Consolidated Act on Danish Nationality (1999) (English)
Consolidated Act No. 28 of 15 January 1999 of the Danish Ministry of Justice
Consolidation of
the Act on Danish Nationality
Notice is hereby given of the Act on Danish Nationality, cf. Consolidated Act No. 757 of 14 September 1995 with the amendments following from section 2 of Act No. 233 of 2 April 1997 and section 1 of Act No. 1018 of 23 December 1998.
1. (1) A child shall be a natural-born Danish national if born to a Danish father or a Danish mother. Where the child's parents are not married and only the father is a Danish national, the child shall only acquire Danish nationality if born within Denmark.
(2) A child found abandoned in Denmark shall, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, be considered a Danish national.
2. Where the child of a Danish father and an alien mother has not acquired Danish nationality at birth, the child shall acquire Danish nationality through the subsequent marriage of the parents. It is a precondition that the child was unmarried and under 18 years of age at the time of the marriage.
2A. (1) An alien child, under 12 years of age, adopted through a Danish adoption order shall become a Danish national by the adoption if the child is adopted by a married couple where at least one of the spouses is a Danish national, or by an unmarried Danish national.
(2) Danish nationality shall be acquired from the time when the legal effects of the adoption come into force.
(3) Subsections 1 and 2 shall apply correspondingly in cases where the child was adopted by a decision taken abroad which is valid under section 28(2) of the Act on Adoption of Children.
3. (1) An alien who has been resident in Denmark for an aggregate period of not less than 10 years, of which an aggregate period of not less than 5 years within the last 6 years, shall acquire Danish nationality after attaining the age of 18 but before attaining the age of 23 by submitting a written declaration to that effect to a County Governor, in Copenhagen "Overpræsidenten", the Commissioner for the Faroe Islands or the Commissioner for Greenland.
(2) If Denmark is at war, no national of an enemy state shall acquire Danish nationality in pursuance of this section. This applies also to any person who is not a national of any state, but whose latest nationality was that of an enemy state.
4. A natural-born Danish national who was resident in Denmark until attaining the age of 18 may recover his lost nationality by submitting a written declaration to that effect to the County Governor, in Copenhagen "Overpræsidenten", the Commissioner for the Faroe Islands or the Commissioner for Greenland provided he has been resident in Denmark during the last two years preceding his declaration. If he holds a foreign nationality, he can only make a declaration if he proves that this will cause him to lose his foreign nationality.
5. Where a person acquires Danish nationality by making a declaration in pursuance of sections 3 or 4, Danish nationality shall also comprise the children, including adopted children of the person concerned unless it is specified that the acquisition of Danish nationality shall not comprise a child. It is a condition for a child to acquire Danish nationality that the declarant shares the parental rights and that the child is unmarried, under the age of 18 and resident in Denmark. For an adopted child it is, furthermore, a condition that the adoption is valid under Danish law.
6. (1) Danish nationality may be acquired through naturalisation granted pursuant to the Danish Constitution.
(2) Where a person who is granted naturalisation has children, including adopted children, the rules laid down in section 5 shall apply correspondingly.
7. Danish nationality shall be lost by
1) any person who acquires a foreign nationality upon application or with his or her express consent,
2) any person who acquires a foreign nationality by entering the public service of another country,
3) an unmarried child under 18 years of age who becomes a foreign national by the fact that either parent holding or sharing the parental rights acquires a foreign nationality in the manner indicated in paragraphs 1 or 2 above unless the other parent retains Danish nationality and shares the parental rights.
8. (1) Any person born abroad who has never been resident in Denmark nor been staying in Denmark under circumstances indicating some association with Denmark shall lose his Danish nationality on attaining the age of 22 unless this will make the person concerned stateless. The Minister for Justice or any other person he authorises thereto may grant an application, submitted before the applicant's 22nd birthday, for retention of Danish nationality.
(2) If a person loses his Danish nationality pursuant to this section, his child having acquired its Danish nationality through him shall, likewise, lose its Danish nationality unless this will make it stateless.
9. (1) A person who is or who desires to become a national of a foreign country may be released from his Danish nationality by the Minister for Justice or by any person who he authorises thereto. In the case of a person desiring to become a national of a foreign country, release will be granted on the condition that the applicant acquires a foreign nationality within a certain time-limit.
(2) A person being a foreign national and permanently resident in a foreign country cannot be denied release from his Danish nationality.
10. (1) By virtue of the agreement between Denmark and the other Nordic countries (Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden), special rules shall in certain cases apply to persons who earlier were resident in another Nordic country or have nationality in another Nordic country, cf. sections 10A-10C.
(2) The rules laid down in sections 10A-10C shall, in respect of each of the Nordic countries, apply from the time when the agreement comes into force for the country in question.
10A. (1) For the purposes of section 3, residence in another Nordic country shall be equivalent to residence in Denmark. However, only in so far as residence in the other Nordic country precedes by not less than 5 years the submission of the declaration and the declarant's 16th birthday.
(2) For the purposes of section 4, residence in a Nordic country until attaining the age of 12 shall be equivalent to residence in Denmark.
(3) For the purposes of section 8, residence in a Nordic country for an aggregate period of not less than 7 years shall be equivalent to residence in Denmark.
10B.A national of a Nordic country who
1) has acquired his nationality there in another manner than by naturalisation,
2) has attained the age of 18,
3) has been resident in Denmark during the last 7 years and
4) has not, within that period, been sentenced to imprisonment or any measure which may be equivalent to imprisonment
shall acquire Danish nationality by submitting a written declaration to that effect to a County Governor, in Copenhagen "Overpræsidenten", the Commissioner for the Faroe Islands or the Commissioner for Greenland. The provision laid down in section 5 shall apply correspondingly.
10C.Any person who has lost his Danish nationality and has subsequently remained a national of a Nordic country shall recover his Danish nationality by, after having taken up permanent residence in Denmark, submitting a written declaration to that effect to a County Governor, in Copenhagen "Overpræsidenten", the Commissioner for the Faroe Islands or the Commissioner for Greenland. The provision laid down in section 5 shall apply correspondingly.
11. (1) A declaration on the acquisition of nationality pursuant to sections 3, 4, 10B and 10C of this Act may not be submitted by a guardian or the holder of parental rights.
(2) A declaration made pursuant to sections 3, 4, 10B or 10C shall be rejected by the authority to which it was submitted where the authority finds that the conditions for acquiring Danish nationality by making a declaration to that effect are not fulfilled. The rejection of a declaration may be appealed against to the Ministry of Justice.
12. (1) In connection with an application for Danish nationality by naturalisation, a fee of DKK 1,000 shall be paid. The Minister for Justice shall specify the rules governing the payment of the fee and any exemptions.
(2) The Minister for Justice may specify the rules governing the implementation of this Act.
(3) The Minister for Justice may from tax authorities and other authorities obtain the information, also electronically, on persons applying for Danish nationality and their children which is necessary for the purpose of considering the application.
(4) It may be required that declarations on circumstances comprised by this Act or the rules and regulations laid down in pursuance of this Act, including declarations made for the purpose of applications for nationality or for evidence of nationality be made subject to solemn declaration.
13. (1) A child under the age of 18 who would have been a natural-born Danish national if the provision laid down in section 1(1) paragraph 2.1) had applied before the effective date of the Act and who is not or was not a national of any country shall acquire Danish nationality.
(2) For the purposes of of section 4, any person who has acquired Danish nationality pursuant to Act No. 474 of 5 September 1920 on the Acquisition of Danish Nationality in Consequence of the Incorporation of the South Jutland Provinces into Denmark, cf. Act No. 247 of 12 June 1922, shall be considered a natural-born Danish national. Residence in the South Jutland Provinces before 15 June 1920 shall be equivalent to residence in Denmark.
(3) A woman who under earlier existing legislation lost her Danish nationality by marrying an alien or by acquiring a foreign nationality either by the marriage or by her husband acquiring a foreign nationality, but who would still have retained her Danish nationality if this Act had been in force earlier shall recover her Danish nationality by submitting a written declaration to that effect to the chief administrative officers (in Copenhagen "Magistraten") or another authority designated by the Minister for the Interior. A declaration of this kind may, however, not be duly made after 31 December 1955.
(4) A woman who attains the age of 22 before 1 January 1954 and who on attaining the said age is or was married shall not, pursuant to section 8(1), lose her Danish nationality until the end of the year 1953.
(5) The provisions laid down in sections 3 and 4 and in subsection 3 of this section shall not apply to persons who are comprised by Act No. 379 of 12 July 1946 as amended by Act No. 528 of 22 December 1947, cf. Act No. 518 of 22 December 1948, and who have not by special legislation gained access to acquire or retain Danish nationality, irrespective of the provisions of the Act of 12 July 1946. The same shall apply to any person who would have been comprised by these Acts if he had been a natural-born Danish national and had retained residence within Denmark.
(6) If a person who has acquired a foreign nationality but who, pursuant to section 5 paragraph 2 of Act No. 123 of 18 April 1925, has retained his Danish nationality takes up residence abroad, he shall not lose his Danish nationality unless he is still a national of another country and would lose or have lost his Danish nationality pursuant to the rules laid down in section 7 of this Act if they had been in force earlier.
(7) Otherwise, the provisions of this Act shall apply where the facts on which the acquisition or loss of nationality are based date from after the entry into force of the Act.
14.This Act which supersedes Act No. 123 of 18 April 1925 on the Acquisition and Loss of Danish Nationality shall extend to all parts of the Danish state.
15.This Act shall come into force on 1 January 1951.
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Act No. 233 of 2 April 1997 contains the following commencement provision:
Section 4
The Minister for Justice shall decide the time of the coming into force of the Act.2)
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Act No. 1018 of 23 December 1998 contains the following commencement provision:
Section 4
(1) The Act shall come into force on 1 February 1999
Ministry of Justice, 15 January 1999
Frank Jensen/Niels Beckman
1) As worded in Act No. 252 of 27 May 1950.
2) By Executive Order No. 644 of 10 August 1997 the effective date was fixed for 1 November 1997.