EU residence as a family member of an EU citizen

You are a family member of a (non-Danish) EU citizen living in Denmark who has independent grounds for residence in Denmark under EU regulations. As a family member you can either be an EU citizen or a citizen of a country outside EU, EEA or Switzerland.

Normal processing time
0-90 days

Processing fee
No fee

Who can get an EU residence document as a family member of an EU citizen?

You can get an EU residence document as a family member of an EU citizen, if this person is residing in Denmark under EU regulations.

Below we will call the EU citizen 'the sponsor'.

You must be

  • the spouse,
  • cohabiting partner or
  • a child under the age of 21 of either the sponsor or the sponsor’s spouse or partner.

As a cohabiting partner you are living at a joint residence and is in a longstanding relationship with the sponsor. As a rule, you and the sponsor must have been cohabiting partners for at least 18 to 24 months prior to submitting the application.

Other family members - e.g. children over the age of 21 and parents - can in certain circumstances get an EU residence document, provided that a number of specific conditions are met.

The sponsor must be residing in Denmark under EU regulations. This can be as a worker, student, self-employed person, person with sufficient funds or posted service provider.

The sponsor can also have permanent residence under EU regulations. 

The sponsor’s grounds for residence may not be as a family member to an EU citizen.

Your right to EU residence as a family member is a right derived to you from the sponsor's grounds for residence. This means that termination of your sponsor’s grounds for residence will affect your right to EU residence in Denmark.

Special rules apply to persons born stateless in Denmark who apply for Danish citizenship.

Your options for becoming a Danish citizen as a stateless person born in Denmark depend on whether you are under 18, between 18 and 21 or over 21.

Read more about citizenship for stateless persons born in Denmark

What are the conditions?

You must at a minimum meet the following conditions:

  1. You must be a family relation of the EU citizen (the sponsor)
  2. The sponsor must have EU residence in Denmark as a worker, student, self-employed person, person with sufficient funds or posted service provider

If you submit your application for an EU residence document at the same time as the sponsor submits his or her application, we must first decide whether the sponsor can get a residence document before we can assess whether you can get EU residence as a family member.

If the sponsor already has a residence document, you must provide documentation that the sponsor continues to meet the conditions for EU residence. For instance, if the sponsor has residence as a worker, the documentation can be a new declaration from the employer.

Read about the various types of EU residence the sponsor can have

Actual and real residence means that you are living your life and have arranged yourself in such a way that you have your existence and daily life in Denmark.

The sponsor must therefore have undertaken an actual and real relocation to Denmark. It is not enough that the sponsor has registered at a Danish address or is the owner or tenant of a home in Denmark.

SIRI can, in some cases, request documentation of actual and real residence.

Your relationship must be genuine and not established solely for the purpose of obtaining grounds for residence.

SIRI can, in some cases, call you and the sponsor in for an interview to assess whether your relationship is genuine.

As a general rule, you and the sponsor must have lived together without gaps. 

If there have been any gaps in your cohabitation with the sponsor, the reasons and the length of the gaps will be taken into account.

A gap in your cohabitation can mean that we will calculate the period of your cohabitation from the time you resumed the cohabitation.

If you, who are to live in Denmark with the child, have shared custody with the other parent, it is sufficient that you give SIRI consent to process the application for the child’s residence in Denmark. Consent is granted when you sign the application form on behalf of your child under 18 years of age.

The other parent, who will not be residing in Denmark with you and the child, does not need to consent to the child’s stay in Denmark.

Special rules and conditions apply if you apply for EU residence as a family member of a Danish citizen who has resided in another EU country or is otherwise covered by EU regulations.

Read about EU residence as a family member of a Danish citizen

If you are a family member of a Danish citizen who has not resided in another EU country and is not otherwise subject to EU regulations, you are not covered by EU regulations. In that case, you can apply for family reunification with the Danish citizen under the terms of the Danish Aliens Act.

Read about family reunification with a Danish citizen under the terms of the Aliens Act

What are my rights with an EU residence document?

As an EU citizen, you have the right to reside and work in Denmark with or without an EU residence document.

You are free to enter Denmark and you can work in Denmark upon arrival. You do not need a permit to work in Denmark.

If you are a third-country citizen, i.e. a citizen of a country outside the EU, EEA or Switzerland, and you meet the conditions for residence as a family member of an EU citizen, you have the same rights to reside and work in Denmark as the EU citizen.

You therefore have the right to reside in Denmark while your application for an EU residence document as a family member of an EU citizen is being processed.

However, as a third-country citizen, whether you have the right to work while the application is being processed depends on whether you meet the conditions for residence as a family member of an EU citizen.

If you are a third-country citizen this means that it is at your own risk, if you work in Denmark before we have made a decision in your case. In some instances you may be subject to criminal liability for illegal work, if it turns out that the conditions have not been met and you have been refused residence under EU regulations.

In Denmark a Civil Registration System (CPR) number is necessary in many situations, e.g. in relation to getting a health card and choosing a doctor, tax and Danish lessons.

To get a CPR number you must show an EU residence document to the municipality in which you reside.

On the website lifeindenmark.dk you can read more about how to get a CPR number and other important matters such as

  • MitID
  • Tax matters
  • Holiday entitlements
  • School and daycare
  • Housing
  • Danish lessons
  • Car registration and driver’s license

Read more on lifeindenmark.dk (links opens in a new window)

During your stay in Denmark as a family member of an EU citizen, the sponsor must normally be able to support him- or herself and any family members - including you.

Depending on the sponsor’s grounds for residence, your right of residence, or the right of residence of your sponsor, could be affected if one of you – or you both – receive benefits regulated by the Act on Active Social Policy, such as cash benefits. 

If that happens, your right of residence can be terminated and you can lose your right to be in Denmark.

Benefits paid to a foreign national by the municipality or any other public authority are reported to SIRI. SIRI will then assess whether this affects the foreign national's grounds for residence.

If the sponsor is a worker under EU law – or has retained worker status despite no longer working – receiving the above-mentioned benefits will normally not in itself lead to termination of the right of residence for the sponsor nor for you as a family member - as long as the sponsor has worker status.

Read about what you are allowed to receive and what you are not allowed to receive in public benefits when you have an EU residence document

How long can I stay in Denmark?

You may stay in Denmark for as long as you continue to meet the conditions for EU residence.

You have the right to permanent residence when you have had actual and real residence in Denmark under EU regulations for a period of at least 5 years.

Read about how to apply for permanent residence under EU regulations

As an EU citizen, you may freely enter Denmark.

If you will be staying in Denmark for less than 3 months, you do not need to apply for an EU residence document. 

If you will be staying in Denmark for longer than 3 months, you need to apply for an EU residence document. You may then remain in Denmark as long as you continue to meet the conditions for grounds for residence under EU regulations. Your residence document does not have an expiry date.

If you are actively seeking work, you may stay in Denmark for up to 6 months without a residence document as long as you do not become an unreasonable burden on the social system.

After 6 months of residence as a job seeker in Denmark, you right to stay still applies as long as you do not become an unreasonable burden on the social system and can document that you

  • are still actively looking for work
  • have real opportunities to be employed

If you are a citizen of a country outside the EU, EEA or Switzerland and an accompanying family member of an EU citizen with EU residence in Denmark, you have the right to stay in Denmark while we process your application.

As proof of your EU residence in Denmark, you will be issued a residence card.

There will be an expiry date on your residence card. When the card expires, you must either apply for an extension of your residence or, if you meet the conditions, for permanent residence.

What should I do, if I no longer am a family member to an EU citizen with residence in Denmark under EU regulations?

If you have EU residence as a family member of a (non-Danish) EU citizen living in Denmark with residence in Denmark under EU regulations and you no longer meet one or more of the conditions, your grounds for residence will normally be terminated.

This would be the case, for instance, if you are divorced from the sponsor, if the sponsor has left Denmark or the sponsor no longer meets the conditions for his or her grounds for residence.

Read more about what you should do, if you no longer are a family member of an EU citizen with residence in Denmark under EU regulations

Can my family qualify for an EU residence document?

EU residence as a family member of an EU citizen are not independent grounds for residence.

Only family members of a sponsor – i.e. a person with independent grounds for residence as a worker, student, self-employed person, person with sufficient funds or posteed service provider – can get EU residence as a family member.

When your grounds for residence are as a family member, your family cannot get EU residence based on their relationship with you.

In some cases, your family will be able to get EU residence as a family members of your sponsor.

However, it is possible to get EU residence as a family member of an EU citizen who originally had grounds for residence as a family member, but now has permanent EU residence.

What more do I need to know before I apply?

The ‘How to Apply’ tab on the right provides more information about the application process. Here your also find the application form, you must complete.

SIRI makes its decision based on the information and documents you submit with the application form. SIRI will contact you if we need more information when we process your application.

If you wish for SIRI to be able to give information regarding your case to others than yourself while we process your application, you must grant power of attorney to the person you wish to be able to access the information. The power of attorney must be submitted to SIRI, preferably as part of your application.

If you state in your application that you are being represented by a solicitor, you do not need to submit a power of attorney. Solicitors, due to their profession, are automatically granted power of attorney. If you are being represented by a solicitor, SIRI will send all correspondence about your application to your solicitor.

Your application will be submitted to the Danish Agency for International Recruitment and Integration (SIRI).

Below, the EU citizen you are applying as a family member to is referred to as the 'sponsor’.

Make sure you have all documents ready in a digital format so you can attach them to the online application.

You must attach:

As documentation for your sponsor's current grounds for residence you must attach:

Documentation of the sponsor’s grounds for residence must be issued or verified less than 30 days before being received by SIRI.

As documentation that you are family related to the sponsor you must attach:

Certificates must always be from the country where the marriage or birth took place (e.g. if a child is born in the United States, the American birth certificate must be attached).

Certificates issued by European authorities must be accompanied by a so-called multilingual standard form if they are not in English.

Certificates from countries outside the EU/EEA/Switzerland and in languages other than English or one of the Nordic languages cannot generally be included in the application unless you submit a translation into English or one of the Nordic languages. Translated documents must always be translated by a professional translator and submitted together with a copy of the original certificate.

Cohabiting and registered partners must also attach:

If you and the sponsor have been cohabiting at several different addresses within the last 18-24 months, you should send documentation for each address.

Children over the age of 21, parents or other family members must also attach:

Download declarations:

Download Declaration by the employer

Download Declaration of financial support

Download Declaration of study activity

Download Declaration of self-support (students)

Download Declaration of financial support in case of cohabitation

Expect to use

15 minutes

to complete the application form

1 person

You complete the application form yourself

In this step you have access to the relevant application form OD1B.

The form contain instructions on how to complete the form and what kind of documents you must submit along with the form.

You can book an appointment at SIRI using the link in the receipt, you receive once you have completed and submitted the form.

 

Use the online form OD1B (opens in a new window)

 

You can read more about how we process your personal data here

We recommend that you apply online, since digital applications often can be processed faster.

You can also choose to send a physical application – find a printable form and read more about the process

If you are a citizen of a country outside the EU/EEA or Switzerland, you must have your biometric features recorded in order for you to receive a residence card. This means that you must have a facial photo taken and your fingerprints recorded. Your biometric features will be recorded when you appear in person in one of SIRI's branch offices in connection with the application.

You can find your ongoing and completed applications for 30 days from your last login.

Log in to see your applications (opens in a new window)

You must appear in person in one of SIRI’s branch offices within 30 days.

You must bring:

  • The receipt for the online application
  • Your passport or national ID card

Have your application reference number ready when you appear at SIRI.

Only when you have identified yourself and been linked to your application, will we consider your application to be fully submitted. 

If you do not appear no later than 30 days after submitting your online application, SIRI will consider your application as withdrawn and close the case.

Addresses and opening hours of SIRI's branch offices

If you attach all necessary documents to the application, and if you meet the conditions for your grounds for residence, SIRI can often issue a residence document to you immediately when you appear.

If any documentation is missing the case will take longer to process. When you appear at SIRI, you will normally be informed if any further documentation is needed.

You have the right to reside and work in Denmark while you wait for an answer.

If you are a citizen of a country outside the EU/EEA or Switzerland, you may work while we process your case if you meet the conditions of grounds for residence as a family member to an EU citizen under EU regulations.

This means that it is at your own risk, if you work in Denmark before we have made a decision in your case. In some instances you may be subject to criminal liability for illegal work, if it turns out that the conditions have not been met and you have been refused residence under EU regulations.

Help us improve

Responsible agency

Contact SIRI
Send link

Last updated 02-09-2025 - Published by: SIRI