The issue, reported by newspaper Politiken, emerged after Denmark’s Højesteret supreme court last June overturned a reinterpretation of citizenship laws introduced by the Ministry of Immigration and Integration.
The supreme court case involved a woman who was granted Danish citizenship in 2005 at the age of nine. Her father, born in Vietnam, was a Danish citizen, while her mother was French.
In 2021, the woman, who was born in Vietnam, had her Danish citizenship revoked due to a new legal interpretation introduced by the government at the time.
The new interpretation of the law was used by the Interior Ministry to revoke the woman's citizenship, even though she had held it for most of her life, Politiken writes.
The ministry, which is responsible for Denmark’s personal identification [CPR] register, said it had made the decision because the woman’s father had not been a Danish citizen at the time of her birth.
But the supreme court ruled that this was an incorrect interpretation of the law, leading to the reinstatement of her citizenship.
At least 22 similar instances have occurred according to the report by the Danish newspaper.
The affected number of people could be higher than the figure so far reported, however.
In a memo to parliament’s citizenship committee, Immigration and Integration Minister Kaare Dybvad Bek conceded additional cases may exist.
“There may therefore be further instances where the Ministry of Immigration and Integration has wrongfully declined to issue proof of Danish citizenship,” Bek stated in a written statement to Politiken.
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