17, 2027. So far, the special law has been extended every year, almost unchanged. But now changes are on the way.
New restrictions on the special law
The government has just sent a bill for consultation to amend the special law, which excludes men at the age span when military conscription can take place, unless they are exempt from service. It will also include family reunion to Ukrainians living in Denmark under the special law. However, the law will not apply to those men who have already been granted residence under the special law and applications submitted before 25 June 2026, but will only apply for those coming after.
A fairly small proportion of applicants have been refused residence under the special law over time because they did not meet the objective criteria for passport and place of residence, or had already been granted residence in another safe country. Some of them have applied for asylum. They have all been refused in both first and second instance, including three test cases in the Refugee Appeals Board in April 2025. They are not persecuted in their own country, and the general circumstances are not serious enough to put all residents in imminent danger.
Are Ukrainians at risk?
But suddenly something surprising happened in October 2025: The Refugee Appeals Board overturned a case concerning a Ukrainian deserter and granted him asylum. Not because it is a crime to evade military service – it is not a ground for asylum, as we have previously described here on the site in 2022.
But on the grounds that he will be sent to prison for absconding, and the conditions in the Ukrainian prisons are so terrible that one "cannot deny that there is a real risk" that his human rights will be violated. A condition that had otherwise been included in previous cases.
The Ukrainian man, who is the subject of the case, is a professional soldier with several years of experience in the Ukrainian army in the late 2010s. He came to Denmark in 2023. Since he fled the country, the Ukrainian army has repeatedly sent him summons letters via a family member who still lives in Ukraine. Kristeligt Dagblad wrote about the case in May 2026.
In the summary of the case, the Refugee Appeals Board itself mentions another case where the Supreme Court in June of the same year accepted the deportation of a Ukrainian for criminal prosecution despite the miserable conditions in the prisons, and thus did not believe that the conditions in the prisons posed a real risk – but the Refugee Appeals Board refers to the same background information, and thus reaches a different assessment.
Asylum after the amendment or termination of the special law
Initially, it was mainly women and children who left Ukraine and went to Denmark, but the proportion of men – especially very young men – has gradually increased. Approximately 15,000 of the Ukrainians who have been granted residence under the special law are men aged 23-60, where they can currently be called up for military service.
Although Ukrainians under the special law are in most respects better off than recognized refugees, asylum has a crucial advantage that the special law does not have: the right to apply for permanent residence. The majority of Ukrainians want to stay in Denmark, even if the war ends.
If you are already covered by the special law, you can technically apply for asylum, but the case will be put on hold as a result of a political decree. If, on the other hand, the parliament decides that the special law no longer applies to men between the ages of 23-60, they can instead apply for asylum. The same applies if the special law is not extended when it expires in less than a year.
Our flyer with good advice for asylum seekers is available in both Ukrainian and Russian.
The Danish state is in a difficult dilemma, where on the one hand they want to support and help Ukrainians, but on the other hand they do not want to weaken the Ukrainian military. If all the men were denied asylum, it would be easy enough to solve the problem with the proposed restriction. But then the conditions in the Ukrainian prisons must be improved.