As a Dane I can only say I don't understand it either.
But I can give you a couple of small hints as to why it (unfortunately) is like it is.
1. Denmark has a very beneficial social welfare system.
If you break your leg in Denmark visiting, we will pick up the bill through our taxes (there is talks about changing that now)
If you get approved to stay here you gain access to more or less all social welfare.
Some people feel that this is being misused by immigrants. When they normally talk about immigrants they talk about arabs, africans etc. And there is some truth to that.
If you marry someone not from the EU they will gain access to all social welfare.
Because the nineties where ruled by a government that "just took people in" it created a backlash as problems started arising with ghettoes. This among other things lead to a (european style conservative) government backed by Danish Peoples Party a political party critical towards immigrants.
Since they secure the parliamentary power they have been able to get a lot of cases through.
One of them being the 24 year rule which basically is meant to hinder forced marriage between muslims living in Denmark and their spouses living in a country outside of EU.
This has been criticized by both left and right side of the political spectrum and is why some people move to sweden because they are much more lax about these things.
Personally I am a proponent of an open borders closed boxes policy and is voting for the only true liberal (semi american style) party that exist right now (form an ideological point of view) and I am sad to see every time people like Gus get's en trouble because of the splash damage that some of these laws result in.
Good thing is that Denmark is a small country and there is an election year. I am pretty sure that this will be taken up by the newspapers in Denmark and hopefully make it's way into the political debates on television. It's a perfect case for that.
I am also pretty sure Gus will be able to stay. The current government simply don't want to run the risk of angering their political base.
Some people feel that this is being misused by immigrants. When they normally talk about immigrants they talk about arabs, africans etc. And there is some truth to that.
If you marry someone not from the EU they will gain access to all social welfare.
True. I am from another welfare state dealing with the same problems and discussions (The Netherlands). But it needs to be said that the system was grossly misused by native Dutch as well. Laws have been tightened since the beginning of this century, but some groups continue to be resourceful in exploiting the system.
Also interesting is that the anti-immigrant party is most popular in a low-immigrant, economically weak region (Limburg). It's highly paradoxical that people in regions that rely a lot on social welfare accuse others of bankrupting the state (immigrants, The European Union, and state officials are popular targets).
Same thing here. People in Copenhagen areas where most immigrants live are pretty liberal when it comes to immigration. Where as Jutland and other places are more conservative.
But then again they are the ones fighting with unemployment and declining population so someone need to get the blame I guess.
The problem with immigration is that it can never be undone. There is no Ctrl-Z with immigration. Germany would for instance never get rid of the non-assimilating Turkish population.
That is why immigration policy needs to be conservative - even if it means that you reject some people who would make excellent citizens.
It's a horrible irony that a well-intentioned welfare system was a major factor leading to this economic repression. But if you have an expensive safety net for everyone in your country, then you can't afford mass immigration (because of rent seeking), so politics forces you to "regulate" it. Now your laws deny opportunities to would-be African and Arab immigrants; not merely welfare, but jobs, access to markets and capital. Not only is it not-egalitarian, it's outright regressive.
I'm sorry, I wasn't clear. I was talking about the "how hard it is to immigrate part"; if you deny them entry, you are denying them access to your economy and its opportunities.
"Some people feel that this is being misused by immigrants. When they normally talk about immigrants they talk about arabs, africans etc. And there is some truth to that."
Are you suggesting that the immigration laws were made to catch/discourage a specific group of people?
1. Denmark has a very beneficial social welfare system.
If you break your leg in Denmark visiting, we will pick up the bill through our taxes (there is talks about changing that now)
If you get approved to stay here you gain access to more or less all social welfare.
Some people feel that this is being misused by immigrants. When they normally talk about immigrants they talk about arabs, africans etc. And there is some truth to that.
If you marry someone not from the EU they will gain access to all social welfare.
Because the nineties where ruled by a government that "just took people in" it created a backlash as problems started arising with ghettoes. This among other things lead to a (european style conservative) government backed by Danish Peoples Party a political party critical towards immigrants.
Since they secure the parliamentary power they have been able to get a lot of cases through.
One of them being the 24 year rule which basically is meant to hinder forced marriage between muslims living in Denmark and their spouses living in a country outside of EU.
This has been criticized by both left and right side of the political spectrum and is why some people move to sweden because they are much more lax about these things.
Personally I am a proponent of an open borders closed boxes policy and is voting for the only true liberal (semi american style) party that exist right now (form an ideological point of view) and I am sad to see every time people like Gus get's en trouble because of the splash damage that some of these laws result in.
Good thing is that Denmark is a small country and there is an election year. I am pretty sure that this will be taken up by the newspapers in Denmark and hopefully make it's way into the political debates on television. It's a perfect case for that.
I am also pretty sure Gus will be able to stay. The current government simply don't want to run the risk of angering their political base.