You are the child of an EU/EEA citizen who is a worker in Denmark under EU law

You can apply for equal status with Danish citizens if you are the child of an EU/EEA citizen, who is a worker in Denmark under EU law, or his/her spouse – regardless of the country you are a citizen of

If you want to apply for equal status with Danish citizens according to this rule, you must meet one of the following conditions:

  1. You must have moved to Denmark before the age of 21, at the same time as one of your parents has or had status as a worker in Denmark under EU law and your parent, in addition, is or was resident in Denmark at the time of the application.
  2. You are under 21 years of age and you are supported by your parent, who is a worker in Denmark under EU law, at the time of the application.
  3. You have turned 21 years of age and you are supported by your parent, who is a worker in Denmark under EU law, because you have a genuine and effective need for being supported, despite the fact that you are no longer a child in terms of age.

Please note, that if you receive state educational grant (SU) as the child of an EU/EEA citizen, you must be aware of the fact that your right to SU is a derived right from your parent’s status as a migrant worker. This means that you lose the right to SU if your parent loses his/her status as a worker in Denmark under EU law.

Definitions

With the phrasing “child of” we mean a direct descendant. Therefore, the rule applies for both children as well as grandchildren of an EU/EEA citizen, who is a worker in Denmark, or of the worker’s spouse regardless of his/her citizenship.

If you meet condition no. 1, you are entitled to SU because you have moved to Denmark while you are a child. You retain this right as long as you remain in Denmark even though your parent has left Denmark.

It is your current residence in Denmark which applies

If you have lived in Denmark previously, for example as a child, but you have left Denmark and have now returned, you must meet the above-mentioned conditions once again. Therefore, if you have moved from Denmark and have now returned, you must have taken residence in Denmark at the same time as your parent is a worker in Denmark in order to fulfill this rule.

When we require that you have to be supported by your parent, who is a worker, you must be able to prove that you are financially dependent on your parent.

If you have turned 21 years of age when you apply for SU, you must be able to prove that for special reasons, you have a genuine and effective need of being supported by your parent regardless of the fact that you are an adult. It is not sufficient that your parent merely undertake supporting you.

You must attach documentation for this along with the application for equal status for foreign citizens when you apply for SU according to one of those rules. The documentation must show that your parent is supporting you. If you are over 21 years of age, you must also attach information and documentation for your situation which shows that you have a genuine and effective need for being supported by your parent despite the fact that you are a grown-up.

With the phrasing "worker" we also mean a self-employed person. These are persons, who under EU law, may be regarded as workers in Denmark or who in certain circumstances may have retained his/her status as a worker in Denmark.

Read more about the term worker under EU law.

Your father or mother is a Danish citizen

A Danish Citizen, who works in Denmark, is as a rule not a worker according to EU law but may have obtained a status as a worker by having exercised his/her right to free movement. If your Danish mother or father has obtained a status as a worker in Denmark under EU law, you can also receive SU according to the rules concerning the child of a worker as described above.

Read more about Danish citizens, who have obtained status as a worker according to EU law.

How to apply

Find information about how to apply in minSU for the first time.

When we assess whether you can be granted equal status according to EU law, we use the information which is evident from the documentation you attach together with the application for equal status for foreign citizens. It is therefore important that you attach all the documentation you want to be included in our assessment of your application. Documentation that your spouse is a worker, can include your spouse’s employment contract and payslips. In addition, we use the information that the national register, the Danish Immigration Service, the State Administration and the Danish Tax Agency (Skattestyrelsen) have registered about you and your spouse.

If you think that the information from the national register is inadequate or incorrect, you must contact the national register in the municipality which you live in. If you think that the information which the Danish Immigration Service or the State Administration has registered is incorrect or inadequate, you must contact the Danish Immigration Service. If you think that the information, which Skattestyrelsen has registered, is incorrect or inadequate you must contact Skattestyrelsen.

Ongoing monitoring

When you receive SU as a spouse of a worker in Denmark under EU law, we will on an ongoing basis monitor that your spouse continues to meet the conditions. The monitoring is, in part, conducted on the basis of the information your spouse’s employer reports to the Danish Tax Agency (Skattestyrelsen) about your spouse’s income and working hours.

If you are not able to prove that you still meet the conditions for receiving SU, we will discontinue your SU and if you have received too much SU, you must pay back this amount. Therefore, if you have received SU for a period where we subsequently find that your spouse could not be regarded as a worker under EU law, you must pay back this SU.