Questions and answers

Provided that certain conditions are met, family reunification can be granted to you, if you are:

  • Spouse, registered partner or cohabiting partner
  • Child under the age of 18
  • Parent over the age of 60
  • Other family member or close acquaintances of a Greenlandic resident

Applications for family reunification in Greenland will be processed by the Danish Immigration Service, agency of 1 instance, in accordance with the terms of Ordinance 150 of 23 February 2001 – "Application of the Aliens Act in Greenland".

Greenland is not a member of the EU. Consequently, the special family reunification rules which apply to EU/EEA citizens and Swiss citizens do not apply in Greenland.

If you have previously held Danish citizenship or are of Danish/Greenlandic descent, Greenlandic immigration regulations permit you to apply for a residence permit. Read more below. Read more about residence permit in Greenland on the grounds of strong attachment

If you are a Nordic citizen

If you are a citizen of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway or Sweden, you are free to enter, reside, study and work in Greenland. You do not need a visa or a residence and work permit.

As a citizen of a Nordic country, you can enter Greenland without a passport. However, you must be able to identify yourself if required. Such could be the case if you are staying in a hotel or other form of temporary residence. A driver's license or a debit card is sufficient identification.

If you have family members who are Nordic citizens themselves, they do not need to apply for family reunification. They can enter and reside in Greenland in accordance with the rules for Nordic citizens.

If you hold a Danish residence permit

If you hold a Danish residence permit and would like to travel to Greenland to visit family, for holiday or other type of short visit, you must apply for a Greenlandic entry permit. Danish residence permits do not give you the right to enter Greenland.

Applications for Greenlandic entry permits should be submitted to the Immigration Service by mail. Please indicate the purpose of your visit and how long you intend to stay in Greenland.

If your spouse, registered partner or cohabiting partner lives in Greenland, you can apply for a residence permit on the grounds of family reunification.

However, you and your spouse/partner, as well as your relationship, must meet certain requirements. There are a number of specific requirements relating to your spouse/partner living in Greenland (also known as your 'sponsor'). These requirements primarily concern the grounds for your sponsor's residence in Greenland, as well as your sponsor's ability to support you and whether or not he/she has adequate housing.

Below follows a brief overview of the requirements that you and your spouse/partner must meet.

Requirements for your marriage/registered partnership

  • your marriage/registered partnership must be valid under Greenlandic law
  • the primary reason for your marriage/partnership may not have been for you to obtain a residence permit (marriage of convenience)

Requirements for you and your spouse/partner

  • you must both be over the age of 25 (see more details below)
  • you must live together at the same address in Greenland when your residence permit is granted (also known as the cohabitation requirement)
  • if your sponsor is not a Danish citizen, your combined attachment to Greenland must be greater than your combined attachment to any other country (also known as the attachment requirement)

A residence permit in Greenland can be granted if you and your spouse are over 18 and if there is there is no doubt that your spouse has entered willingly into marriage/partnership/relationship, or if there are special reasons for granting you a residence permit.

Requirements relating for your spouse/partner in Greenland

Your sponsor must either:

  • be a citizen of one of the Nordic countries,
  • hold refugee status in Greenland, or
  • have held a permanent residence permit in Greenland for at least the past three years

Furthermore, your spouse/partner in Greenland:

  • must reside permanently in Greenland
  • must normally have accommodation of adequate size at his/her disposal (known as the housing requirement)
  • must normally be able to support you (known as the support requirement). Not required if your sponsor is a citizen of a Nordic country or a refugee

Special requirements for cohabiting partners

If you and your partner are not legally married or registered partners, your relationship must be of a permanent and lasting nature.

There is no minimum time limit on the length of your relationship. Based on all relevant information, the Immigration Service will assess if your relationship can be considered permanent and lasting. When making its assessment, the Immigration Service will consider the length of time you have known your partner, as well as any periods of joint residence in Greenland or abroad. Normally, joint residence for a period of 18 to 24 months will be sufficient to prove that your relationship is of a continuing nature. You must normally be able to document that you have lived with your partner for at least 18 months. Such documentation includes a lease with both your names, certificate of residence, letters received at the same address, joint insurance policies or bank accounts.

If your sponsor in Greenland is not a citizen of a Nordic country or a refugee, he/she must sign a declaration that he/she will support you financially.

Must you meet all requirements?

If you cannot claim an exemption from Greenlandic immigration law as a citizen of Nordic country or an asylum seeker, you should normally expect that all requirements must be met. However, there may be special situations in which you and your spouse/partner can be granted family reunification even though one or more of the requirements are not met.

The Immigration Service cannot make its decision about whether you and your spouse/partner can receive an exemption from one or more of the requirements until the Immigration Service has received and processed your application.

Below, you can read more about the special circumstances that can result in an exemption from one or more of the requirements.

In accordance with Greenland's international obligations to protect the right to family life, exemptions from the following requirements can be granted to certain groups of applicants:

  • the attachment requirement
  • the housing requirement
  • the support requirement

An exemption can be granted if your spouse/partner in Greenland has a child from a previous relationship who is living in Greenland with an adult other than your spouse/partner, and if your spouse/partner has custody of the child or has visitation rights and sees the child on a regular basis (the child is a child that the spouse in Greenland has with another person that is not the present spouse, e.g. a child from a former relationship).

Furthermore, an exemption can be granted if your spouse/partner in Greenland is elderly or has a serious illness or a debilitating handicap, and a lack of adequate care and treatment in your country would make it indefensible from a humanitarian point of view to force him/her to relocate there.

Foreign nationals under the age of 18 who have a parent or parents living in Greenland can be eligible for a residence permit, provided that certain conditions are met:

  • the child must be under 18 at the time the application is submitted
  • the child must be able to document his/her relationship to the parent(s) in Greenland
  • after the family reunification, the child must live together with his/her parents or a parent who has full or joint custody of the child
  • the child may not have a family of his/her own – either by marriage or cohabiting partnership

All requirements must be met.

Furthermore, the following may be considered:

  • whether the parent living in Greenland has adequate housing at his/her disposal (the housing requirement)
  • whether the parent living in Greenland can support the child financially (the support requirement). Not required if the parent living in Greenland is a citizen of Nordic country or is a refugee

If the parent living in Greenland is not a citizen of a Nordic country or a refugee, the requirements will normally have to be met, provided that the parent in Greenland and the child have chosen not to have personal contact for an extended period prior to the application being submitted.

Parents

If you are a foreign national with a child living in Greenland, you qualify for a residence permit if:

  • your relationship to the child can be documented,
  • the child living in Greenland is a citizen of a Nordic country or is a refugee and
  • you are over 60 at the time the application is submitted

In order to qualify for a residence permit, your child must sign a declaration that he/she assumes responsibility for supporting you financially.

Normally, it is also a requirement that the child living in Greenland:

  • can support his/her parent and
  • has adequate housing

Other family member

In certain special circumstances, you may qualify for a Greenlandic residence permit if you have a close relationship with a person living in Greenland. Such relationships include:

  • a child being adopted as part of a family adoption
  • a foster child
  • residence with close relations
  • parent with a child living in Greenland who is not a citizen of a Nordic country or a refugee

The Immigration Service will make its decision on a case-by-case evaluation. In order to qualify, the applicant's relationship with the person living in Greenland must be closer than a normal family relationship.

In order to qualify for a residence permit, the person living in Greenland must sign a declaration that he/she assumes responsibility for supporting the applicant financially.

The person living in Greenland must also:

  • be able to support the applicant and
  • have adequate housing.

You may qualify for a residence permit in Greenland if you:

  • have previously held Danish citizenship (and have not be stripped of it) or
  • are of Danish/Greenlandic descent

Apply using form GL/SG2. More information about how to apply is available below.

Fill in the application

You can apply for a residence permit on the grounds of family reunification, as a former Danish citizen or as a person of Danish/Greenlandic descent, by filling in and submitting an application form.

You can choose between 4 different application forms depending on the ground of your application. You can fill in the application form in Word format on your computer before printing it out. The application form is also available as a PDF file that can be printed out and filled in by hand.

Form you need to use, if you want to apply for family reunification for spouses

Form you need to use, if you want to apply for family reunification for children

Form you need to use, if you want to apply for family reunification as another family member

Form you need to use, if you want to apply for residence permit on the grounds of previous Danish citizenship or Greenlandic/Danish descent

Printed versions of the application packets are available at the Danish embassy or consulate general to your country or from the Greenlandic police.

Enclose documentation

It is vital to the processing of your application that you include the correct documents.

The application packet contains a thorough description of how to apply, as well as a list of the documents you need to submit.

Normally, you must have obtained a residence permit before entering Greenland. You can submit your application in your country. In some cases, you may be allowed to submit your application in Greenland, but this depends on your grounds for being there.

If you already hold another type of residence permit in Greenland, have a valid visa or are not required to hold a visa, you can normally submit an application for a residence permit in Greenland.

However, if you have procedural residence, that is, the right to stay in Greenland even though you have not been granted a residence permit, you cannot submit an application for a residence permit in Greenland.

However, in certain situations, you may be permitted to submit your application for family reunification in Greenland, even though you are not there legally.

This could be the case if travelling to your country of origin to apply for family reunification would be a significant burden on you, your spouse in Greenland and any children living in Greenland. A decision in such cases will take into account the likelihood that your application would be approved.

The Immigration Service is responsible for deciding whether applications submitted in Greenland can be accepted.

If you submit your application in your country of origin

You can submit your application at a Danish embassy or consulate general in your country of origin. When you have completed and handed in your application, it will be forwarded it to the Immigration Service in Denmark for processing.

If you have resided legally in another country for longer than the past three months, you can also submit your application at a Danish embassy or consulate general in that country. If there is no Danish embassy or consulate general in your country of origin or residence, you may submit your application in another country. You can find additional information about Danish embassies and consulates on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

If you submit your application in Denmark

An application for a residence permit in Greenland can be submitted in Denmark, if you are in the country legally. You can submit the application at the Immigration Service. If you live outside the Copenhagen Police District and the Copenhagen Vestegn Police District, you can submit the application at the police station in your area of residence. The police will then hand over the application to the Immigration Service.

If you submit your application in Greenland

Normally, you must have obtained a residence permit before entering Greenland. If you submit your application after entering the country, the Immigration Service may reject your application. This means that you will have to return to your country of origin or residence and submit a new application.

In some cases, you may be able to submit your application in Greenland. If the Immigration Service accepts your application for processing, you may stay in the country during the processing. If the Immigration Service rejects your application, you can appeal the decision to the Ministry of Immigration and Integration.

If you submit your application for family reunification in Greenland and the Immigration Service accepts your application for processing, you may be granted procedural residence while you wait for a ruling. Procedural residence means that you are allowed to stay temporarily in Greenland while awaiting a decision about whether you can be granted a residence permit.

If you wish to travel abroad during this period, you will normally need to apply for a re-entry permit. Without a re-entry permit, you may not be allowed back into Greenland.

While you have procedural residence, you are not allowed to work, even if it is voluntary/unpaid work. If you work illegally, you risk fine or imprisonment, as does your employer. You also risk expulsion and a temporary re-entry ban. If you hold procedural residence, you have only a limited right to medical assistance. If you require acute medical assistance or hospital care, you will be required to contact local authorities first.

Applications submitted in Greenland should be handed in at a police station.

If you are granted a residence permit, it will be a temporary one. You can apply for an extension if you still meet the conditions of your original residence permit. After three years, you can apply for a permanent residence permit.

Persons holding a residence permit on the grounds of family reunification normally have the right to work in Greenland.

Read more about extension of residence permit

Read more about permanent residence permit