Re-opening of Cases
Based on judgment of 12 March 2019 of the Court of Justice of the European Union, Case C-221/17 (Tjebbes), the Ministry of Immigration and Integration has found that in connection with the examination of applications regarding proof of retention of Danish citizenship, which have been filed prior to the applicant's 22nd birthday, the Ministry must take into consideration a number of additional elements in order to perform an individual examination of the consequences of the loss of Danish citizenship and, as a result, the loss of citizenship of the European Union from the point of view of EU law.
Thus, the Ministry will have to assess whether the consequences of the loss of citizenship of the European Union are proportional with the purpose of the loss (that is the consideration of a genuine link between the Danish citizens and Denmark being present).
Furthermore, in regard to children of a parent who prior to its 22nd birthday applies for retention of Danish citizenship, the child’s citizenship will not automatically be lost as a consequence of the parent’s loss of citizenship, should the parent’s application be rejected. As a result of the judgment, in such cases where a child is faced with losing his or her Danish citizenship and, thus, his or her citizenship of the European Union in connection with a parent’s loss of Danish citizenship, an induvial, concrete assessment of the consequences of the child’s loss of citizenship of the European Union must be made from the point of view of EU law, including in regard to both Article 7 (inter alia, the right to respect for family life), and Article 24 (children’s rights) of the Charter.
You can read about the Ministry of Immigration and Integration’s notification to the Naturalization Committee regarding the judgment and its legal effects here (in Danish).
Possibility of getting a case re-opened
The legal effects of the judgment will be applicable from the commencement of the interpreted provision in question, Article 20 TFEU, which came into effect on 1 November 1993.
Former Danish citizens who turned 22 on 1 November 1993 or later, and who have applied for retention of Danish citizenship prior to their 22nd birthday; and who have received a decision from the Ministry of Immigration and Integration regarding the loss of citizenship pursuant to section 8 of the Danish Nationality Act which led to them losing their citizenship of the European Union, too, will be able to request the Ministry of Immigration and Integration to re-open their application, if the loss resulted in consequences covered by EU law. Normally, the latter would be the case if the person in question prior to his or her 22nd birthday had established family ties or occupational ties to another member state in the EU besides Denmark.
The same applies for people who have lost their Danish citizenship and at the same time their citizenship of the European Union as a result of being a child by a parent; and who after 1 November 1993 in a timely manner applied for retention of Danish citizenship prior to their 22nd birthday, but had their applications rejected.
In connection with the examination of the re-opened cases, the Ministry of Immigration and Integration will place emphasis on the actual circumstances, including the connecting factors applicable at the time of the applicant's 22nd birthday. This means that connections to Denmark and other countries in the EU which were established after his or her 22nd birthday will not be taken into consideration during the assessment of whether the person concerned has retained his or her Danish nationality.
Read the judgement of 12 March 2019 of the Court of Justice of the European Union, Case C-221/17 (Tjebbes).