Your complete step-by-step settlement guide.

If you are an EU/EEA or Swiss citizen

If you stay more than 3 months, apply to SIRI for an EU residence document as a worker, self-employed person, student or self-sufficient person (family members use the family member application). There is no fee. You will typically need your passport or national ID card and documentation of your basis of residence, such as an employment contract, proof of enrolment or proof of sufficient funds.

If you are a non-EU citizen

You generally need your residence and work permit before you start working. The main work-based schemes under the Aliens Act, administered by SIRI, include:

• Pay Limit Scheme (Beløbsordningen): jobs with an annual salary of at least DKK 552,000 (2026 level).
• Supplementary Pay Limit Scheme (Den supplerende beløbsordning): at least DKK 446,000 a year (2026 level), when the job has been posted on Jobnet and EURES for at least 2 weeks.
• Positive List for People with a Higher Education: listed shortage occupations that require a higher education.
• Positive List for Skilled Work: listed shortage occupations at skilled (vocational) level.
• Fast-Track Scheme: faster processing, available only when the employer is certified by SIRI.
• Researcher and PhD schemes: for researchers and PhD fellows at universities, research institutions and companies.
• Establishment Card and Start-up Denmark: for graduates of Danish institutions and for innovative entrepreneurs respectively.

Family reunification under Danish national law (section 9 of the Aliens Act) is handled by the Danish Immigration Service. Family members of EU citizens enjoy more favourable conditions under Directive 2004/38/EC and Court of Justice case law, including Metock (C-127/08) and MRAX (C-459/99).

If you will stay in Denmark for more than 3 months (more than 6 months for Nordic, EU/EEA and Swiss citizens), you must register at the municipality where you live and get a CPR number, no later than 5 days after moving in. You need your residence permit or EU residence document first (Nordic citizens need neither). A visa for a short stay is not enough. The CPR number is the key to Danish public life: tax, health, banking and digital identity all depend on it.

Where to register

• Copenhagen, Aarhus, Aalborg, Odense, Esbjerg and Sønderborg: International Citizen Service (ICS) centres handle residence matters, CPR, tax and health card registration in one visit. Booking is required.
• Elsewhere: your municipality's citizen service (Borgerservice).

You usually receive your CPR number at the appointment. Your yellow health insurance card (sundhedskort) is posted to your Danish address about 2 to 3 weeks later.

MitID is Denmark's national digital identity, which replaced NemID in 2022 and 2023. You need it for online tax, banking, healthcare, Digital Post and most public services. MitID is not created automatically: once you have a CPR number, you can get it in the MitID app by scanning the chip in your passport or ID card, or at Citizen Service (Borgerservice). Some banks can also issue MitID to new customers.

Every employee in Denmark needs a tax card (skattekort) before the first salary payment. The tax card is not issued automatically: you apply for it, and Skattestyrelsen sends it digitally to your employer. Without a tax card, your employer must withhold 55 percent tax.

Apply online at skat.dk (usually ready at once, up to 5 days if Skattestyrelsen must approve it), with form 04.063 (about 2 weeks), or at an International Citizen Service centre. You will be asked for:

• CPR number (or details for a personal tax number if you are not CPR-registered)
• Residence permit or EU residence document
• Employment contract showing salary and start date
• Expected annual income, deductions and pension contributions

Danish banks must carry out full customer due diligence under the Anti-Money Laundering Act (hvidvaskloven), so allow time. To open an account you will typically need your CPR number, MitID, passport, residence permit or EU residence document, employment contract and proof of address.

Then choose which account is your NemKonto. NemKonto is the account for payments from public authorities (tax refunds, child benefit, pensions, sickness benefit), under the Public Payments Act. You choose it yourself, for example through your bank or on nemkonto.dk, and it can also be a foreign account. If you work under a scheme such as the Pay Limit Scheme, your salary must be paid into a Danish bank account in your own name.

Once you are CPR-registered, your municipality automatically covers you under the public health insurance and posts you the yellow health card, also available as a digital card in the Sundhedskortet app. At registration you choose between two health insurance groups:

• Group 1 (most residents): you have a general practitioner (GP) who refers you to specialists. GP and hospital treatment is free.
• Group 2: you can see any GP or specialist without referral, but you pay any amount above the public subsidy. You can switch between the groups once a year.

You can change GP on borger.dk (DKK 40 in 2026, free when you move). Call 112 in life-threatening emergencies; otherwise contact your GP or, outside opening hours, the out-of-hours medical service. You can order the blue European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) on borger.dk once you are covered.

Finding a home in Copenhagen, Aarhus and other big cities can take longer than the rest of the settlement process combined. Key facts:

• Tenants are protected by the Rent Act (lejeloven, LOV nr 341 af 22/03/2022). A deposit and prepaid rent may each be at most 3 months' rent, and a landlord can only terminate a lease on the grounds listed in the Act.
• Social housing (almene boliger) is owned by non-profit housing organisations, such as AKB, FSB and AAB, and allocated through waiting lists. Sign up early; the lists are long.
• Private rentals dominate the short-to-medium-term market. Insist on a written lease, preferably on the standard form (Typeformular A10), and check the landlord's identity to avoid rental fraud, which is common online.
• If you do not live in Denmark and have not previously lived here for a total of 5 years, you need permission from Civilstyrelsen to buy property (section 1 of the Act on the Acquisition of Real Property). Holiday homes have stricter rules.

Once your tax card and bank account are in place you can start work. Three more points are worth attending to early:

• A-kasse (unemployment insurance fund). Membership is voluntary and governed by the Unemployment Insurance Act (lov om arbejdsløshedsforsikring). You must normally have been a member for at least one year before you can receive unemployment benefit, so join early if you want this safety net.
• ATP (Arbejdsmarkedets Tillægspension). Mandatory supplementary pension; your employer deducts and pays the contributions.
• Occupational pension. Most collective agreements (overenskomster) require contributions to a labour market pension fund such as PFA, PensionDanmark or Sampension. Check your contract.

Children living in Denmark have a right to free education in the municipal folkeskole from the year they turn 6, and education is compulsory for ten years.

• Daycare (vuggestue for the youngest children, børnehave until school starts) is subsidised by the municipality. Apply through your municipality's daycare office (pladsanvisning).
• International, English-medium and bilingual schools exist in larger cities; tuition fees apply.
• Independent and private schools (friskoler and privatskoler) receive partial state funding but charge fees.

• EU/EEA driving licences are valid in Denmark for as long as they are valid in the issuing country; you may exchange yours voluntarily.
• Licences from certain non-EU countries with an agreement with Denmark can be exchanged without a Danish driving test.
• Other foreign licences can be used for a limited period after you take up residence; after that you need a Danish licence, which normally requires a Danish driving test.

Apply at Borgerservice with your CPR number, your valid foreign licence, a certified translation where required, a passport photo and, where required, a medical certificate. Check the current rules on borger.dk before your deadline.

Adult newcomers covered by the Danish Education Act can take state-funded Danish courses (Danskuddannelse 1, 2 or 3, depending on your educational background) for up to five years, through municipal language centres (sprogcentre). A deposit may apply.

Danish tests matter later: Prøve i Dansk 2 is required for permanent residence, and Prøve i Dansk 3 for citizenship and for the spouse in Denmark in family reunification cases.

Family reunification is one of the most complex areas of Danish immigration law and divides into two regimes:

EU rules (Directive 2004/38/EC)

These apply when the sponsor is an EU/EEA or Swiss citizen exercising free movement rights in Denmark, or a Danish citizen returning after genuinely exercising free movement rights in another EU country (the Singh and O. and B. (C-456/12) route). The conditions are more favourable than under national rules: no Danish language requirement, no housing requirement and no fee. SIRI decides these cases.

Danish national rules (section 9 of the Aliens Act)

These apply when the sponsor is a Danish or Nordic citizen, a person who has held permanent residence for more than 3 years, or a person with refugee status (special rules and exemptions apply to refugees). The Danish Immigration Service decides the case. For spouses and partners the main conditions are:

• Both spouses must normally be at least 24 years old.
• Integration requirement: together you must meet 4 of 6 integration conditions, and the spouse in Denmark must have passed Prøve i Dansk 3 (or have 5 years of full-time work in Denmark involving Danish).
• Housing requirement: the sponsor's home must be large enough (at most 2 persons per room or at least 20 m² per person) and not in an area on the housing requirement list.
• Financial guarantee: normally DKK 61,709.34 (2026 level).
• Self-support: the sponsor must not have received benefits under the Active Social Policy Act or the Integration Act in the past 3 years.
• The former attachment requirement (tilknytningskravet) was abolished in 2018.

Permanent residence: section 11 of the Aliens Act

Permanent residence under national rules is decided by the Danish Immigration Service. The main conditions are normally 8 years of legal residence (4 years if all four supplementary requirements are met), passing Prøve i Dansk 2 or a higher Danish test, at least 3 years and 6 months of full-time work or self-employment within the last 4 years, no benefits under the Active Social Policy Act or the Integration Act in the last 4 years, no overdue public debt and no serious criminal record. The rules change often, so check them before you apply.

Danish citizenship: the Nationality Act (Indfødsretsloven)

Citizenship is granted by an Act of Parliament, not by an administrative decision. The conditions are set out in the Circular on Naturalisation and currently include 9 years of residence, permanent residence held for at least 2 years, the citizenship test (indfødsretsprøven), Prøve i Dansk 3, self-support, a clean criminal record and a declaration of loyalty. After bill L 98 lapsed with the 2026 general election, the next naturalisation bill is expected in the first half of 2027.