Children under 18
If your spouse/partner in Denmark has children under the age of 18 living at home, the Immigration Service may suspend one or more requirements for family reunification.
The children may both be the children of you and your spouse/partner, or your spouse/partner's children from a previous marriage/relationship.
When the Immigration Service receives an application for family reunification with a spouse/partner, it will assess whether the children have formed an individual attachment to Denmark.
Included in this assessment will be the children's familial, linguistic and cultural attachment to Denmark and to other countries, including how long the children have lived in Denmark, whether the children speak Danish, whether the children have gone to a Danish institution/school etc.
According to normal procedure, the children will have formed an individual attachment to Denmark after six to seven years of living in Denmark and going to Danish institution/school.
If your spouse/partner in Denmark has children under the age of 18 from a previous marriage/relationship, the Immigration Service may suspend one or more requirements for family reunification.
In the application your spouse/partner in Denmark must state whether he/she has joint custody of the children, and to which extent he/she makes use of visitation rights with the children.
In the application form, your spouse/partner in Denmark must consent to allow the Immigration Service to contact his/her former spouse/partner during the processing of the case.
The Immigration Service will then assess whether your spouse/partner is sufficiently involved in his/her children's life to suspend one or more requirements.
If the Immigration Service decides that the children have not formed an individual attachment to Denmark, and that your spouse/partner is not sufficiently involved in his/her children's life, the requirements for family reunification will not be suspended. This means that all requirements must be met.
In the application form, your spouse/partner in Denmark can indicate that the Immigration Service should not consider the fact that he/she has children from a previous marriage/relationship in Denmark. This will normally result in the Immigration Service not suspending any requirements, and consequently, that all requirements must be met.