deportation order

A deportation order is a court decision under the Danish Aliens Act (udlændingeloven) by which a foreign national is expelled from Denmark as a criminal-law consequence of an offence committed, combined with a ban on re-entry for a specified period. The expulsion is not itself a custodial sentence, but it means that the person's right of residence lapses and that they are prohibited from entering Denmark for as long as the entry ban applies.

The rules on judicial expulsion are found primarily in the Aliens Act §§ 22-24, which set out the conditions under which expulsion may or must be imposed, depending on the seriousness of the offence and on the foreign national's residence status and the length of their stay in Denmark. Section 26 contains a proportionality assessment, under which the court must consider whether expulsion would be contrary to international obligations or manifestly inappropriate, particularly in view of the foreign national's ties to Denmark.

The court may impose expulsion either conditionally or unconditionally. In the case of unconditional expulsion, the person must leave the country, typically after serving any custodial sentence. The entry ban is set for a fixed period or as permanent, depending on the nature of the criminality and the offender's ties to Denmark.

The deportation order is handed down by the ordinary criminal court as part of the criminal case and is therefore an integrated part of the legal consequences of the judgment. The decision can be appealed in the same way as other parts of a criminal judgment. Judicial expulsion differs from administrative expulsion, which is decided by the immigration authorities outside the courts.