When the current Danish government got into power in 2002, one of their first actions was to introduce the so-called 24-year rule, which means you can’t bring your lawfully wedded husband or wife to Denmark from outside the EU if you’re younger than 24.
Although theoretically introduced to reduce the number of forced marriages, it has had lots of negative consequences for young married couples that actually are in love.
It seems that the UK has now introduced something similar, only with a limit of 21 years instead, and as the article shows, this is already having disastrous consequences, in this case for a Welsh-Canadian couple.
However, the EU can help such couples to a certain extent:
But Adam and Rochelle do have one chance – they can move to any other European Union country and they will be allowed to live together as man and wife and get work.
The only place they cannot is Adam’s home – Britain.
“It’s insane”, he says. “We can go anywhere except my home country, where we got married, and where they gave us permission to get married.”
Danish couples are doing this, too, typically by moving across the Øresund to Sweden.
Will young British couples now start to emigrate to Ireland?