An EU country has announced its intention to stop accepting military conscripted men of conscription age

The Danish government is preparing large-scale changes in migration policy for Ukrainian refugees. The country will significantly limit the granting of residence permits, primarily for men of mobilisation age, the Danish Ministry for Foreigners and Integration has said.

Who will be affected by the new rules

The main innovation - residence permits will no longer be granted to militarily liable men from Ukraine aged 23 to 60 years, unless they can prove that they have been removed from the military register.

At the same time:

• 23-60 year old men who are not legally eligible to cross the border will not be able to obtain status;

• if a man is officially exempt from military service, he will be able to apply for a special law permit;

• men under the age of 23 will be able to obtain a residence permit only until they reach that age and will not be able to extend it without documentary evidence of exemption from service;

• ukrainians are planned to be obliged to be employed in order to receive social payments.

Restrictions by regions

Temporary protection status will not be granted to Ukrainians from a number of regions, which Denmark considers less affected by the war. The list includes:
Cherkasy, Chernovtsy, Ivano-Frankivsk, Khmelnytsky, Kirovohrad, Kyiv (oblast, not the city of Kyiv), Lviv, Poltava, Rivne, Ternopil, Vinnytsia, Volyn, Zakarpattya and Zhytomyr oblasts.

Government position

Minister of Immigration and Integration Rasmus Stocklund explained the decision by the need to support Ukraine in the face of a protracted war and the revision of residence rules:

'On the Danish side, we must do everything we can to help Ukraine against the brutal Russian attacks. The war has been going on for four years and there are now about 45,000 displaced people from Ukraine living in Danish municipalities. Therefore, the government will now adjust the residence rules under a special law so that people from the less affected areas of Ukraine and people who are subject to Ukrainian mobilisation rules will not be able to get a residence permit in Denmark in the future.

Why the rules are being changed now

In the second half of 2025, Denmark recorded an increase in the number of applications from Ukrainians. The peak came in October - about 2,300 applications per month. This coincided with the period when Ukraine relaxed exit rules for young men.

Later, the flow began to decline:

• december 2025 - about 1,700 applications;

• january 2026 - about 1,400.

The government plans to submit a bill to adjust the rules in April 2026. Important: the changes will not affect Ukrainians who have already received a residence permit under a special law.