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Danes with dual citizenship caught up in US travel ban
Christian Wenande
January 30th, 2017
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Danes who are also dual citizens of Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Sudan, Somalia, Iran or Libya unable to gain entrance to the US
Among other things (photo: Cory Doctorow – Flickr)
The decision of new US President Donald Trump to establish a travel ban on citizens hailing from seven nations in the Middle East and Africa will have an immediate impact on certain Danes trying to enter the US.
Danes who are also dual citizens of Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Sudan, Somalia, Iran or Libya are now unable to gain entrance to the US, according to the Foreign Ministry.
In total, 57,000 people based in Denmark are affected. The vast majority are residents.
“The travel ban has come as a bit of a surprise to some countries, and it raises a number of questions,” Rene Dinesen, the head of the Foreign Ministry’s Citizenship Services, told DR Nyheder.
“We have been in contact with the US authorities in Washington and the US Embassy here in Copenhagen: particularly to clear up the question of whether Danes with dual citizenship of one of the seven nations will be denied entrance to the US with the Danish passports. The answer is that they will.”
Trump signed a decree on Friday that means that no refugees will be allowed entrance to the US in the next four months and citizens from the seven nations mentioned above will be denied entrance for the next three months. Trump’s reasoning for the decree is to keep “radical, Islamic terrorists” out of the US.
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Embassy on it
Dinesen recommends Danes travelling to the US who believe they might be impacted by the decree contact the US Embassy for clarification as there may be certain grey zones and options at their disposal.
The Trump administration has endured heavy criticism from a number of European politicians since signing the decree, as well as a host of high-profile companies in the US, including Google and Facebook.
The Foreign Ministry did not have any numbers on how many Danes could be impacted by the travel ban, and the US Embassy in Copenhagen said that it would provide specific information about the issue on Monday.
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