Family reunification under the EU/EEA rules

When you, as a Union citizen (a citizen of an EU/EEA country), travel to an EU/EEA country other than your own, you and your close family are covered by the rules on free movement. They can be used in all EU/EEA countries and in Switzerland.

Your close family includes:

• your spouse or registered partner
• a cohabiting partner with whom you are in a durable relationship. Each country decides for itself what is required. If you return to Denmark, SIRI as a starting point requires that you have lived together at a shared address for 18 to 24 months.
• children under 21, including your spouse's or partner's children
• other family members, for example parents or adult children, who are dependent on you for support

Right of entry

As a Union citizen, you have an unconditional right to enter the other EU/EEA countries, unless you are a threat to public security, public health or public order. Your close family member who is not a Union citizen must be exempt from the visa requirement, hold a valid visa, or have a residence permit or residence card that exempts them from the visa requirement.

If you move to another EU/EEA country while your family member is staying in Denmark on one of these grounds, they can travel with you. Remember that Ireland is not part of Schengen and Cyprus is not yet fully part of it, so a Schengen visa does not automatically give the right to enter those countries. Croatia has been part of Schengen since 2023, and Bulgaria and Romania have been fully part of it since 1 January 2025.

Once you have entered legally, you have the right to stay in the other country for up to 3 months without any further requirements. During that period you are not entitled to social benefits. If you already live in the other country, your family member must apply for a visa under the special EU rules. Read more in the guide to visas.

Right of residence for more than 3 months

This is the right we mean when we talk about free movement. You have the right to live in another EU/EEA country and to equal treatment with the country's own citizens in all areas, except for the right to social benefits during the first 3 months. Nor is the country obliged to give you student support (for example a grant like SU towards living costs) until you have lived there for 5 years, unless you are a worker or the family member of a worker.

Students and people with sufficient resources must have comprehensive sickness insurance for themselves and their family. If you live in another EU country and work in Denmark, as a cross-border commuter you are normally covered by Danish public health insurance. With an S1 form from the Danish health insurance system, you and your family can register with the public health insurance in the country where you live. In Sweden, for example, the Swedish Migration Agency (Migrationsverket) accepts the blue European Health Insurance Card or comprehensive private health insurance for students who are not registered in the Swedish population register (folkbokförda). If you are not economically active and not covered in some other way, you will as a general rule need to take out private health insurance for yourself and your family members.

To have the right of residence for more than 3 months, you must be one of the following:

• Worker. Your work must not be merely a "marginal supplement". If you become involuntarily unemployed within the first 12 months, you keep your status as a worker for at least 6 months, provided you are registered as a jobseeker. If you have worked for more than 12 months, you keep it indefinitely, as long as you are available for work and actively looking for a job. Example: you work at least 10 to 12 hours a week for about 3 months.
• Self-employed person. The business must provide a genuine income.
• Service provider. You sell services in another EU/EEA country, and this provides a genuine income.
• Pensioner. You can move to any EU/EEA country and take your pension with you, including a disability pension (førtidspension). You must have comprehensive sickness insurance and be able to support yourself without social benefits.
• Student. You are enrolled on a recognised course of education, or you are a student in Denmark taking a semester or an internship in another EU/EEA country. You must have comprehensive sickness insurance and sign a declaration that you can support yourself and your family. You can take your Danish state educational grant (SU) with you for a semester or an internship, and in some cases if you enrol on a recognised course of education in another country.
• Self-sufficient person. You can document sufficient resources for yourself and your family, for example through a regular income, savings, or a third party who supports you. The money may come from any source, and the country may not require an income above the level that gives entitlement to the lowest social benefit. There are no guidelines on how large your savings must be, but expect them to have to last for at least 12 months. You must have comprehensive sickness insurance.
• Cross-border commuter. In some cases you can settle in one EU/EEA country while working in another. For example, you can settle in Germany or Sweden and keep your job in Denmark. Note that, as a general rule, you are then not a worker in the country where you live. On the other hand, your Danish income may mean that you have residence as a self-sufficient person. It is an advantage to have a part-time job in the country where you live.

Right not to be expelled as a jobseeker

A Union citizen who enters another EU/EEA country to look for work normally has the right to stay for 6 months, as long as they are actively looking for a job and have a genuine chance of being employed. The 6 months are counted from the time the first job application is sent. The same applies to family members. Keep copies of your job applications so that you can document your job search. There is no entitlement to social benefits that you have not paid into yourself.

Registration certificate and residence card

For the first 3 months, the country cannot require you to apply for a residence document. If you stay longer, the country can require you, as a Union citizen, to register and get a registration certificate. You only need to show your passport or identity card and documentation of your basis of residence, for example an employment contract, documentation of self-employment, a letter of admission, or documentation of sickness insurance and resources. The certificate must be issued immediately and must not cost more than an identity card for the country's own citizens.

The rules on registration differ from country to country. In Sweden, EU citizens with a right of residence do not need to contact the Swedish Migration Agency, but must register in the population register with the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket) if they are going to live in the country for at least a year. In Germany, the authorities no longer issue a special certificate of free movement. You simply register your address with the local citizens' office (Bürgeramt).

Your spouse or permanent cohabiting partner who is not a Union citizen must apply for a residence card if you stay in the country for more than 3 months. The authorities must make a decision within 6 months. The card is often issued free of charge and is valid for 5 years as a starting point, or for a shorter time if you are only going to live in the country for a shorter period. The rules for citizenship in the host country vary from country to country.

A registration certificate and a residence card are not a precondition for your rights. They simply confirm that you have them. You can use your rights, for example to work, as soon as you meet the conditions, but you must be able to document them.

Danish citizens who have exercised the right to free movement by living in another EU/EEA country have the right to bring their family home with them. However, the Danish authorities do not recognise this right unconditionally. The Danish Agency for International Recruitment and Integration (SIRI) processes the applications and assesses them against the requirements below. If you, as a Dane, have never lived in another EU country and are not covered by the EU rules in any other way, you must instead apply under the Danish rules in the Aliens Act.

How to apply:

• Your spouse applies using application form OD2A-C. Since July 2026 it can be filled in online on nyidanmark.dk, and you each fill in your own part of the form. There is also a printable form.
• There is no fee.
• Processing normally takes 3 months, and up to 4 months if SIRI needs more information.
• Your spouse must have their biometric features (photo and fingerprints) recorded and their identity checked. This is done at SIRI in Denmark or, if your spouse is abroad, at a Danish embassy or an application centre.
• Children under 21 who have lived with you in the other country must have their own application.

Read more and find the form on nyidanmark.dk under EU residence as a family member of a Danish citizen.

Genuine and effective residence in another EU/EEA country

The Danish citizen must have established genuine and effective residence in the other country or in Switzerland and have lived their life there. It must be a real move, not a short stay, for example in a hotel room or as a family visit. SIRI looks at whether you have had an ordinary everyday life in the country, for example a home where you paid rent or mortgage instalments, buying groceries and paying regular bills. There is no fixed minimum for how long you must have lived in the other country, but your stay must normally have lasted for a certain period.

• In our experience, a Dane who sublets a room or has a c/o address with family for a short time will as a starting point not meet the requirement.
• In our experience, a Dane who has lived for a longer period in a rented flat or a home they have bought will typically meet the requirement.

Documents you can show: a tenancy agreement and proof of regular rent payments, or title deeds and loan payments; bills for electricity, water, phone and internet; bank statements showing grocery shopping in the other country; registration with the authorities in the other country; use of the health service; membership of associations; documentation that you sublet or sold your home in Denmark; an employment contract and payslips; and documentation of commuting if you worked in Denmark. If your stay was long, the documentation can be limited to the last 6 months before you returned home. The documents must show your names or personal identification numbers, and documents in languages other than English or a Nordic language must usually be translated. This list is only an example. SIRI makes an overall assessment, but missing documentation can make processing take longer.

Residence for more than 3 months

The Danish citizen must have exercised their right to free movement by having a basis of residence under the EU rules in the other country, for example as a worker, self-employed person, student or self-sufficient person. SIRI always checks whether this is met. You must have kept your basis of residence in the other country right up until you return to Denmark. If you worked in Denmark while living in the other country, you are as a general rule not a worker there, but your Danish income can make you self-sufficient. Keep employment contracts, payslips, bank statements and tax information.

When you live in Denmark and work across the border

In some cases, the EU rules can also be used even though you, as a Dane, live in Denmark. This applies if you:

• are self-employed and sell services in another EU country, so that part of your working time is spent on business trips there. Around 30 per cent of your working time will typically be enough.
• are employed in Denmark and carry out part of your weekly work in another EU country on business trips.
• live in Denmark and are a worker in another EU country that you commute to.

In these cases your family life must take place in Denmark, the family reunification must be necessary for you to be able to use your right to free movement, and your spouse must have entered Denmark legally.

You have lived together in the other country

You must move to Denmark at the same time

As a starting point, your spouse must enter Denmark or apply at the same time as you return home. If your spouse comes later, there is no fixed deadline, but SIRI makes a specific assessment of whether your family life has been interrupted or has ended. A short visit to Denmark does not count as returning home.

• There are far fewer requirements than under the Danish rules, and there is no fee.
• The rights you have gained through the Court of Justice of the European Union cannot be taken away from you again. Instead, you gradually gain more.
• You avoid unpredictable changes in the law and new requirements, which can have major consequences for the foreign spouse's right of residence.
• By moving to another EU/EEA country, your partner as a starting point gets a residence card for 5 years there. If you then move to Denmark, your partner gets a residence card that is valid for as long as the basis of residence continues. Once you have met the conditions for EU residence in Denmark for 5 years, your partner can apply for a document certifying permanent residence.