In the course of the dialogue, the Government of Denmark produced an outline for an approach for the processing of applications from stateless applicants under the 1961 Convention.278 The approach will allow the Ministry of Immigration and Integration to postpone the processing of citizenship applications from stateless applicants whom the Danish Security and Intelligence Service (PET) assesses as a potential threat to national security, or who at the time of application are charged or indicted for offences against national security or a criminal offence that can result in imprisonment of 5 years or more. In such cases, the application will not be rejected, but action on it will be postponed, as long as PET assesses the applicant to constitute a threat to national security, or the charge or indictment is in force and the resolution of these issues is pending. The postponement is conditional on the continued existence of justified grounds and periodic review conducted by the Ministry of Immigration and Integration, which will biannually and by its own initiative request a renewed security assessment of the concerned applicant by the PET or confirm that the charge or indictment is still in force. Furthermore, it is required that the postponement does not result in the applicant not receiving a decision on his or her application within “a reasonable time”.279 The assessment on the “reasonable time” requirement will be undertaken by the Ministry of Immigration and Integration. In situations where a decision should be made in view of the overall case processing time, the Ministry will submit the application to the Danish Parliament’s Naturalisation Committee with a report referring to the obligations under the 1961 Convention. In August 2018, the Government of Denmark and UNHCR exchanged letters, in which UNHCR concurred that the new approach is in line with the object and purpose of the 1961 Convention.280 4.2.1.2 Birth outside the State’s Territory Article 4 of the 1961 Convention sets forth the obligation of a Contracting State to “grant its nationality to a person, not born in the territory of a Contracting State, who would otherwise be stateless, if the nationality of one of his parents at the time of the person’s birth was that of that State.” Danish nationality law largely follows the principle of jus sanguinis. As noted above, as of 1 July 2014, a child born to a Danish father, a Danish mother, or a Danish co-mother will acquire Danish nationality at birth, irrespective of where that birth occurs.281 This development was prompted by The European Court of Human Right’s judgment in Genovese case.282 Prior to this amendment, a child born out of wedlock to a Danish father and a foreign mother would acquire Danish nationality at birth only if born on Danish territory.283 In other words, a child born abroad and out of wedlock to a Danish father and a foreign mother would not automatically at birth acquire Danish nationality under the old rule.284 However, such child could acquire Danish nationality by naturalization without fulfilling the normal requirements if the father had part in the parental authority. This last-mentioned condition was abolished in May 2013. At that time the Naturalization Circular was amended, also prompted by the Genovese case, to allow such a child to be listed 68 278 Ministry of Immigration and Integration, Brief on Processing of applications for Danish citizenship by naturalisation from applicants covered by the UN Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness of 1961(the 1961 Convention), and who PET (the Danish Security and Intelligence Service) assesses as a potential threat to national security, or who are charged or indicted for offences against national security or a criminal offence that can result in imprisonment of 5 years or more, 16 August 2018, available at: https://bit.ly/2Dgjmyo. 279 The reasonable time requirement derives directly from the Art. 10 of the ECN concerning the processing of applications relating to the acquisition, retention, loss, recovery or certification of nationality. 280 UNHCR, Letter from UNHCR to the Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Immigration and Integration, 28 August 2018, available at: https://www.ft.dk/samling/20171/almdel/IFU/bilag/152/1935206.pdf. 281 Act No. 729 of 25 June 2014, amending Section 1 of the Nationality Act. Note that under Danish law, Danish citizens born and resident abroad are subject to nationality retention requirements. For a discussion of these rules, see section 4.3.4, infra. 282 See above note 255. 283 The Consolidated Nationality Act No. 422 of 7 June 2004. 284 Under Section 2 of the Danish Nationality Act, a child born out of wedlock to a Danish father and an alien mother and who has not acquired Danish nationality at birth will acquire Danish nationality through the subsequent marriage of the parents. To benefit from this rule, the child must be unmarried and under 18 years of age at the time of the marriage of the parents. Mapping Statelessness in Denmark