From 2008 - 2015, Denmark welcomed 845 refugees via the UN resettlement programme. These individuals had been stripped of their Bhutanese citizenship and lived in camps in Nepal for many years, and were identified as being particularly vulnerable: they were aged over 50, struggled with both psychological and physical difficulties, and had never attended school.
 
Only 2% of this group have so far obtained Danish citizenship, due to the majority being unable to fulfil the relevant criteria, including those who arrived as children. As a result, they are also denied EU citizenship.
 
According to Eva Ersbøl, professor emerita from the Danish Institute for Human Rights and specialist in the subject, the criteria for Danish citizenship are the toughest in Europe. To access citizenship an applicant must meet the following requirements:

• Able to demonstrate full-time employment for the 4 years prior to application
• Pass a Danish language test to the level of Danish school grade 9
• Pass a multiple choice exam with questions concerning Danish society, history and culture. Criteria which are impossible to meet for illiterate, sick or elderly people.

These requirements are very difficult to meet for those who are sick, elderly or illiterate; categories into which many of those who arrived from Nepal fall. 

A report from the Danish Institute for Human Rights in 2021 investigated access to citizenship for children born or raised in Denmark and found that the strict criteria conflict with international law on discrimination and equal rights, and that it can also lead to democratic problems when a growing part of the population has no right to vote. The issue of children and stateless people in Denmark was also examined by the human rights commissioner from the European Council in a report published in October 2023.