The regulation was made in an attempt to target members of the Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir from receiving Danish citizenship, since many of them refuse to shake hands with individuals of the opposite sex.

The general guidelines as agreed between the political parties are:[7] Applicants may be exempted from some, or all of these requirements by the Folketing Naturalization Committee.

Half of all new Danish citizenships in 2012 were given to people from Iraq, Afghanistan, Turkey, Somalia and Iran.

[10] In April 2021, the Mette Frederiksen Cabinet approved regulation which stops awarding citizenship to foreigners who had received a prison sentence in court which also encompassed suspended prison sentences.

[11] In October 2011, the newly elected centre-left coalition government indicated its intention to permit dual citizenship.

A separate provision, lasting until 2017, allowed current applicants for Danish citizenship who have been approved under the condition they renounce their prior citizenship to retain their prior nationality as they become Danish citizens.

[18] Greenland joined the European Economic Community along with Denmark proper in 1973 but left in 1985.

The Amsterdam Treaty extends this to all EU member states, which renders the Danish opt-out de facto meaningless.

The QNI considers, besides travel freedom, internal factors such as peace & stability, economic strength, and human development as well.

The first prototype Danish citizenship law was passed in 1776 (titled 'Indføds-Retten, according to which all public positions in his Majesty’s Kingdom are exclusively reserved for native-born subjects and those who are respected as equal to them') as an act of Indfødsret (or ius indigenatus), where public positions in the kingdoms were only accessible to native-born subjects or their equals.

[19]: 2  Based on this law, having 'native-born' status was essentially based on ius soli, however ius sanguinis eventually became the reality as only children born on Danish territory to Danish parents acquired indfødsret at birth, meanwhile children born on the territory of alien parents had to remain in the Danish kingdom in order to meet the acquisition criteria.

[19]: 2  When Denmark democratized in 1849, the Danish monarch lost their sole-right to grant naturalizations (known as indfødsret ([ius indigenatus]) on immigrants.

[19]: 2  During the same period, Indfødsret became more of a citizenship or nationality concept, this is because political rights became associated with this status.

[19]: 2  Indfødsret and citizenship were two different things at the time based on domicile, therefore the Danish government, wishing to simplify its nationality law, merged the two concepts by making the two terms equivalent in the written law by the 20th century.

[19]: 2 Denmark's constitution requires that aliens naturalizing to Danish nationality is done through statute, where each applicant's name is mentioned by the legislative power in acts granting citizenship.

[19]: 3  The Nordic countries' citizenship laws have since diverged from one another, especially since the 1997 European Convention on Nationality, with Denmark maintaining a impermissive view on the concept of dual-citizenship although other Nordic countries started to allow it.

[19]: 3  In December 2014, a majority government in the Danish parliament amended the Citizenship Act, allowing dual-citizenship for persons from 1 September 2015 onwards when the denunciation of the European Convention on the Reduction of Cases of Multiple nationality and Military Obligations Consequent upon Multiple Nationality] 1963 took effect.

[19]: 3 In-contrast to neighbouring states, since 2000 Denmark has increased its barriers to naturalization rather than lessen them.