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Business Standard
13-05-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
Denmark bans post-study work rights for students in unaccredited programmes
Denmark has introduced new rules that restrict access to the labour market for international students enrolled in certain unaccredited study programmes, including many from India and Nepal. The changes took effect on May 2, 2025. The move was confirmed by the Danish Agency for International Recruitment and Integration (SIRI), which processes work permits and study visas, in a press release. The rules now prevent non-EU students on unaccredited higher education courses from working in Denmark under the rights granted by their study permits. Who is affected * Students from outside the EU on non-government accredited higher education programmes, including Indians * Applicants applying on or after May 2, 2025 * Those seeking post-study residence for job-hunting or to bring accompanying family members Also Read Students already holding a study permit under the old rules will not be affected. SIRI has said that even if such students apply to extend their permits, the earlier terms will continue to apply. 'The purpose of the changes is to ensure that residence permits are granted only to third-country students whose genuine intention is to study in Denmark,' SIRI said in a statement. What changes * No post-study job-seeking period for those on unaccredited programmes * No accompanying family allowed under these study visas * No right to work during the course of study, unlike previously For students in accredited programmes — such as university degrees recognised by the Danish government — the right to work up to 20 hours per week during term and full-time during summer months remains unchanged. The Danish government has not made changes through new legislation but by altering an existing directive. Immigration Minister Kaare Dybvad Bek had first indicated the possibility of such action in March. Misuse of student visas triggered change The stricter controls follow a report in Fagbladet 3F, a Danish trade union journal, which highlighted a rise in Nepalese nationals using study permits primarily to work. Bek told the journal that police believed the real motive behind many of these applications was not education. 'We are relying on the police view that the overall purpose of the Nepalese persons' residence in Denmark was labour migration,' said Bek in the March interview. He added that suspected misuse of visas placed pressure on wages in the Danish job market, and that his response would be to tighten the rules. Growing interest in Denmark According to the recently released Student Pulse Survey Spring 2025 report by edtech company ApplyBoard, while most Indians still prefer Canada over other destinations, interest in Denmark is also on the rise. This uptick comes even as Denmark joins countries like the UK, US and Canada in tightening post-study work options for international students.
Euronews
10-02-2025
- Politics
- Euronews
Denmark grants asylum to 'historically' low number
The Danish government approved a "historically" low number of asylum applications last year, it has said. The Nordic country granted asylum to 864 people in 2024. In total, 309 were from Syria, 130 were from Eritrea and another 130 were from Afghanistan. The only time in the last 40 years that the annual figure was lower was in 2020, when lockdown measures were in force due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Immigration Minister Kaare Dybvad Bek. The minister said the decrease was down to the "strict asylum policy" pursued by Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen. Speaking to TV 2, he added that no more people should come to Denmark than "society can handle". Frederiksen said she wanted to reduce asylum applications in the Nordic country to "zero" after winning on an anti-immigration platform in 2019. The country's leader, who belongs to the centre-left Social Democratic Party, recently warned Europe's "left" that it needs to be tougher on immigration if it wants to stop the surge of right-wing parties across the continent. Denmark has introduced increasingly strict immigration policies over the past decade. In 2021, the country passed a law allowing immigrants to be moved to asylum centres in partner countries. The decision was condemned at the time by the European Commission.
Yahoo
09-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Denmark's ‘zero refugee' policy drives down asylum admissions to record low
Denmark's strict immigration policies resulted in the granting of 860 asylum requests last year, the lowest number bar 2020, when Covid-19 lockdowns halted new arrivals. Denmark's immigration approach has been influenced by Right-wing parties for more than 20 years, with Mette Frederiksen, the prime minister and leader of the centre-Left Social Democrats, pursuing a 'zero refugee' policy since coming to power in 2019. The country of around six million people received 2,300 asylum requests last year. 'Last year, authorities granted the smallest number of residency permits to asylum seekers that we have seen in recent years,' Kaare Dybvad Bek, the immigration minister, said, calling the figure 'historic'. Home Office figures showed that the UK, which has a population more than 10 times that of Denmark, granted a total of 67,978 asylum claims in the year to June 2024 – more than triple the 21,436 in the previous year. The figures from Denmark come as the European Union is preparing plans on how they will implement overhauled rules for asylum seekers to be operational by mid-2026. Denmark has already managed to negotiate an agreement to keep it outside the EU's common asylum policy, and Copenhagen has over the years implemented a range of initiatives to discourage migrants, while making Danish citizenship harder to obtain. Ms Frederiksen told the Financial Times last year that the country's hardline approach to crime and immigration, which included revoking residency permits for Syrian refugees in 2021 and 2023, was popular with Left-wing, working class voters. 'An unsafe society is always a bigger challenge for people without a lot of opportunities. If you have the money, you will always be able to defend yourself.' In 2018, the country introduced the so-called 'anti-ghetto law' that aimed to reduce the number of 'non-Western' residents in certain housing areas to less than 30 per cent by 2030. The laws, which were updated in 2021, gave municipalities the right to set up 'prevention areas' where they can refuse to rent to those who are not originally from Denmark, the EU or EEA or Switzerland. Local police chiefs were also given powers to double punishments for crimes such as vandalism and theft. The legislation also called for social housing in these areas to be reduced to 40 per cent. Critics have said the policies are discriminatory, and a group of residents from one designated area in Copenhagen are currently seeking a European Court of Justice ruling on the government's use of the term 'non-western', which they argue breaches EU anti-race discrimination laws. Mr Dybvad Bek said in 2024 that there was a 'broad consensus' in Denmark towards limiting migration, with only 'a few parties on the far-Right and the far-Left' outside of it. 'I would say 80 to 85 per cent agree that on the one hand we cannot accept an endless number of refugees, and on the other, we are of course part of international conventions – human rights, refugees' rights – and we strictly have to respect these as well,' he said. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Khaleej Times
09-02-2025
- Politics
- Khaleej Times
Denmark grants 'historic' low asylum requests in 2024
Denmark's strict immigration policies resulted in the granting of just 860 asylum requests last year, the lowest number with the exception of 2020, when Covid-19 lockdowns halted new arrivals. Denmark's immigration approach has been influenced by the far-right parties for over 20 years, with Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, the head of the Social Democrats, pursuing a "zero refugee" policy since coming to power in 2019. The country of around six million people registered 2,300 asylum requests last year. "Last year, authorities granted the smallest number of residency permits to asylum seekers that we have seen in recent years," Immigration Minister Kaare Dybvad Bek said in a statement, calling the figure "historic". The decline comes as the European Union is preparing plans on how they will implement overhauled rules for asylum seekers to be operational in mid-2026. Denmark has already managed to negotiate an agreement to keep it outside the EU's common asylum policy, and Copenhagen has over the years implemented a slew of initiatives to discourage migrants and made Danish citizenship harder to obtain.
