Only about 30 percent of foreigners will be able to pass the government's new criteria for Danish citizenship

Copenhagen Post:

Danish citizenship will be an impossible goal to achieve for 70 percent of refugees and immigrants if the government gets its way, Danish language schools across the country warned on Thursday.

Language schools teaching Danish to immigrants and refugees in Copenhagen, the suburb of Ballerup, and the city of Silkeborg in Jutland agreed that the government and Danish People's Party's decision to crank up the demands for Danish skills for aspiring citizens rendered it almost impossible for most foreigners to achieve their goal.

Society and culture class teacher Birthe V. Samuelsen from Language Centre IA in Copenhagen's Nørrebro district pointed out that demands that students should be able to present arguments in Danish called for a elementary school education from their homeland.

Only 30 percent of students have the education needed, she said, adding that it excluded the weakest refugees, including torture victims.

'Before they raised the demands, about 80 percent could pass the test and receive Danish citizenship,' Samuelsen said.

Conservative MP and chairman of the parliament's citizenship committee, Alan Niebuhr, rejected the criticism.

'We make more demands now, but I would like to see the person who can't pass the test after eight years in Denmark,' he said.

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