Legal Letters, December 2006

By New Times - 04.12.2006

Advisers at Dansk Flygtningehjælp answer your questions about asylum and the law.

• Is it possible for asylum seekers to get married in DK?

According to the Danish Marriage Act (§11a), anyone who are not legally staying in Denmark are not permitted to get married. Asylum seekers are in Denmark on what is called a procedural stay and as a result they will not be permitted to marry. In special cases, the State County may permit asylum seekers to mar- ry even though they do not meet the condition of a legal stay. This pos- sibility of exemption is normally to be used in the following cases: -When the alien has stayed in Denmark for a long time and has formed an apparent attachment to the person with whom he wishes to marry. -In the case of serious illness or handicap, where a denial of mar- riage would seem unreasonable. -In the case where the two parties have or are expecting a child. -In the case where the two parties have formed an attachment before their arrival in Denmark, ex in the case where they have been married in their home country, but in a way that is not recognised as a marriage by the Danish law. Normally it is not possible to exempt from the requirement of legal stay, if the asylum seeker has received a rejection on his or her asylum application. Exemption is only possible when the alien has stayed in Denmark for a long time and where a deportation is not a real possibility.

• I have just received asylum in DK. Is it possible to keep the residency in DK and live abroad, with- out getting financial benefit from DK?

According to the Danish Aliens Act § 17, subsection 3, a person who has obtained asylum in Denmark cannot keep his residence permit if the person in question of his own free will settles in his country of origin or has obtained protection in a third country. In other words, if you obtain a residence permit in another country, your residence permit in Denmark will lapse.

• We have applied for asylum in July 2001. We have been rejected and our case was back and forth. We got residence in November 24, 2006 by a decision from the Refugee Board. Which law is applied on us, the old or the new law issued in July 2002? Who decide it?

The changes in the Aliens Act of June 2002 come into force on July 1. 2002. The changed rules con- cerning refugee status in § 7 do not apply to asylum seekers who have applied before the 1st of July 2002. Other provisions in the Aliens Act will, however, apply to you and your residence in Denmark.

• We are an asylum family for more than 5 years. It was beyond our estimation to stay without a legal status in Denmark such a long time. We have a son living in EU with permanent residence, but needs a visa to come to Denmark. Will Immigration Service accept our family’s sponsorship to grant our son a visit visa to Denmark?

First of all I must bring to your attention that whether or not your son can obtain a visa to Denmark, depends on which country he lives in and what kind of residence permit he has. According to the Danish Alien Act § 2b, foreigners who have a residence permit in a Schengen-country are allowed to travel to Denmark and stay here for a period of 3 months without obtaining a visa. But not all EU-countries are members of Schengen. Members of Schengen are Germany, France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxembourg, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Greece, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Nor- way and Iceland. If your son lives in an EU-country not mentioned above, he is obliged to apply for a visa to visit Denmark, but normal- ly a sponsorship is not necessary, except from the fee he has to pay for the visa. Finally, the various EU-countries operate with different residence permits and not all residence per- mits are treated equally when the Danish Immigration Service has to decide whether or not a visa shall be issued. If you have further questions, you are welcome to visit the open counselling at DRC, Wednesdays between 13.00-15.00 or contact us at advice@drc.dk.

• I got to know that the Danish government will issue a travel document to some Iraqi asylum seek- ers for a temporary visit to North of Iraq. I am a journalist and my friend is an artist and we are both asylum seekers who received an invitation to a conference in Spain. Will the immigration authority provide us with tempo- rary travel documents or permissions to attend the conference?

According to the Danish Immigra- tion Services (udlændingeservice) temporary travel documents are not to be issued to asylum seekers except in very exceptional cases. The Immigration Services has, for example, provided travel docu- ments to asylum seekers in order to allow them to visit seriously ill fam- ily members. Therefore the Danish authorities will not, normally, issue travel documents in order to allow an asylum seeker to attend a con- ference. The case of the Iraqi asylum seek- ers, who have received travel docu- ments to visit Iraq temporarily, is a special case. It is an arrangement that only concerns asylum seekers from Kosovo and Iraq who have already received rejections on their applications for asylum. The Danish authorities have issued travel docu- ments so that these asylum seekers may visit their home country for a short period of time. This would enable them to individually assess the possibility of returning to their native country.

• The Police stated in a report to the Refugee Board that our deportation is impossible. Rejected asy- lum seekers normally get residence based on such statement by the Police. Is there a paragraph in the law granting residence when police consider deportation is impossible or it is the Judge at Refu- gee Board who decide?

According to the Danish Aliens Act § 9c, subsection 2, a residence per- mit may be issued upon application to an alien whose application for asylum has been rejected, provided that: -It has not been possible to return the asylum seeker for at least 18 months -the asylum seeker has assisted in the in the return efforts for 18 months consecutively -the return is considered impossible according to available information If the police decide on the above- mentioned criterions that it is not possible to return the asylum seeker in question, they can recommend the asylum seeker for a residence permit in Denmark. The recom- mendation is given to the Danish Immigration Service (Udlændinge- service), except in the cases of state- less Palestinians, where the recom- mendation is given to the Refugee Board (Flygtningenævnet). Upon the reception of the recommenda- tion, the relevant authority decides in the individual case, whether or not the police shall continue their efforts to return the rejected asylum seeker or whether residence permit should be granted.

Have you got any questions?

Write to: New Times c/o Red Cross House H. C. Ørstedsvej 47, 1879 Frederiksberg C Or email us at: newtimesdk@ gmail.com Please feel free to ask your questions anonymously.

You can also contact: Dansk Flygtningehjælp Legal Councelling Unit Asylum Department Borgergade 10 Postbox 53 1002 København K

www.flygtingehjælp.dk Email: advice@drc.dk Free legal counselling for asy- lum seekers every Wednesday from 13:00 – 15:00 You need to present your ques- tions in Danish or English.

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