Descent Gives You Citizenship at Birth or Nothing; the One Ancestry Door Left Open Is for People Who Were Danish and Lost It
Answer
The general rule applies to you
No exception is recorded for citizens of Paraguay on this topic. That is the answer, not a gap - everything below is the rule you get, unchanged.
147 exceptions recorded across 54 countries · none match Paraguay to Denmark · Residency through ancestry
Danish nationality by descent is settled at the moment of birth: a child is Danish if its father, mother or co-mother is Danish. There is no residence route for a grandchild, and none for an adult child of a Dane as such. What there is - and it is a shall rather than a may, which is rare in this Act - is section 9 d: a residence permit is given on application to someone who previously held Danish nationality, unless it was taken away by a court or by the minister for fraud or for conduct seriously damaging the state. Danish descent also shortens the road to naturalisation rather than to residence: the naturalisation guidelines let the ordinary residence requirement be relaxed for former Danish nationals, people of Danish descent and Danish-minded South Schleswigers.
At a glance
- Residence route for a grandchild of a Dane
- None in sections 7 to 9 q of the Aliens Act
Read against the permit-granting sections of the consolidated Act. Section 9 d reaches former Danish nationals only, not descendants.
- Nationality by descent
- At birth, from a Danish father, mother or co-mother
Section 1(1) of the Nationality Act.
- Residence for a former Danish national
- Given on application
Section 9 d of the Aliens Act, which says gives der opholdstilladelse rather than kan der gives.
- Effect of Danish descent on naturalisation
- The ordinary residence requirement may be relaxed
Section 13 of the naturalisation circular, for former Danish nationals, people of Danish descent and Danish-minded South Schleswigers. The detail is in its annex 1, which was not quoted.
Requirements
- For nationality by descent: a Danish parent or co-mother at the moment of your birth
- For the residence route: Danish nationality you once held and did not have taken away under sections 8 A or 8 B of the Nationality Act
What applies to you
Nothing changes for a citizen of Paraguay
We have no rule recorded that treats your citizenship differently here, so the general rule above is the one that applies to you. That is an answer, not a gap.
What the law says
«Et barn erhverver dansk indfødsret ved fødslen, hvis faderen, moderen eller medmoderen er dansk, jf. dog stk. 2.»Known to be out of date. Lov nr. 487 af 13. maj 2023 amended the Nationality Act after this consolidation and was not read.
About this source
The Danish state's common legal information system, run by Civilstyrelsen under the Ministry of Justice. It serves every Act, consolidated Act, ministerial regulation, circular and guidance document at a stable ELI address of the form https://www.retsinformation.dk/{pubMedia}/{year}/{number}, where pubMedia is lta for Lovtidende A, retsinfo for documents published on the service itself and mt for Ministerialtidende. Each document is offered in three representations off that address: the bare address, which is a JavaScript shell; /pdf, which is the publisher's own typeset PDF with a real text layer; and /dan/xml, which is the LexDania source. A consolidated Act prints on its first page the consolidation it supersedes, every amending Act folded into it, and a paragraph-by-paragraph list of the amendments it does NOT incorporate because the minister has not yet set their commencement date. The XML carries a metadata block with the accession number, the signature date, a Status field reading Valid or Historic, and a Change block naming each amending instrument.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The address itself serves a 4.8 KB React shell and no text; a reading taken from it is page furniture, not the law. The XML representation of older documents can be metadata only: Danmarks Riges Grundlov, the Constitution that Danish naturalisation rests on, has a record with a title and a status and no text at all, and its /pdf address answers 404. The free-text parameter of the public search API is ignored, so the service can be filtered by document type and ministry but not searched by word from outside the browser. A document marked Historic may still be operative: the 2014 regulation listing the countries whose driving licences exchange without a test is marked Historic because the 2016 regulation repealed it, and the 2016 regulation's own transitional provision keeps its list in force. The StartDate and EndDate fields in the XML are record-keeping dates and are not the validity period of the instrument - they must not be read as a commencement or a repeal. The service publishes what has been enacted and nothing about how an agency applies it: the Positive List, the unemployment level that opens one of the salary routes, the driving-licence exchange list and the annually adjusted amounts are all published elsewhere by the administering body.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source
«Efter ansøgning gives der opholdstilladelse til en udlænding, som tidligere har haft dansk indfødsret, medmindre udlændingens danske indfødsret er frakendt eller frataget efter § 8 A eller § 8 B i lov om dansk indfødsret.»Known to be out of date. Six Acts amending the Aliens Act were published after this consolidation was signed: lov nr. 1344 af 25. november 2025, lov nr. 1648 af 16. december 2025, lov nr. 1750 af 29. december 2025, lov nr. 725 og 726 af 1. september 2026 and lov nr. 765 og 766 af 8. september 2026. None of them was read for this record. The consolidation also prints, in its own opening pages, a list of amendments it does not incorporate because the minister has not set the date they take effect.
The one ancestry-shaped residence ground, and a shall.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Danish state's common legal information system, run by Civilstyrelsen under the Ministry of Justice. It serves every Act, consolidated Act, ministerial regulation, circular and guidance document at a stable ELI address of the form https://www.retsinformation.dk/{pubMedia}/{year}/{number}, where pubMedia is lta for Lovtidende A, retsinfo for documents published on the service itself and mt for Ministerialtidende. Each document is offered in three representations off that address: the bare address, which is a JavaScript shell; /pdf, which is the publisher's own typeset PDF with a real text layer; and /dan/xml, which is the LexDania source. A consolidated Act prints on its first page the consolidation it supersedes, every amending Act folded into it, and a paragraph-by-paragraph list of the amendments it does NOT incorporate because the minister has not yet set their commencement date. The XML carries a metadata block with the accession number, the signature date, a Status field reading Valid or Historic, and a Change block naming each amending instrument.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The address itself serves a 4.8 KB React shell and no text; a reading taken from it is page furniture, not the law. The XML representation of older documents can be metadata only: Danmarks Riges Grundlov, the Constitution that Danish naturalisation rests on, has a record with a title and a status and no text at all, and its /pdf address answers 404. The free-text parameter of the public search API is ignored, so the service can be filtered by document type and ministry but not searched by word from outside the browser. A document marked Historic may still be operative: the 2014 regulation listing the countries whose driving licences exchange without a test is marked Historic because the 2016 regulation repealed it, and the 2016 regulation's own transitional provision keeps its list in force. The StartDate and EndDate fields in the XML are record-keeping dates and are not the validity period of the instrument - they must not be read as a commencement or a repeal. The service publishes what has been enacted and nothing about how an agency applies it: the Positive List, the unemployment level that opens one of the salary routes, the driving-licence exchange list and the annually adjusted amounts are all published elsewhere by the administering body.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source
«For personer, der tidligere har været danske statsborgere eller er af dansk herkomst, samt for dansksindede sydslesvigere kan de almindelige opholdskrav lempes.»What descent does for naturalisation.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Danish state's common legal information system, run by Civilstyrelsen under the Ministry of Justice. It serves every Act, consolidated Act, ministerial regulation, circular and guidance document at a stable ELI address of the form https://www.retsinformation.dk/{pubMedia}/{year}/{number}, where pubMedia is lta for Lovtidende A, retsinfo for documents published on the service itself and mt for Ministerialtidende. Each document is offered in three representations off that address: the bare address, which is a JavaScript shell; /pdf, which is the publisher's own typeset PDF with a real text layer; and /dan/xml, which is the LexDania source. A consolidated Act prints on its first page the consolidation it supersedes, every amending Act folded into it, and a paragraph-by-paragraph list of the amendments it does NOT incorporate because the minister has not yet set their commencement date. The XML carries a metadata block with the accession number, the signature date, a Status field reading Valid or Historic, and a Change block naming each amending instrument.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The address itself serves a 4.8 KB React shell and no text; a reading taken from it is page furniture, not the law. The XML representation of older documents can be metadata only: Danmarks Riges Grundlov, the Constitution that Danish naturalisation rests on, has a record with a title and a status and no text at all, and its /pdf address answers 404. The free-text parameter of the public search API is ignored, so the service can be filtered by document type and ministry but not searched by word from outside the browser. A document marked Historic may still be operative: the 2014 regulation listing the countries whose driving licences exchange without a test is marked Historic because the 2016 regulation repealed it, and the 2016 regulation's own transitional provision keeps its list in force. The StartDate and EndDate fields in the XML are record-keeping dates and are not the validity period of the instrument - they must not be read as a commencement or a repeal. The service publishes what has been enacted and nothing about how an agency applies it: the Positive List, the unemployment level that opens one of the salary routes, the driving-licence exchange list and the annually adjusted amounts are all published elsewhere by the administering body.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source
«Der kan efter ansøgning gives opholdstilladelse til en udlænding, hvis ganske særlige grunde, herunder hensynet til familiens enhed og, hvis udlændingen er under 18 år, hensynet til barnets tarv, taler derfor.»Known to be out of date. Six Acts amending the Aliens Act were published after this consolidation was signed: lov nr. 1344 af 25. november 2025, lov nr. 1648 af 16. december 2025, lov nr. 1750 af 29. december 2025, lov nr. 725 og 726 af 1. september 2026 and lov nr. 765 og 766 af 8. september 2026. None of them was read for this record. The consolidation also prints, in its own opening pages, a list of amendments it does not incorporate because the minister has not set the date they take effect.
The residual ground an applicant with Danish ancestry would otherwise have to reach through.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Danish state's common legal information system, run by Civilstyrelsen under the Ministry of Justice. It serves every Act, consolidated Act, ministerial regulation, circular and guidance document at a stable ELI address of the form https://www.retsinformation.dk/{pubMedia}/{year}/{number}, where pubMedia is lta for Lovtidende A, retsinfo for documents published on the service itself and mt for Ministerialtidende. Each document is offered in three representations off that address: the bare address, which is a JavaScript shell; /pdf, which is the publisher's own typeset PDF with a real text layer; and /dan/xml, which is the LexDania source. A consolidated Act prints on its first page the consolidation it supersedes, every amending Act folded into it, and a paragraph-by-paragraph list of the amendments it does NOT incorporate because the minister has not yet set their commencement date. The XML carries a metadata block with the accession number, the signature date, a Status field reading Valid or Historic, and a Change block naming each amending instrument.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The address itself serves a 4.8 KB React shell and no text; a reading taken from it is page furniture, not the law. The XML representation of older documents can be metadata only: Danmarks Riges Grundlov, the Constitution that Danish naturalisation rests on, has a record with a title and a status and no text at all, and its /pdf address answers 404. The free-text parameter of the public search API is ignored, so the service can be filtered by document type and ministry but not searched by word from outside the browser. A document marked Historic may still be operative: the 2014 regulation listing the countries whose driving licences exchange without a test is marked Historic because the 2016 regulation repealed it, and the 2016 regulation's own transitional provision keeps its list in force. The StartDate and EndDate fields in the XML are record-keeping dates and are not the validity period of the instrument - they must not be read as a commencement or a repeal. The service publishes what has been enacted and nothing about how an agency applies it: the Positive List, the unemployment level that opens one of the salary routes, the driving-licence exchange list and the annually adjusted amounts are all published elsewhere by the administering body.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source
Practical notes
The naturalisation circular's annex 1 sets out the relaxed residence rules for people of Danish descent and was not read. Only the sentence that says the relaxation exists is quoted.
The negative claim about a grandchild is bounded by the permit-granting sections of the consolidated Aliens Act of 25 September 2025.
- consolidatesIndfødsretsloven, lovbekendtgørelse nr. 1656 af 23. december 2022
Retsinformation, Civilstyrelsen · consolidated to 2022-12-23
About this source
The Danish state's common legal information system, run by Civilstyrelsen under the Ministry of Justice. It serves every Act, consolidated Act, ministerial regulation, circular and guidance document at a stable ELI address of the form https://www.retsinformation.dk/{pubMedia}/{year}/{number}, where pubMedia is lta for Lovtidende A, retsinfo for documents published on the service itself and mt for Ministerialtidende. Each document is offered in three representations off that address: the bare address, which is a JavaScript shell; /pdf, which is the publisher's own typeset PDF with a real text layer; and /dan/xml, which is the LexDania source. A consolidated Act prints on its first page the consolidation it supersedes, every amending Act folded into it, and a paragraph-by-paragraph list of the amendments it does NOT incorporate because the minister has not yet set their commencement date. The XML carries a metadata block with the accession number, the signature date, a Status field reading Valid or Historic, and a Change block naming each amending instrument.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The address itself serves a 4.8 KB React shell and no text; a reading taken from it is page furniture, not the law. The XML representation of older documents can be metadata only: Danmarks Riges Grundlov, the Constitution that Danish naturalisation rests on, has a record with a title and a status and no text at all, and its /pdf address answers 404. The free-text parameter of the public search API is ignored, so the service can be filtered by document type and ministry but not searched by word from outside the browser. A document marked Historic may still be operative: the 2014 regulation listing the countries whose driving licences exchange without a test is marked Historic because the 2016 regulation repealed it, and the 2016 regulation's own transitional provision keeps its list in force. The StartDate and EndDate fields in the XML are record-keeping dates and are not the validity period of the instrument - they must not be read as a commencement or a repeal. The service publishes what has been enacted and nothing about how an agency applies it: the Positive List, the unemployment level that opens one of the salary routes, the driving-licence exchange list and the annually adjusted amounts are all published elsewhere by the administering body.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source
- consolidatesUdlændingeloven, lovbekendtgørelse nr. 1183 af 25. september 2025
Retsinformation, Civilstyrelsen · consolidated to 2025-09-25
About this source
The Danish state's common legal information system, run by Civilstyrelsen under the Ministry of Justice. It serves every Act, consolidated Act, ministerial regulation, circular and guidance document at a stable ELI address of the form https://www.retsinformation.dk/{pubMedia}/{year}/{number}, where pubMedia is lta for Lovtidende A, retsinfo for documents published on the service itself and mt for Ministerialtidende. Each document is offered in three representations off that address: the bare address, which is a JavaScript shell; /pdf, which is the publisher's own typeset PDF with a real text layer; and /dan/xml, which is the LexDania source. A consolidated Act prints on its first page the consolidation it supersedes, every amending Act folded into it, and a paragraph-by-paragraph list of the amendments it does NOT incorporate because the minister has not yet set their commencement date. The XML carries a metadata block with the accession number, the signature date, a Status field reading Valid or Historic, and a Change block naming each amending instrument.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The address itself serves a 4.8 KB React shell and no text; a reading taken from it is page furniture, not the law. The XML representation of older documents can be metadata only: Danmarks Riges Grundlov, the Constitution that Danish naturalisation rests on, has a record with a title and a status and no text at all, and its /pdf address answers 404. The free-text parameter of the public search API is ignored, so the service can be filtered by document type and ministry but not searched by word from outside the browser. A document marked Historic may still be operative: the 2014 regulation listing the countries whose driving licences exchange without a test is marked Historic because the 2016 regulation repealed it, and the 2016 regulation's own transitional provision keeps its list in force. The StartDate and EndDate fields in the XML are record-keeping dates and are not the validity period of the instrument - they must not be read as a commencement or a repeal. The service publishes what has been enacted and nothing about how an agency applies it: the Positive List, the unemployment level that opens one of the salary routes, the driving-licence exchange list and the annually adjusted amounts are all published elsewhere by the administering body.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source
- consolidatesCirkulæreskrivelse nr. 9461 af 17. juni 2021 om naturalisation
Retsinformation, Civilstyrelsen
About this source
The Danish state's common legal information system, run by Civilstyrelsen under the Ministry of Justice. It serves every Act, consolidated Act, ministerial regulation, circular and guidance document at a stable ELI address of the form https://www.retsinformation.dk/{pubMedia}/{year}/{number}, where pubMedia is lta for Lovtidende A, retsinfo for documents published on the service itself and mt for Ministerialtidende. Each document is offered in three representations off that address: the bare address, which is a JavaScript shell; /pdf, which is the publisher's own typeset PDF with a real text layer; and /dan/xml, which is the LexDania source. A consolidated Act prints on its first page the consolidation it supersedes, every amending Act folded into it, and a paragraph-by-paragraph list of the amendments it does NOT incorporate because the minister has not yet set their commencement date. The XML carries a metadata block with the accession number, the signature date, a Status field reading Valid or Historic, and a Change block naming each amending instrument.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The address itself serves a 4.8 KB React shell and no text; a reading taken from it is page furniture, not the law. The XML representation of older documents can be metadata only: Danmarks Riges Grundlov, the Constitution that Danish naturalisation rests on, has a record with a title and a status and no text at all, and its /pdf address answers 404. The free-text parameter of the public search API is ignored, so the service can be filtered by document type and ministry but not searched by word from outside the browser. A document marked Historic may still be operative: the 2014 regulation listing the countries whose driving licences exchange without a test is marked Historic because the 2016 regulation repealed it, and the 2016 regulation's own transitional provision keeps its list in force. The StartDate and EndDate fields in the XML are record-keeping dates and are not the validity period of the instrument - they must not be read as a commencement or a repeal. The service publishes what has been enacted and nothing about how an agency applies it: the Positive List, the unemployment level that opens one of the salary routes, the driving-licence exchange list and the annually adjusted amounts are all published elsewhere by the administering body.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source