The Danish immigration authority has denied a Filipino mother permission to stay in Denmark with her husband and their newborn daughter, according to Ekstra Bladet.
25-year old Christina Maramba came to Denmark in 2016 to work as an aupair and soon after she met the 31-year old Casper Olesen. The couple married in the final months of 2017, gave birth to a daughter and – albeit not as romantically – applied for family reunification at the Danish immigration authorities.
But Denmark wasn’t big enough for Christina Maramba. On Wednesday the 9th of May, a letter dropped in. Family reunification was denied, Christina Maramba is to return to the Philippines. And yesterday, on Tuesday the 15th of May, she did, leaving the two months old Sofia back in Denmark.
The reason for the denial was their house situation; at the moment they were living with Casper’s parents to save up money. The immigration authorities writes;
“By decision we have empasized that it is your spouse’s father who is noted as the renter for the contract on the property. Therefore it is not documented that your spouse either owns, rents or shareholds the property,” the authority writes in a document that Ekstra Bladet has obtained.
Ekstra Bladet asked Casper why they hadn’t made sure that they fitted the requirements for reunifications when they applied:
“We weren’t aware that the rules were like that. We had interpreted it in the way that it was our own house with our own entrance and so on. If we had any idea that we risked rejection on that basis, we would have done something about it,” he tells Ekstra Bladet.
“Christina wants Denmark. She wants the Danish traditions. She was preparing for the test that she should have taken in six months. It seems weird that they don’t take that into account,” he says and explains, that it isn’t possible for him to move to the Philippines.
“I have been a foreman for 13 years. I wouldn’t be able to get a job in the Philippines. Christina is a midwife with a salary of 2000 kroners (317 US dollars). She wouldn’t be able to support me and Sofia,” he says.
So for the time being, Casper will have to use birth supplements since Sofia can’t be breastfed.
“I have to discuss that with the nurse. Everything went so fast, so we haven’t really had time to begin with the infant formula,” Casper Olesen says.