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RESIDENCY PERMITS

How to move to Denmark as a citizen of an EU country

EU citizens have the right to live and work in Denmark under EU free movement, but certain bureaucratic steps are required.

Published: 1 February 2024 15:50 CET
How to move to Denmark as a citizen of an EU country
What steps do you need to take as an EU national moving to Denmark? Photo: Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix

There are several different ways in which a foreign citizen can be granted residency in Denmark.

The broad categories are residency covered by the EU’s rules on freedom of movement; residency permits for people from third countries working or studying in Denmark or for family reunification; and asylum granted to people fleeing from war or persecution.

This article is specifically focused on the rules for EU citizens and is a broad introduction to the rules and process – we cannot make any guarantees about the outcome of applications and you should contact the relevant authorities if you have questions specific to your individual case.

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Generally, all EU nationals who exercise their EU free movement rights to move to Denmark are required to obtain an EU registration certificate (EU-registreringsbevis).

It’s worth keeping in mind that EU (or EEA, or Swiss) citizens can stay in Denmark for up to three months without the registration certificate, or for six months if applying for work. The three or six months begin from the date of entry into the country.

Citizens of Nordic countries (Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden) are not required to obtain a registration certificate.

It’s worth keeping in mind that free movement rules mean you can begin working or studying from your first day in the country, while you are waiting for the registration to be processed.

Why do I need to register in Denmark?

Generally, then, EU nationals staying in Denmark for three months or longer must apply for an EU residence document (EU-registreringsbevis in Danish), sometimes referred to as a registration certificate.

As a citizen of an EU member state, you have the right to live, work or study in Denmark and do not need the document for this. However, the document is proof that you meet the grounds for residence under EU rules.

As such, it is an important piece of because you need it to be added to Denmark’s civil registry to get CPR number, the equivalent of a social security number which allows you to register an address, use the public health system, open a bank account and more.

In order to be eligible for the EU residency document, you must fulfil one of a list of criteria: you must be in employment for at least 10-12 hours a week; run or be about to establish a business; be a registered student; have sufficient personal wealth to be able to provide for yourself; or be a family member or dependent of an EU or EEA citizen living in Denmark.

People who fall into the latter category can live in Denmark under EU rules even if they themselves are not EU citizens. 

To apply for the registration document, you must submit an application with the Danish Agency for International Recruitment and Integration (SIRI). The agency has branch offices in seven locations across Denmark: Copenhagen, Aarhus, Odense, Aalborg, Esbjerg, Sønderborg and Bornholm. 

How do I do this?

You can apply online but, if you are applying for the first time, must also attend an in-person appointment at one of SIRI’s offices.

If you prefer, you can also fill out a printable form and bring it with you to your appointment at SIRI.

Both the online application portal and printable forms can be found here, and the same page has a link through which you can book an appointment at the SIRI office of your choosing.

You will need to provide relevant documentation: both personal identification and documentation for your residence in Denmark, for example an employment agreement or university enrolment. It may be possible to submit these online if you choose the online application.

There is no fee for the application and the processing time is up to 30 days, according to SIRI’s website. This is extended to up to 90 days if you are a family member of an EU national who lives in Denmark.

Once you have received your EU registration certificate, you can apply for a personal registration (CPR) number and accompanying yellow health service card at an International Citizen Service (ICS) centre. As mentioned above, the CPR number is key to accessing Danish social and health services as well as for private matters like Danish bank accounts and phone contracts.

There are ICS centres in Copenhagen, Aarhus, Odense, Aalborg, Esbjerg and Sønderborg.

After five years’ uninterrupted, legal residence in Denmark under free movement, you become eligible for permanent residency.

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INTERVIEW

‘A noticeable change’: What Denmark’s plans to change family reunion rules mean

Olivia Scott, chair of the campaign group Marriage Without Borders, tells The Local that while the Danish government's plans to make it easier to bring a foreign spouse to the country are welcome, they don't go nearly far enough.

Published: 3 May 2024 17:12 CEST
'A noticeable change': What Denmark's plans to change family reunion rules mean

Scott, a Dane who is married to an American, told The Local that her organisation, Ægteskab Uden Grænser, had mixed views about the bill, which will give Danish international executives the same rights to bring a foreign wife to Denmark as foreign executives, halve the bank guarantee or bankgaranti those bringing a spouse to Denmark have to leave for their local municipality, and reduce language requirements for the Danish partner. 

“For some it will make a noticeable change,” she said of the bank guarantee change, “because it is going from being around 114,000 kroner to 57,000 kroner which is much more digestible, especially for younger people, so of course that’s welcome. But we just don’t think it should be there at all.”

As municipalities almost never draw funds from the deposits to support spouses who have come to Denmark, the system, she said, was actually costing them more in adminstration fees than they were gaining from it. “So it ends up becoming a cost for our municipalities and for our government, instead of serving the purpose it’s supposed to serve.” 

READ ALSO: What’s in the new law on bringing a foreign spouse to Denmark?

As for the plan to allow Danish executives returning to Denmark for work to bring a foreign wife and family under the same rules as apply to foreign executives, she said this followed a pattern in Denmark where only so called mønsterborgere, or “outstanding citizens” were welcome to bring spouses to the country. 

“Yes, there are some people that will benefit from this, and we’re always happy when there are regulations that change for the better,” she said. “But this is still just a small group.” 

Olivia Scott is chair of Marriage without Fronteirs. Photo: private

She said the attention being given to Danish executives in the bill simply served to emphasise the gap in the way regular Danes and “highly educated Danes with a lot of money” are seen by the government. 

“That this regulation is making it easier for highly educated individuals with good jobs, is, again, confirming this premise that it is only ‘outstanding citizens’ that we feel should be able to enjoy the ability to be family unified,” she said. 

The third part of the new law, which alters the language requirements for the Danish partner was, she said, welcome, as many Danes who wanted to bring a spouse to Denmark were being foreced to take a Danish exam to prove their ability to speak their own native language.  

“There has been a group of elderly gentleman that simply do not have the physical documentation that they passed their ninth grade. It’s called the afgangseksamen. It’s a physical document that they have lost over the last couple of decades, and so they have had to go and take a Danish test to certify their level of Danish, which is ridiculous because they’re Danish and they’ve lived and studying here their whole life.”

As for the final bit of the new bill, which will block spousal reunions if either the Dane or their partner has been charged or is under prosecution for a crime, Scott said Marriage without Borders supported the idea that someone who has been sentenced for comitting a hard crime is limited in their ability to get family reunification.

“But maybe there should be consideration paid to how long ago the crime was committed,” she said. 

In addition, she said, there was little evidence that foreign spouses tended to commit crimes, so the change would have little impact. 

“If you go and you look at statistics on foreign spouses family reunified with Danish citizens, the crime rate is lower in this specific group than it is among regular ethnic Danes.” 

Finally, she said that even if the bill represented a step forward, her organisation intended to keep pushing for additional relaxations of Denmark’s draconian family reunification rules. 

“Obviously, we hope that it’s going to go further, but we as an organisation are not going to be happy until the day when the rules for family reunion according to Danish law are equalised with those under EU law,” she said. “We cannot accept that the under EU law, you can come to the country as long as you can financially support yourself, and you can obtain permanent residency in five years, whereas for Danish laws, you are locked-into sometimes decades of struggles for no reason.” 

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