Integration in Denmark https://ec.europa.eu/migrant-integration/governance/denmark
– Integration Act: sets out the legal framework for integration in Denmark and regulates how new immigrants are integrated in Denmark, which rights they are entitled to, and which duties they must observe. However, the term “integration” has been replaced and removed in most law as a result of the “paradigm shift” with respect to refugees.
Overall, participation in the labour market is the main focus of the Danish Integration Policy. The Danish Government wants to limit the number of “people living in parallel societies” who have no contact with the rest of the Danish society. The Government believes that the labour market is the surest path to integration. Employment therefore became a major condition to apply for permanent residence in 2010 and citizenship in 2016.
The 2015 Integration Policy is the strategic document framing Denmark’s current strategy for migrant integration. It continues to emphasise employment as the gateway to social integration. Increasingly differentiated language classes, civic education and skills assessment are its pillars.
The Government outlined a new path with a law passed in the spring of 2019 called the “paradigm shift”, shifting the focus from integration to return, with respect to refugees. The overall goal is now to send refugees back to their home countries as soon as conditions allow for it. The word “integration” has been replaced with “self-support and return”.