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Freedom of movement means that citizens of countries within the European Union can freely live and work in other countries in the EU without restriction.

Denmark has a rule where citizenship of nationals born outside the country who have never lived in Denmark automatically lose citizenship when turning 22, unless they explicitly apply to retain it and are accepted.

In a hypothetical scenario, if a Danish national born abroad would move to a country inside the European Union, then turn 22 and automatically lose Danish citizenship what would happen?

Since the person is no longer a citizen of a EU state, would their residency in that EU country become illegal and they would be forced to leave (or apply for residency another way)?

JonathanReez
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David Wheatley
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    The Netherlands has had a similar rule which currently does not apply if you live anywhere in the EU (or the non-EU parts of the kingdom), but you have to reside there for 1 year to trigger that exception. Someone who moves to the EU or the kingdom less than 1 year before the loss of citizenship could also find themselves in this position. – phoog Oct 03 '23 at 19:24
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    I would think the result is pretty clear - they are no longer a Danish citizen and would need to follow the requirements of whatever nationality they remain. –  Oct 03 '23 at 20:25
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    At the moment I think the question is too general and may outside of the scope here. It will depend on the law of the host nation, although the deprivation of EU citizenship (from someone without nationality of another EU member) is a reviewable matter with a proportionality test under EU law following Rottmann and Tjebbes decisions. – xngtng Oct 03 '23 at 20:44
  • @JonCuster It would be possible, if born in a place without birthright citizenship, to have no other; possibly just residence rights. (If those.) – Andrew Lazarus Oct 03 '23 at 23:04
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    @AndrewLazarus if they have no other citizenship they won't lose Danish citizenship. – phoog Oct 03 '23 at 23:06
  • Note: there is an international law about stateless people, which most countries agreed. A country should never remove a citizenship if such person will become stateless. Note: it may be a task of such person to notify this fact (countries do not know if you have other citizenship). Note: IIRC such law includes also rules about keeping residence as stateless (you cannot be move out of country (because other countries may not accept you). Note: Denmark signed it, as most of other European countries (but Poland and Estonia) – Giacomo Catenazzi Oct 04 '23 at 07:19
  • The scenario is not logical. If the person entered the EU in the first place then he/she is either entering with an EU passport, or with a visa/visa free passport. If he enters with a EU passport then he is already holding a EU citizenship. If he entered with a Schengen visa or a visa free passport then he/she is not a EU member state passport holder. – Nean Der Thal Oct 04 '23 at 09:52
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    @NeanDerThal Please read the question again. It's about automatic loss of citizenship. Not too probable, but not illogical either. – Johnnyjanko Oct 04 '23 at 10:31
  • It’s probably similar to spouses of EU citizens who stop being spouses of EU citizens as a result of death or divorce. – Jacob Horbulyk Oct 05 '23 at 22:09

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