Denmark tightens immigration rules: Bars convicted criminals & unemployed from citizenship

RT-

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and a coalition of liberal and conservative parties have agreed to impose tighter controls on citizenship, vowing to deny naturalization to criminal convicts and the recently unemployed.

The Ministry of Immigration and Integration Affairs announced on Tuesday that the government had struck a deal with the Venstre Party, the Conservative People’s Party and the Liberal Alliance to tighten the country’s immigration rules, putting emphasis on “Danish values.” 

“Obtaining Danish citizenship is a great declaration of faith from Danish society, according to the parties to the deal,” the ministry said in a statement, adding that “They are therefore in agreement that it is necessary to raise the bar for who can become a Danish citizen.” 

In addition to rule changes regarding criminal convictions, which also include foreign-born residents who have been fined for at least 3,000 Danish krones ($485) for various offenses, the government will now require immigrants to have held a job for at least three-and-a-half of the prior four years before becoming citizens. Those who have been fined for the specified amount, as well as anyone found to have violated the Aliens Act or committed “social fraud,” will be made to wait a period of six years before they become eligible to apply. read more