Provided that certain conditions are met, family reunification can be granted to:

- spouses and cohabiting partners

- children under the age of 18

- parents over the age of 60

- other relatives or similar of a Faroese resident

Applications for family reunification in the Faroe Islands will be processed by the The Immigration Office in accordance with the terms of Ordinance 182 of 22 March 2001 including subsequent amendments – “Application of the Aliens Act in the Faroe Islands”.

Since the Faroe Islands are not a part of the European Union, EU regulations for family reunification of EU/EEA and Swiss citizens do not apply in the Faroe Islands.

If you have previously held Danish citizenship or are of Danish/Faroese descent, Faroese immigration regulation permit you to apply for a residence permit.

If you are a Nordic citizen

If you are a citizen of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway or Sweden, you are free to enter, reside, study and work in the Faroe Islands. You do not need a visa or residence and work permit.

As a citizen of a Nordic country, you may enter the Faroe Islands without a passport. You may however be required to be able to identify yourself with an identity document including a photo.

If you are not a Nordic citizen

Residence permits, residence cards and D visas, whether issued by Denmark or another Schengen country, do not give permission to enter the Faroe Islands.

A Danish/Schengen visa does not give permission to enter the Faroe Islands

Applications for Faroese entry permits should be submitted to the Danish Immigration Authority.

Requirements for spouses or cohabiting partners

If your spouse or cohabiting partner lives in the Faroe Islands, you can apply for a residence permit on the grounds of family reunification. However, you and your spouse/partner, as well as the nature of your relationship must meet certain requirements.

There are a number of specific requirements relating to your spouse/partner living in the Faroe Islands (also known as your 'sponsor'). These requirements primarily concern the grounds for your sponsor's residence in the Faroe Islands, as well as your sponsor's ability to support you financially and whether or not he/she has adequate housing.

Requirements if you are married:

- your marriage must be valid according to Faroese law.

- the primary reason for your marriage must not have been for the purpose of obtaining a residence permit (marriage of convenience)

Requirements relating to you and your spouse/partner (sponsor)

-you must both be over the age of 18

-you must live together at the same address in the Faroe Islands when your residence permit is granted (also known as the 'cohabitation requirement')

-if your sponsor is not a Danish citizen, your combined attachment to the Faroe Islands must be considered at least as significant as your combined attachment to any other country (also known as the 'attachment requirement')

Requirements relating to your spouse/partner in the Faroe Islands

Your spouse must either:

-be a citizen of one of one of the Nordic countries

-hold refugee status in the Faroe Islands, or have held a permanent residence permit in the Faroe Islands for at least three years.

Furthermore, your spouse/partner in the Faroe Islands must normally:

-reside permanently in the Faroe Islands,

-have accommodation of adequate size at his/her disposal (known as the 'housing requirement'),

-be able to support you financially (known as the 'support requirement'). This is not required if your sponsor is a citizen of a Nordic country or a refugee.

Special requirements for cohabiting partners.

If you and your partner are not legally married, your relationship must be of a permanent and lasting nature.

There is no minimum time limit on the length of your relationship. The Immigration Office will make an assessment as to whether your relationship can be considered permanent and lasting. The assessment will be based on factors such as the length of time you have known your partner, as well as any periods of joint residence in the Faroe Islands or abroad. Typically, joint residence for a period of 18 to 24 months will be considered sufficient to prove that your relationship is of a continuing nature. You must normally be able to document that you have lived with your partner for 18-24 months. Documents such as a lease with both your names, certificate of residence, letters received at the same address, joint insurance policies, joint bank accounts, etc. will normally be considered relevant documentation.

If your sponsor in the Faroe Islands is not a citizen of a Nordic country or a refugee, he/she must sign a declaration that he/she will support you financially.

Must you meet all requirements?

If you cannot claim an exemption from Faroese immigration law as a citizen of Nordic country or as a refugee, you should normally expect that all requirements must be met. There may however be special circumstances in which you and your spouse/partner can be granted family reunification even though one or more of the requirements are not met.

The Immigration Office cannot make its decision about whether you and your spouse/partner can receive an exemption from one or more of the requirements until the Immigration Office has received and processed your application along with sufficient documentation.

Below, you can read more about the special circumstances which may result in an exemption from one or more of the requirements.

In accordance with the Faroe Islands’ international obligations to protect the right to family life, exemptions from the following requirements can be granted to certain groups of applicants:

- the attachment requirement
- the housing requirement
- the financial support requirement

An exemption can be granted if your spouse/partner in the Faroe Islands has a child from a previous relationship who is living in the Faroe Islands with an adult other than your spouse/partner, and if your spouse/partner has custody of the child or has visitation rights and sees the child on a regular basis.

Furthermore, an exemption can be granted if your spouse/partner in the Faroe Islands is elderly or has a serious illness or a debilitating handicap, and a lack of adequate care and treatment in your country would make it indefensible from a humanitarian point of view to force him/her to relocate there.

Foreign nationals under age 18 who have a parent or parents living in the Faroe Islands can be eligible for a residence permit, provided that certain conditions are met:

• the child must be under 18 at the time the application is submitted
• the parent in the Faroe Islands must be able to document his/her relationship to the child
• after the family reunification, the child must live together with his/her parents or a parent who has full or joint custody of the child
• the child may not have established a family of his/her own – either by marriage or cohabiting partnership

All requirements must be met

Furthermore, the following may be considered:

-whether the parent living in the Faroe Islands has adequate housing at his/her disposal (the housing requirement)

-whether parent living in the Faroe Islands can support the child financially (the financial support requirement). This does not apply if the parent living in the Faroe Islands is a citizen of Denmark or another Nordic country or is a refugee.

If the parent living in the Faroe Islands is not a citizen of a Nordic country or a refugee, he/she will normally need to meet the requirements, provided that the parent in the Faroe Islands has chosen not to have personal contact with his/her child for an extended period prior to the application being submitted.

Parents 

If you are a foreign national with a child living in the Faroe Islands, you qualify for a residence permit if:

-you are over the age of 60 at the time the application is submitted,

-your relationship to the child can be documented and

-the child living in the Faroe Islands is a citizen of Denmark or another Nordic country or is a refugee.

In order to qualify for a residence permit, your child must sign a declaration that he/she assumes responsibility for supporting you financially.

The applicant’s child living in the Faroe Islands must also:

-be able to support his/her parent and
-provide adequate housing

Other family members

In certain special circumstances, you may qualify for a residence permit if you have a close relationship with a person living in the Faroe Islands.

Such relationships include:

-a child being adopted as part of a family adoption,

-a foster child

-esidence with close relations

-parent with a child living in the Faroe Islands who is not a citizen of Denmark or another Nordic country or a refugee

The Immigration Service will make its decision on a case-by-case evaluation. In order to qualify, your personal bond with the person living in the Faroe Islands must go beyond the family relationship itself.

In order to qualify for a residence permit, your family member must sign a declaration that he/she assumes responsibility for supporting you financially.

The family member living in the Faroe Islands must also:

-be able to support you financially

-provide adequate housing.

You may qualify for a Faroese residence permit if you:

• have previously held Danish citizenship (and have not be stripped of it) or
• are of Danish/Faroese descent.

Fill in the application

You can apply for a residence permit on the grounds of family reunification, as a former Danish citizen or as a person of Danish/Faroese descent, by filling in and submitting an application form.

You can choose between 4 different application forms depending on the ground of your application. You can fill in the application form on your computer before printing it out. The application form is also available as a PDF file that can be printed out and filled in by hand.

Form you need to use, if you want to apply for family reunification for spouses

Download form FA1 (word)                              Download form FA1 (pdf)

Form you need to use, if you want to apply for family reunification for children

Download form FA2(word)                                Download form FA2 (pdf)

Form you need to use, if you want to apply for family reunification as other family member

Download form SG1 (word)                               Download form SG1 (pdf)

Form you need to use, if you want to apply for residence permit on the grounds of previous Danish citizenship or Faroese/Danish descent

Download form SG2 (word)                                 Download form SG2 (pdf)

Enclose documentation

It is vital to the processing of your application that you include the correct documents.

The application packet contains a thorough description of how to apply, as well as a list of the documents you need to submit.

Normally, you must have obtained a residence permit before entering the Faroe Islands. You can submit your application in your country. In some cases, you may be allowed to submit your application in the Faroe Islands, but this depends on your grounds for being there.

If you already hold another type of residence permit in the Faroe Islands, have a valid visa or are not required to hold a visa, you can normally submit an application for a residence permit in at the Faroes Immigration Office or at Police station in the Faroe Islands.

If you have procedural residence, meaning the right to stay in the Faroe Islands even though you have not been granted a residence permit, you cannot submit an application for a residence permit in the Faroe Islands.

However, in rare situations, you may be permitted to submit your application in the Faroe Islands, even though you are not there legally. Such would be the case if travelling to your country of origin to apply for a residence permit would be a significant burden on you, your spouse/partner in the Faroe Islands and any children living in the Faroe Islands. A decision in such cases will take into account the likelihood that your application would be approved.

The Immigration Office is responsible for deciding whether applications regarding family reunification submitted in the Faroe Islands can be accepted for processing.

If you submit your application in your country of origin

You can submit your application at a Danish embassy or consulate general in your country of origin. When you have completed and submitted your application, it will be forwarded to the Faroese Immigration Office for processing.

If you have resided permanently in another country for longer than three months, you can also submit your application at a Danish embassy or consulate general in that country. If there is no Danish embassy or consulate general in your country of origin or residence, you may submit your application in another country. You can find additional information about Danish embassies and consulates on the website of the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

If you submit your application in the Faroe Islands

Normally, you must have obtained a residence permit before entering the Faroe Islands. If you submit your application after entering the Faroe Islands, the Immigration Office may reject your application. This means that you will have to return to your country of origin or residence and submit a new application.

In some cases, you may be allowed to submit your application in the Faroe Islands. The Immigration Office decides whether it will accept your application for processing. If your application is accepted, you may stay in the country during the processing of your application. If the Faroese Immigration Office rejects your application, you can appeal the decision to the Danish Immigration Appeals Board.

If you submit your application for family reunification in the Faroe Islands and the Immigration Office accepts your application for processing, you may be granted procedural residence while you wait for a decision. Procedural residence means that you are allowed to stay temporarily in the Faroe Islands while awaiting a decision about whether you can be granted a residence permit.

If you wish to travel abroad during this period, you will normally need to apply for a re-entry permit. Without a re-entry permit, you may not be allowed back into the Faroe Islands.

While you have procedural residence, you are not allowed to work, even if it is voluntary/unpaid work. If you work illegally, you risk being fined or imprisonment - as does your employer. You also risk expulsion and a temporary re-entry ban. Applications submitted in the Faroe Islands should be handed in at a police station or at the Immigration Office.

If you are granted a residence permit, it will be a temporary permit. You can apply for an extension if you still meet the conditions of your original residence permit. After three years, you can apply for a

If you hold a residence permit on the grounds of family reunification, you will often have the right to work in the Faroe Islands.

Read more about extension of residence permit

Read more about permanent residence permit

Read more about work permit