NextSpring

There Is No Means-Tested Route: the Aliens Act's Grounds Are Work, Family, Study, Protection and a Handful of Named Cases

Answer

The general rule applies to you

No exception is recorded for citizens of The Bahamas 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 The Bahamas to Denmark · Residency on passive income

Denmark has no residence permit for someone who can support themselves from outside the country. The Aliens Act grants residence on named grounds and the list is closed: protection under sections 7 and 8, family under section 9, employment or self-employment under section 9 a, humanitarian grounds under section 9 b, exceptional grounds under section 9 c, former Danish nationality under section 9 d, religious work under section 9 f, study under section 9 i, au pair under section 9 j, internship or volunteering under section 9 k, a working holiday under section 9 l, accompanying family under sections 9 m and 9 n, Denmark's international obligations under section 9 p, and retired staff of international organisations under section 9 q. Money appears everywhere as a condition attached to one of those grounds and nowhere as a ground of its own.

Verified with official sourceStable2026-10-10

At a glance

Residence permit for passive income or savings
No such ground in sections 7 to 9 q of the Aliens Act

Read against the whole run of permit-granting sections in the consolidated Act. Each names an activity, a relationship or a status; none is a means test.

The nearest thing to a self-support route
Self-employment under section 9 a(2)(10), which needs a business plan rather than an income

Section 9 a(2)(10) of the Aliens Act, and the subject of this country's investor record.

Where a money test does appear
As a condition on a permit granted for another reason

Section 9 a(4) of the Aliens Act, which bars assistance under the Active Social Policy Act for holders of a work permit and their accompanying family.

Requirements

  • A ground in the Aliens Act. Having enough money is not one

What applies to you

Nothing changes for a citizen of The Bahamas

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

Text layer - verbatim verifiedUdlændingeloven, lovbekendtgørelse nr. 1183 af 25. september 2025 · § 9 a, stk. 1 · consolidated to 2025-09-25
«Der kan gives opholdstilladelse til en udlænding på grundlag af beskæftigelse eller selvstændig erhvervsvirksomhed, jf. stk. 2 og 3.»

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.

Employment or self-employment, the only economic ground.

Read it at the source
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

Text layer - verbatim verifiedUdlændingeloven, lovbekendtgørelse nr. 1183 af 25. september 2025 · § 9 c, stk. 1 · consolidated to 2025-09-25
«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. It asks for quite particular reasons, with family unity and the welfare of a child under 18 named as examples, and not for means.

Read it at the source
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

Text layer - verbatim verifiedUdlændingeloven, lovbekendtgørelse nr. 1183 af 25. september 2025 · § 9 i, stk. 1 · consolidated to 2025-09-25
«Der kan efter ansøgning gives opholdstilladelse til en udlænding med henblik på uddannelse, hvis den pågældende er optaget på en uddannelse eller et kursus ved en uddannelsesinstitution her i landet.»

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.

Study, for completeness of the list.

Read it at the source
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

Text layer - verbatim verifiedUdlændingeloven, lovbekendtgørelse nr. 1183 af 25. september 2025 · § 9 a, stk. 4 · consolidated to 2025-09-25
«Opholdstilladelse efter stk. 2 og 3 skal betinges af, at udlændingen og personer, der meddeles opholdstilladelse som følge af familiemæssig tilknytning til udlændingen, ikke modtager hjælp efter lov om aktiv socialpolitik.»

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.

A money condition attached to a permit granted on another ground.

Read it at the source
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

Practical notes

This is a negative claim and it is bounded by what was read: the permit-granting sections of the consolidated Aliens Act of 25 September 2025. Six later amending Acts were not read, and nor was any ministerial regulation beyond the two read for other topics here.

Union and EEA citizens are not covered by this record at all. Their right to reside comes from the Union's rules, which section 2(3) of the Act says its own limits yield to.

Sources1 · all accessed 2026-10-10
  • consolidates
    Udlændingeloven, 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