Higher educational programmes

It is a requirement that you are admitted to a higher educational programme in Denmark, and that you are studying full time at your place of education.

You can not be granted a residence permit to study part time. 

You must be able to speak and understand the language of instruction at a level that allows you to actively participate in the courses you are attending.

If you have been admitted to a preparatory course for a higher educational programme, and if you are staying in Denmark for more than 3 months, you can be granted a permit to reside and study in Denmark. 

The preparatory course must meet the following conditions:

• The Ministry of Higher Education and Science must have determined that attendance in the course is a prerequisite for admission to a particular higher educational programme, e.g. engineer. 
• The course must not have a duration of more than 1 year.
• You must have been admitted to the higher educational programme that the preparatory course is linked to.

Moreover, you must meet the same requirements as if applying for a residence permit to study at a higher educational programme.

The educational institution must be publically accredited. As an alternative at least one of the board members of the educational institution must be appointed by the Ministry of Higher Education and Science. You can see a list of publically accredited educational institutions here

The educational programme must be approved by a state authority.  If your educational programme is not approved by a state authority, it must instead have an advisory statementor by the Danish Evaluation Institute, (EVA). You can read more about educational programmes approved by EVA here.

An educational programme is considered to be a higher educational programme if the admission requirement is to have completed a high school programme, or a vocational education.

You must have sufficient funds to be able to support yourself during your stay in Denmark.

You have sufficient funds, if your disposable amount corresponds to DKK 6,820 (2024 level) per month. You must multiply the amount with the number of months you will be studying at a higher educational programme in Denmark. If you are studying more than one year, you must be able to document funds for 12 months. That means a maximum of DKK 81,840 (2024 level).

What documentation can you submit?

• Bank statement that shows: 

• Date of the statement (maximum 30 days old at the time of submission of application)
• Your full name
• Balance
• Currency

• Documentation showing that your financiel support is secured via a scholarship or a student loan.

• Your scholarship or student loan must be granted to you, and the sum must correspond to DKK 6,820 (2024 level) per month, for each month that you are studying in Denmark.
• If you are studying in Denmark for more than a year, the sum must correspond to a maximum of DKK 81,840 (2024 level).

If you submit more than one bank statement, both statements must be from the same date.

Please note that we only accept documentation for liquid assets (that means assets that can quickly be realised into cash, which you have access to. Therefore, we do not accept restricted stocks, bonds or an investment portfolio as documentation).

A bank statement under another person's name (e.g. your parents), or a statement from others saying that your financiel support is secured, will not be accepted as documentation either.

Read more about the requirement for self-support.

If you are to pay a tuition fee for studying in the educational programme, and if you have already paid tuition for the first semester, this is accepted as documentation showing that you have sufficient funds. In this case, you do not need to provide additional documentation.

A residence permit allows you to reside and study in Denmark for the period of time your permit is valid.

Additionally, a permit allows you to stay in the Schengen area for up to 90 days within a 180 days period. However, the permit does not allow you to work in other Schengen countries.

Please note that you must not give up your Danish address or stay abroad for more than 6 successive months. A violation of this rule will result in the lapse of your permit. This means that you will lose your right to stay in Denmark.

If you need to stay abroad for a longer period of time, you can apply for a dispensation to prevent your permit from lapsing.

You can read more about permit lapse and dispensation options here.

You can read more about applying for dispensation, and apply for dispensation here

In addition to your residence permit as a student, you will be granted a limited work permit.

You are allowed to work:

• 90 hours per month during the normal period of study from September to May, and 
• full-time through June, July and August.

The work permit is also valid during the job seeking period of either 6 months or 3 years, which is normally granted to you if you expect to complete a full educational programme in Denmark. 

It will be regarded as illegal work, if you work more hours than you are allowed to.

If you work illegally you can receive a warning, a fine or your residence permit as a student can be revoked. You can read more about illegal work here.

You can read more about working conditions in Denmark and 'The Danish labour market model' here.

However, you are permitted to dounlimited hours of unpaid voluntary work for an organisation or association, if the work is a benefit to society. Hours spent on doing unpaid voluntary work, does not count as part of your limited work permit. Read more about unpaid voluntary work.

If you are granted a residence permit to study at an educational programme containing a mandatory internship, you will automatically be granted a permit to work full-time for the duration of the internship.

If you have not been initially granted a permit for an internship and if you find out at a later time that you will be doing an internship, you must apply for a full-time work permit, which is valid during the period of your internship.  This only applies if you will be working full-time during your internship.

The internship must be part of your educational programme, and the place of internship must be approved by your educational institution.

Please note that you cannot not begin working full-time during the internship before you have been granted a permit.    

You can find the application form for an internship work permit here.

You must be able to support yourself and your family members, if they live in Denmark during your stay. Therefore, you are not allowed to apply for public benefits, e.g. benefits under the terms of the Active Social Policy Act, state study grants and housing benefits.

If you or your family member receives such benefits, your permits can be revoked – and you will all lose the right to stay in Denmark. 

If an authority, e.g. a municipality, disburses benefits to foreign nationals, SIRI will be notified.

You can see a list of benefits that you are not allowed to receive here.

With a residence permit in Denmark, you are entitled to free Danish lessons. However, you must have turned 18 years and have your Danish address registered in the Danish National Register.

If you have a residence permit in Denmark based on work, study, etc. you have to pay a deposit before you can start receiving lessons. Be aware that you can lose your deposit if you do not pass the different modules within a specific timeframe.

Your municipality of residence is obliged to offer you Danish lessons and refer you to a language centre. If you have not been offered Danish lessons within a month after registering your address in Denmark, you can contact your municipality.

You will (typically) be taught together with other foreign nationals who have arrived in Denmark recently.

You can stay in Denmark for the standard (nominal) duration of your educational programme, provided that you are actively participating in the programme. 

Please note, that if you do not complete your educational programme within the nominal period of study, it is important that you apply for an extension of your permit.

Your permit can be extended for a maximum of 1 year. As a rule, your permit cannot be extended further if you prolong your studies by more than a year.

However, if the prolonging of your studies is caused by pregnancy or parental leave, your permit can be extended by an additional year. In these cases, your permit can be extended for a maximum of 2 years in total.

You must apply for an extension not later than the day your permit expires - however, you must not apply for an extension earlier than 4 months before your permit for studying expires.

If you change your educational programme, you must apply for a new residence permit for the new programme.  You are allowed to start your new educational programme while you wait for us to reach a decision regarding your case.

If you have completed an entire higher educational programme in Denmark, you can be granted either a 6-month or a 3-year residence permit to look for employment in Denmark. This depends on which kind of educational programme you have completed.

If you are granted a permit to complete a full educational programme, you will generally be granted the 6-month or 3-year job seeking permit along with your residence permit. If you have not been granted a 6-month or a 3-year job seeking permit along with your residence permit, you can apply for it when you finish your educational programme.

The residence permit for job seeking gives you the same work rights as you had during your studies: 90 hours per week and full-time through June, July and August. The hours are calculated per calender month.

If you have been granted a 3-year job seeking permit, you can also apply for a work permit without limitations once you have completed your educational programme.

Read more about work permit under the job seeking period here

The purpose of the job seeking period is for you to find employment in Denmark, after you have completed your educational programme. If you receive a job offer during your job seeking period, you can choose to apply for a new residence and work permit, based on the job you have been offered.

A residence permit can only be valid until 3 months before the expiry date of your passport.

If your passport has a shorter validity than the otherwise possible period of stay, your residence permit will be shortened. This means that the validity of your residence permit will be shorter than it could be. When you have renewed your passport, you can apply for an extension of your residence permit – however, this can only be done 3 months before your permit expires at the earliest.

Read more about the passport requirements.