Source description last updated: 27 January 2020

In brief: The Danish Immigration Service (DIS) is an agency within the Danish Ministry of Immigration and Integration that deals with cases concerning foreigners' right to visit and stay in Denmark.

Coverage on ecoi.net:

Country (of Origin) reports (including fact-finding mission reports) and notes.

Covered monthly on ecoi.net, for countries of priorities A-E (all available countries).

Mission/Mandate/Objectives:

The DIS processes asylum applications and handles issues such as accommodation for asylum seekers, family reunification, visas and permanent residence (Website of the Ministry of Immigration and Integration: Udlændingestyrelsen (US), last updated 2 May 2016).

The DIS consists of a Centre for Asylum, a Centre for Family and Visit, a Centre for Administration and Asylum Accommodation and a unit for Data protection, Information Security and Assigned Projects (Ministry of Immigration and Integration: Organisational chart of the Danish Immigration Service, 1 January 2020).

DIS’s Country of Origin Information (COI) Division, which is a part its Centre for Asylum (Ministry of Immigration and Integration: Organisational chart of the Danish Immigration Service, 1 January 2020), “collect[s] background information on conditions in asylum seekers' countries of origin. This background information forms the basis for the ruling in asylum cases and other types of cases processed by the Immigration Service.

The employees of the Country of Origin Information Division are excluded from the processing […] applications for asylum, and are not involved in the ruling on any asylum case.” (DIS website: Country information, last updated 15 May 2019)

Funding:

Government funds

Scope of reporting:

Geographic focus: all countries of origin of asylum-seekers

Thematic focus: political situation, human rights, security, socio-economic situation, documents, situation for returnees etc.

Methodology:

Country of Origin Information (COI) research publications of the DIS state that they are “written in alignment with” the European Asylum Support Office (EASO) COI Report Methodology (last updated in June 2019) (see, for example, DIS: Morocco - Protection and assistance to victims of human trafficking, October 2019, p. 2 and DIS: Palestinians - Access and Residency for Palestinians in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem; Report based on interviews conducted from 31 March to 4 April 2019 in Jerusalem, Ramallah and Tel Aviv, May 2019, p. 4) and are based on Terms of Reference (ToRs) drawn up by the DIS in consultation with the Danish Refugee Appeals Board and a Danish advisory group on COI (see, for example, DIS: Morocco - Protection and assistance to victims of human trafficking, October 2019, p. 4).

The drafting of its reports and notes entails retrieving public information from the internet “such as reports, newsletters, journals and newspapers” and information retrieved from databases.  DIS country researchers (referred to as “regional experts”) also “collect information through national and international networks, including contact to researchers and others with specialist knowledge of the area. Further information is also obtained by consulting the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, United Nations organisations and other relevant sources.” (DIS website: Country information, last updated 15 May 2019)

“The Country of Origin Information Division also provides information gathered on country missions, in which regional experts themselves travel to the countries in question and collect information at meetings with national authorities, international organisations and national NGOs. Some missions are undertaken in cooperation with the Danish Refugee Council. The results of country missions are presented in country reports which are made available to the public.” (DIS website: Country information, last updated 15 May 2019)

DIS research publications contain references to sources as footnotes (see, for example, DIS: Morocco - Protection and assistance to victims of human trafficking, October 2019 and include a bibliography of written public sources and an appendix of consulted oral sources (interviewees) who may be mentioned with reference to their name (person and/or organisation) or in a more anonymous way (see, for example, DIS: Morocco - Protection and assistance to victims of human trafficking, October 2019, pp. 17-31 and DIS: Report based on interviews conducted from 31 March to 4 April 2019 in Jerusalem, Ramallah and Tel Aviv, May 2019).

Languages of publication:

English and Danish

Further reading / links:

AI - Amnesty International (Denmark): “Vi skulle jo også kunne sove om natten“ [English: “After all, we need to be able to sleep at night too”, working translation by ACCORD], September 2015
https://amnesty.dk/nyhedsliste/2015/vi-skulle-jo-ogsaa-kunne-sove-om-natten

Guardian: Britain refusing asylum to Eritreans on back of discredited report, 10 September 2015
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/sep/10/britain-refusing-asylum-eritreans-discredited-report

HRW - Human Rights Watch: Denmark: Eritrea Immigration Report Deeply Flawed, 17 December 2014
https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/12/17/denmark-eritrea-immigration-report-deeply-flawed

UNHCR - UN High Commission for Refugees: Fact Finding Mission Report of the Danish Immigration Service, “Eritrea – Drivers and Root Causes of Emigration, National Service and the Possibility of Return. Country of Origin Information for Use in the Asylum Determination Process”, UNHCR’s perspective, December 2014
https://www.ft.dk/samling/20141/almdel/uui/bilag/41/1435206.pdf

All links accessed 27 January 2020.