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BREXIT

Brexit: How UK residents of Denmark can document status for Christmas travel without new ID card

British residents of Denmark who are yet to receive their new permanent residency permit should take proof of application when travelling abroad, until they receive the new ID.

UK nationals who legally reside in Denmark are advised to take a receipt documenting application for post-Brexit residency status when travelling abroad, until they receive their new photo IDs.
UK nationals who legally reside in Denmark are advised to take a receipt documenting application for post-Brexit residency status when travelling abroad, until they receive their new photo IDs. File photo: Claus Fisker/Ritzau Scanpix

British nationals who moved to Denmark under the pre-Brexit EU rules for free movement have applied during 2021 for continued residence status and a new residence document, which takes the form of a photo ID card. The deadline for applications is December 31st this year.

In some cases, for example if biometric data has only recently been submitted, applicants may not yet have received their new ID cards which will be used a proof of legal residence in Denmark when entering the country at borders.

Persons yet to receive their IDs are free to leave Denmark during the Christmas period and return after December 31st provided they can prove they have submitted their applications for continued residency, the Danish Agency for International Recruitment and Integration (Styrelsen for International Rekruttering og Integration, SIRI) confirmed to The Local in a December 20th phone call.

The documentation required is the receipt of application, which is sent to the E-boks or secure digital post box (also accessible via the borger.dk platform) immediately after submitting the application on SIRI’s website.

This document will be accepted as proof of residence at all Danish borders, a press officer with SIRI said.

A screenshot (mobile version) showing a receipt for application for Danish residence status in accordance with the Withdrawal Agreement between the UK and the EU. The receipt was sent to the applicant’s E-boks.

People who are exempt from using or do not have an E-boks digital mail account will have submitted their applications to SIRI in person and received a receipt at this point. They should use this receipt. This is only likely to apply to a small number of cases.

During 2021, UK nationals in Denmark were required to apply for continued residency rights after Brexit – including those who already had legal residence in the country prior to the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.

Everyone who was legally resident prior to December 31st 2020 has the right to stay, but must submit an application for a new residence status in accordance with the Withdrawal Agreement between UK and the EU.

The deadline for this is December 31st 2021. UK residents in Denmark were informed by authorities late last year, via the secure E-boks secure digital mail system, that they would need to submit an application.

Applications were submitted throughout the year to SIRI.

In addition to documentation related to residency, biometric data for a new ID card for British residents had to be submitted to SIRI.

As such, British nationals who legally reside in Denmark have throughout 2021 submitted biometric data recorded at one of SIRI’s five branch offices, located in Copenhagen, Odense, Aalborg, Aarhus, and Aabenraa.

Because the ID cards can take a number of weeks to be produced and sent following the submission of biometrics, people who did not complete this stage of their applications until late in the year may still be waiting to receive ID cards.

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BREXIT

Denmark and UK agree deal on voting rights for British nationals

The United Kingdom and Denmark have signed a treaty that will allow all British and Danish citizens to stand and vote in local elections in each other’s countries.

Denmark and UK agree deal on voting rights for British nationals

The agreement will mean that all UK nationals who live in Denmark will be able to vote for candidates in Denmark’s local elections and run for office themselves.

Previously Denmark had imposed a four-year minimum residence requirement for UK nationals to be able to stand and to vote in municipal and regional elections. And those British citizens who registered as resident in Denmark before “Brexit Day” (January 31st, 2020) had also been able to vote in Danish local elections – unlike in most EU countries where Brexit immediately deprived all British residents of the right to vote in local elections.

This new agreement will remove the four-year-minimum and allow all British residents in Denmark to vote.

According to Statistics Denmark figures, this means some 5,388 British citizens who moved to Denmark in the last four years (up to the third quarter of 2023) will benefit from the new treaty.

READ ALSO: How many foreigners can vote in Denmark’s local elections?

It will also apply in reverse, protecting the rights of Danes in the UK to vote and participate in British local council elections.

Britain’s break-away from the EU left both groups without voting rights in their country of residence, whereas prior to Brexit all registered residents had the right to vote as well as to stand as candidates in local elections.

Britons resident in Denmark could also take part in Denmark’s EU elections, but this also lapsed when the UK left the EU.

The deal is a reciprocal agreement which will be treated as an international treaty that has to be ratified by the British parliament. In Denmark’s parliamentary system, this is done by executive order.

The treaty was signed on Thursday at the British Ambassador’s Residence in Copenhagen by the UK’s Ambassador to Denmark, Emma Hopkins and Nikolaj Stenfalk of the Danish Ministry of the Interior and Health.

In a joint statement, Hopkins and Denmark’s ambassador to the UK, René Dinesen, said the agreement will “enhance and protect the rights to participate in local democracy of approximately 50,000 citizens who reside in each other’s countries.”

“As an important outcome of the UK-Denmark Joint Statement signed by our Foreign Ministers last year, this treaty demonstrates the close ties between our countries and underlines our shared commitment to democracy,” they added.

In a statement posted by the Danish foreign ministry on social media X, Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said the deal securing Danes’ voting rights in the UK “pleases me on behalf of ourselves and democracy”.

Denmark is the fifth country to sign a voting rights treaty with the UK, following treaties signed with Spain, Portugal, Poland and Luxembourg.

Citizens of EU member states resident in the UK currently still have the right to vote in UK local elections, but this will change after May this year, when EU citizens who moved to the UK after January 1st 2021 will no longer be able to vote in the elections — apart from the five countries (now including Denmark) with which the UK has bilateral treaties.

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