A majority in the Folketing wants tougher Danish-language requirements for citizenship, after Jyllands-Posten reported that applicants can pass the language test without proving they can speak Danish.
Several parties, including the government parties SF, Moderaterne and Radikale Venstre, say the test system behind the language requirement does not work well enough. That is according to reporting by DR on November 4, 2026.
The criticism follows an investigation by Jyllands-Posten. The newspaper documented that the language requirement for citizenship can be met without applicants having to document spoken Danish. It also reported that applicants can learn largely identical test tasks by heart before sitting the exam.
What the parties and the minister say
SF’s member of the Folketing’s naturalization committee, Kirsten Normann Andersen, said she simply does not understand how the Danish tests are designed this way. She wants Immigration and Integration Minister Morten Bødskov of the Social Democrats to examine how the tests can be changed. She has noted that some people have received Danish citizenship without speaking Danish.
Moderaterne’s political spokesperson, Mohammad Rona, called it concerning and frightening that applicants can pass the test without actually knowing Danish. Magnus Georg Jensen of Radikale Venstre, who also sits on the naturalization committee, said changes are needed in the area.
Bødskov told Jyllands-Posten that the requirements are being looked at more closely. Per the minister, whether the Danish-language requirements can be tightened will form part of negotiations on a new agreement on the conditions for obtaining citizenship.
Danmarksdemokraterne’s naturalization spokesperson, Ulrik Knudsen, was not impressed. In a written comment to the news agency Ritzau, he said the government does not even have a grip on whether the people it grants citizenship to can speak Danish. He repeated his party’s call for the current granting of citizenship to be paused.
Why the dispute is live at Christiansborg now
Citizenship is a heated political topic in Denmark at the moment. As DR notes, the center of the dispute is a bill that would make 2,055 foreigners Danish citizens next year. The most recent round of citizenship grants coincided with the calling of the general election held in March 2026, which delayed that bill.
The government announced in October 2026 that a screening model would be developed to examine whether citizenship applicants hold antidemocratic views. An expert group working on that model is behind schedule, and its work is now expected to finish in March 2027. The government has decided to table the bill covering the 2,055 people before the screening model is ready, a decision that has drawn objections from Dansk Folkeparti and Liberal Alliance. More on the dispute over that bill is covered in our report on how Danish citizenship was frozen for 2,055 applicants.
What stricter language tests could mean for citizenship applicants
Danish citizenship is not granted administratively but by act of parliament, with applicants listed by name in a bill passed by the Folketing. Applicants must meet a set of conditions, including a documented Danish-language requirement, as part of the naturalization process. According to Jyllands-Posten’s reporting, that requirement can presently be satisfied without an applicant demonstrating spoken Danish in a test.
No bill, text or timeline for tighter language rules has been presented. Bødskov has said only that the question will be part of negotiations on a new citizenship agreement, and the existing requirements remain unchanged as of November 4, 2026. For foreign residents preparing documentation for a citizenship application, what is not yet known is which test or which level any future agreement would require.
