Special rights for unaccompanied minor asylum seekers
As a general rule, unaccompanied minor asylum seekers must go through the same asylum process as other asylum seekers. However, you have special rights as an unaccompanied minor.
You will be appointed a personal representative to work in your interests. The representative’s responsibilities include offering support while your request is being processed by doing things like sitting in on the asylum interview. The representative will also support you on a more personal level.
The Immigration Service will ask the Danish Red Cross to recommend a representative to the Agency of Family Law (Familieretshuset), which will make the final appointment. The representative may not be affiliated with the immigration authorities, and can be a relative, a professional representative who works for the Red Cross or someone else entirely.
If your request for asylum is processed according to the manifestly unfounded procedure, the Immigration Service will appoint a lawyer to represent you while your request is being processed.
If your request is processed according to the normal procedure, and if your application is refused, a lawyer will be appointed to represent you while the Refugee Appeals Board is processing your appeal.
If your application is refused, you will still be offered assistance by the appointed lawyer. The lawyer’s responsibilities will include helping you regarding questions concerning residence permits on other grounds and, if that application is rejected as well, helping you return to your home country.
The Immigration Service pays your legal fees.
Following your arrival in Denmark, the Immigration Service can, in certain situations, seek to find your parents or other relatives, if you do not have contact with them. The search can be carried out in collaboration with an organisation approved for this task by the Minister of Immigration and Integration.
Normally, the Immigration Service can only look for your parents or other relatives if you give your permission.
If there are reception or care centres in your home country, the Immigration Service is not obliged to look for your parents or other relatives.
The International Red Cross can provide confidential assistance to help find your parents and other family members. The information obtained by the International Red Cross may not be passed on to a public authority.
You can ask the International Red Cross for help, even if you have already given the Immigration Service permission to look for your parents.