Somali student refused entry to Denmark — classmates take action

36 hopeful international students had arrived in Copenhagen. The academic year was about to start on 1 September. They were about to begin their new degree programme, the Erasmus Mundus Joint Master in Global Environment and Development (MERGED), at the University of Copenhagen (UCPH).

But one student was missing.

Mustaf Mohamed Takoy, 30, from Somalia, was also supposed to have been there. But only a few weeks earlier, he had been denied entry to Denmark because, according to the Danish Agency for International Recruitment and Integration (SIRI), his passport was not considered a valid travel document.

A long civil war and ongoing instability in Somalia has affected the issuance of valid travel documents to such a degree that Danish authorities no longer trust them.

We felt morally obliged to fight for Mustaf Mohamed Takoy, who obviously deserves to study here because he is academically qualified

Elouise Lenson, MERGED student

The students in the cohort had already been chatting over WhatsApp during the summer, so Mustaf Mohamed Takoy had started to get to know his fellow students.

Elouise Lenson from Australia was shocked when she heard that Mustaf Mohamed Takoy had been denied entry.

He had been rejected despite following all the formal procedures and being accepted into the prestigious EU-funded Erasmus Mundus programme, which finances the two-year degree with EUR 33,000.

Elouise Lenson decided to investigate what it was that had gone wrong — and how she and her fellow students could help him.

»We wrote a letter to the Danish Immigration Service to complain. The letter supports his application to be allowed to travel to Denmark, and we hope the decision will be reversed so that he can come here after all,« says Elouise Lenson to the University Post.

Students feel a moral responsibility

All 36 students on the MERGED programme signed the letter to the Danish Immigration Service, and paid the DKK 995 fee to lodge the complaint on Mustaf Mohamed Takoy’s behalf — fully aware that the case processing could take up to one year.

»We felt morally obliged to fight for Mustaf Mohamed Takoy, who obviously deserves to study on MERGED because he is academically qualified,« says Elouise Lenson.

Mustaf Mohamed Takoy writes in an email to the University Post from Uganda, where he is currently staying, that he is grateful for the help and support he has received from the other students. It has helped him stay focused on his plan — which, for now, is to arrive in Copenhagen by 1 September 2026.

»I’m doing better now, even though it’s been a tough experience. At first, it was emotionally overwhelming,« he writes.

Diplomatic passport could be the solution

MERGED programme director Carsten Smith-Hall is familiar with the many challenges involved in bringing international students to Denmark. He believes there’s light at the end of the tunnel for Mustaf Mohamed Takoy.

»We’ve kept his place on the programme, and his Erasmus Mundus scholarship is still available, so if he’s able to get a student visa to Denmark next year, he can start in 2026,« says Carsten Smith-Hall.

Mustaf Mohamed Takoy’s case has got media attention in Somalia, and Somali politicians may be stepping in to help.

English-language media outlet The Copenhagen Post was first to report on Mustaf Mohamed Takoy’s story in October, bringing his case to international attention.

»Somali authorities have now informed me that they are in the process of approving a diplomatic passport for me. If Denmark recognises it as valid, it will be issued. This initiative is part of the Somali government’s efforts to help me pursue my education,« says Mustaf Mohamed Takoy.

Legal Aid in Copenhagen: An exceptional case

At the University of Copenhagen, Mustaf Mohamed Takoy’s fellow students see his case as a failure to uphold the Erasmus Mundus programme’s mission: to educate highly talented students from around the world.

French student Lucie Blackmore believes that the prestigious Erasmus Mundus programme should in itself be a seal of approval, ensuring Mustaf Mohamed Takoy’s right to enter Denmark.

»That’s why we’re trying to raise awareness about his case, and we’ve spoken to Legal Aid in Copenhagen, who told us they’ve never encountered a case like this before. They also said it’s good that we’re speaking up, because if the authorities hear about this, there’s a chance other students won’t face the same problem,« says Lucie Blackmore.

Fellow student Elouise Lenson agrees: »The colour of your passport shouldn’t determine whether you get an education,« she says.

Another MERGED student, Maia Curti from Italy, expresses  frustration at what she sees as the injustice Mustaf Mohamed Takoy has been subjected to.

»We signed the letter for moral reasons,« says Maia Curti.

Wasted academic talent

According to Elouise Lenson, it is a waste of academic talent that Mustaf Mohamed Takoy did not get the chance to continue his studies this year.

»I’ve seen Mustaf Mohamed Takoy’s transcript, and I know he is intelligent and talented, so I’m sad that we didn’t get the chance to know each other,« she says.

The three fellow students interviewed by the University Post agree that staff at MERGED should have known that a Somali passport is not valid for travel to Denmark. But they also acknowledge that the real issue lies in Denmark’s immigration rules.

Programme director Carsten Smith-Hall has sympathy for the students’ commitment and understands their frustration:

»In hindsight, we probably should have better informed the concerned students about the process. Even though UCPH doesn’t work in a visibly ‘activist’ way, we do a lot behind the scenes to support our applicants. We’ve also been in dialogue with Mustaf Mohamed Takoy the entire time and remain in contact — because of course we want him here, since we selected him to study on MERGED,« says Carsten Smith-Hall.

Passport information well hidden

Mustaf Mohamed Takoy has lived in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, for the past year, and submitted his application to an application centre in Somalia already on 12 June, which forwarded it through the system.

But before 12 June, he had to complete a series of questions on nyidanmark.dk in collaboration with UCPH staff, and had to pay a DKK 2,250 fee for his application to be processed.

The University Post spoke to a staff member at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who said that in an ideal world, Mustaf Mohamed Takoy would have been informed as early as June that Denmark does not recognise Somali passports. In response to his case, SIRI is now looking into how better information can be provided about legal entry into Denmark.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, there are places where both UCPH and Mustaf Mohamed Takoy could have found information about which passports or other documents are recognised as valid — both here and on nyidanmark.dk.

Neither Mustaf Mohamed Takoy, nor UCPH, found that information back in June, which meant he spent two months sending applications and contacting the Danish embassy in Kampala — all the time hoping to begin his studies up in the far northern country in September.

»Unfortunately, I only realised I couldn’t travel to Denmark when I got my passport back and read the rejection letter on 4 August. It was an unexpected and very difficult situation for me,« he writes to the University Post.

Wants to build climate-resilient villages

Mustaf Mohamed Takoy is currently unemployed in Uganda. He has lived alone there for the past year, and says he gets by, but finds his situation insecure.

»I try to keep myself busy as best I can. I develop daily routines and focus on hopefully being able to continue my studies and begin MERGED in Copenhagen next year. That helps me stay optimistic,« says Mustaf Mohamed Takoy.

His dream for the future is to help build food systems in Somalia, so that small, remote communities become more resilient to climate change:

»I hope to become a specialist in designing development programmes that ensure more stable crops and improve life for people in Somalia’s rural villages,« he says.

This article was first written in Danish and published on 12 December 2025. It has been translated into English and post-edited by Mike Young.