There was big news this week for foreigners in Denmark.\xa0 It looks double citizenship will soon be permitted.\xa0
Previously, if you wanted to be a Danish citizen, you had to give up citizenship in your home country.\xa0Meanwhile Danes who had moved abroad, say to the US or Australia, and became citizens there had to give up their Danish citizenship.
There\u2019s now been a proposal to get rid of all that.\xa0 It hasn\u2019t been finally approved, but all the Danish parties say they\u2019ll vote for it, with the exception of our anti-foreigner friends in the Danish People\u2019s Party.
Now having been here for 14 years, I will probably apply for Danish citizenship.\xa0 I realize I\u2019ll have to do a lot of studying about Danish history, and learn things like the difference between King Christian the Fourth and King Christian the Seventh.\xa0
But that\u2019s true of any country.\xa0 I\u2019m sure people wanting to be American citizens have to learn the difference between, say, George Washington and George Bush.
I want to be a Danish citizen for a lot of different reasons. \xa0Right now, my \u2018permanent\u2019 residence permit expires if I\u2019m out of the country for more than a year. \xa0That could easily happen if I travel, or have a family crisis back in the US.
Also my daughter has no rights here.\xa0 She was born here, and has only lived here, but she has no residence rights here, or right to attend university here. \xa0Under the current law, she\u2019d have to apply for a Danish residence permit when she turns 18, and there\u2019s no guarantee she\u2019d get it. \xa0If I\u2019m a double citizen, she can become a double citizen.\xa0 And if she\u2019s a double citizen, it means she can hold the Danish flag in her girls marching band. \xa0Right now she\u2019s not allowed.
Most importantly, I\u2019ve been paying Danish taxes for 14 years, and I want a say in how those taxes are spent.\xa0 I want to vote.