Bangladeshi citizen Tariqul Islam Shajib was denied permanent residency in Denmark, although he seemingly fulfilled all requirements.
Shajib moved to Denmark in 2009 to study agro-environmental management at Aarhus University and currently works as a PhD employee at the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences at the University of Copenhagen.
“I applied for permanent residency in September 2014, after residing [in Denmark] five years,” Shajib told the Copenhagen Post.
“As part of my PhD research I went to China in 2015, and before I left Denmark I got a letter of dispensation [valid] until 1 February 2016.”
Although Shajib seemingly met all the requirements stated in the immigration law, his application was rejected on the basis of the Aliens Consolidation Act 11, 3 that requires citizens to be present in Denmark during the application process.
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It came as a surprise
The rejection came as a surprise to Shajib, who was not aware of this rule because it was not stated on the immigration service website when he was submitting his application.
“The interesting thing is that any person can be out of Denmark for maximum of two years if they are deployed by a public institution and the two years can be counted as legal residency,” Shajib noted.
Moreover, Shajib continued paying taxes to the Danish state and had an address in Denmark, even though he was working on his research project in China.
“The University of Copenhagen has made an appeal on my behalf, but the appeal board has rejected it, holding firmly to their [original] decision.”
Shajib in now planning to make an official complaint to the Danish ombudsman and is considering taking his case to a court.
