Post: | Minister for Integration |
Insignia: | National Coat of arms of Denmark.svg |
Insigniasize: | 75px |
Insigniacaption: | State Coat of Arms of the Kingdom of Denmark |
Incumbent: | Kaare Dybvad |
Incumbentsince: | 2 May 2022 |
Department: | Ministry of Integration |
Member Of: | the Folketing |
Appointer: | Prime Minister |
Termlength: | 4 years |
First: | Bertel Haarder |
Minister for Immigration and Integration (Danish: Udlændinge- og Integrationsminister) is a Danish ministerial office. The office was created by Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen on 27 November 2001 when he formed the Cabinet of Anders Fogh Rasmussen I after the 2001 Danish parliamentary election, in which refugees, immigration, and integration of people from non-western countries had been important issues.
One of the stated goals of the Anders Fogh cabinet, and especially the supporting Danish People's Party which secured the government's majority, was to "stem the flow" of refugees to Denmark, and new tougher rules did drastically reduce the number of refugees being granted asylum. Another initiative was the 24 year rule, which stated that spouses must be 24 or older before they could immigrate to Denmark through family reunification (there had been many cases of arranged marriages of young people being used to get around immigration restrictions).
It was abolished by the Cabinet of Helle Thorning-Schmidt after Rasmussen's right-wing alliance lost the 2011 election.