A group of citizenship applicants, operating under the name Statsborgerskabsappel Danmark, or Citizenship Appeal Denmark, has launched a formal campaign to urge the Danish parliament to resume the processing of citizenship applications. The group, which consists entirely of individuals personally affected by the current administrative impasse, has directed an appeal to the parliament's citizenship committee and the Minister for Migration and Integration, Morten Bødskov, in a bid to thaw the current freeze.
The organizers, who spoke to the media on the condition of anonymity due to fears that their individual cases might be negatively impacted if their identities were revealed, explained that the group is composed of people from both inside and outside the European Union.
They noted that the citizenship process affects people with very different nationalities, professions, and family situations. What connects them is the shared experience of having built a life in Denmark while facing a long and uncertain citizenship process.
Processing for these applications has been effectively frozen for months, primarily due to a bill that was set to be approved by parliament but was delayed following the spring election. Denmark typically passes citizenship bills twice a year, usually in April and October. However, no citizenship bill has been passed since April 2025. The bill scheduled for October 2025 was not submitted to parliament due to a tight schedule resulting from Denmark's EU presidency.
Consequently, Denmark has not granted any new citizenships for over a year. Social Democrat citizenship spokesperson Katrine Evelyn Jensen recently indicated that the processing of applications might not resume until late 2027.
An estimated 14,000 people are currently in Denmark's citizenship queue. An additional 2,055 individuals have effectively completed the process, with their names included in a citizenship bill from January known as L98. This bill was due to go up for its third and final reading in parliament at the end of March, but it was delayed due to the election.
The organizers highlighted that the situation is particularly difficult for these 2,055 principal applicants, along with approximately 1,120 children and other accompanying applicants who were included in L98 before the bill lapsed. Some of these applicants have already waited for 40 months, which is more than three years.
The campaign organizers stated that they launched this initiative to highlight the individuals affected by the pause. They felt that the human impact of the situation was becoming lost behind numbers, administrative procedures, and political discussions. Many of these applicants have lived in Denmark for more than ten years, built careers and families, contributed to Danish society, and consider the country their home. For their children, who were born and are growing up in Denmark, the country is simply home.
The group emphasized that they fully respect that Denmark sets requirements for citizenship and that applicants must fulfill them. However, they argued that when people follow those rules, it is very difficult to understand how they can suddenly return to an indefinite period of uncertainty because of circumstances outside their control.
Their goal is not to challenge Denmark's right to set its own requirements, but rather to ensure that the processing of applications resumes, that a fair and timely solution is put in place for those already included in the lapsed bill, and that applicants are not disadvantaged due to external circumstances.
At the time of writing, more than 900 people had signed the petition. The organizers noted that the response has been much stronger than they expected, with the petition growing quickly and receiving messages from affected applicants and families who say it reflects concerns they have been carrying for a long time.
They also found support from people who are not directly affected by the process to be particularly encouraging, as it shows the issue resonates as a question of fairness, predictability, and the human consequences of prolonged uncertainty.
The group identified the prolonged uncertainty as the most difficult aspect of the situation. When a process lasts for years without a clear end point, it gradually affects other aspects of life. People continue working, changing jobs, raising children, and making plans for their future while their citizenship application remains unsolved.
This is particularly stressful because applicants are expected to continue meeting the relevant requirements while they wait, even as life does not stand still. Employment circumstances can change, families change, and children grow older during an unexpectedly prolonged process.
Despite these challenges, the organizers remain committed to staying in Denmark. They stated that they would not be seeking Danish citizenship if Denmark were not the country in which they wanted to build their lives. For them, citizenship is about much more than receiving a Danish passport; it is about belonging fully to the society in which they have built their lives and being able to participate fully in its democratic future.
They do not regret moving to Denmark, but they hope that people who have followed the rules and fulfilled the applicable requirements can expect a reasonable degree of predictability from the process.
Organisers speaking to The Local wished to remain anonymous amid worries that their cases could be negatively affected if their identities are known.
"One of the central ideas behind our appeal is very simple: behind every application is a person and behind many applications there is a family and children."
