Your first 90 days in Denmark: the arrival checklist

What has to happen first, in what order?

Everything in Denmark hangs off one number. Your CPR number is issued when you register at the national register (folkeregister) at your local borgerservice (citizen service centre) or an International Citizen Service centre Life in Denmark. CPR gives you MitID, and MitID gives you a bank account, NemKonto, your tax card and access to public services online. Nothing else works smoothly until that chain is started borger.dk.

So the order is not flexible: address registration, then CPR, then MitID, then money, then health and daily life.

Before you land: what to sort out at home

1. Check whether you need a visa or residence permit before you travel, and which route applies to you. Non-EU citizens normally apply from their home country New to Denmark.
2. Collect your original documents: passport or national ID, marriage certificate, birth certificates for children, and any permit or registration papers.
3. Get apostilles or legalisations on official documents before you leave. It is much harder to obtain them from Denmark, and family applications are checked against originals Life in Denmark.
4. Have a Danish address ready. You cannot register without one, and a short-term stay with no address is the most common reason the process stalls.
5. Keep a scanned copy of everything in your email. You will be asked for documents at several different counters.

Week 1: the foundation steps

1. Register your address and apply for a CPR number. Bring your passport or ID, your permit or EU residence document, and proof of address such as a rental contract. EU/EEA citizens staying more than three months must first apply for an EU residence document from SIRI (or an International Citizen Service centre) before they can register for CPR, so start that application early; non-EU citizens bring their residence permit Life in Denmark. Read the full walkthrough in CPR number. Cost: free. Waiting time: the number is normally issued at the appointment, but up to a few weeks if documents need review. Register in person at borgerservice (or an International Citizen Service centre) as soon as you have both a Danish address and your permit or EU residence document: the five-day deadline for arrivals from abroad runs from the day you have both, not from the day you landed borger.dk, and that date is also the earliest you can be registered as having moved in CPR-kontoret. The 28-day advance window on borger.dk is for moves within Denmark borger.dk.
2. Activate MitID. You set it up from your CPR registration, using your passport to prove your identity mitid.dk. Cost: free. This is what makes the next steps possible, so do it the same week. Details are in MitID.
3. Start reading your Digital Post. With a CPR number you receive letters from the authorities digitally, from the age of 15, and it is your obligation to read them: appointments, placements, tax letters and decisions all arrive there, and deadlines run from delivery. Open it through mit.dk, e-Boks or the Digital Post app using your MitID Life in Denmark.
4. Get a Danish phone number. A local number is needed for MobilePay, BankID-style logins and almost every appointment system. A prepaid SIM takes ten minutes in a shop.
5. Choose a doctor (GP). You pick a doctor in your municipality, and your choice appears on the health card that arrives by post sundhed.dk. Read doctor and healthcare before you decide; a long queue at your first choice is normal.
6. Set up transport. The physical Rejsekort is closed, so use the Rejsekort app, the Rejsebillet app or a physical Basiskort Rejsekort. See public transport.

Weeks 2-4: the follow-on tasks

1. Open a bank account. With MitID working, you can apply online. Banks ask for ID, address, and usually contract or salary documentation, and some will try to sell you products you do not need. Anyone lawfully resident in the EU, whatever their nationality, has the right to a basic payment account, and a bank may not turn you down just because you have no Danish address Finanstilsynet Retsinformation. Expect a few days to a few weeks. Full detail in bank account.
2. Register NemKonto. NemKonto is your designated account for public payments, tax refunds and holiday pay NemKonto. Free, and takes minutes once you have a bank account.
3. Sort your tax card. Without one, your employer deducts 55% tax from your pay skat.dk. Apply through skat.dk as soon as you have a CPR number and MitID: Skattestyrelsen cannot generate your tax card earlier than one month before your job starts, so allow processing time before your first payday. The extra tax is not lost - it comes back through your annual tax statement (årsopgørelse) - but it can hurt your cash flow for months. If you were recruited from abroad as a researcher or on a high salary, ask your employer whether the special tax scheme for researchers and highly paid employees (forskerordningen) applies. For 2026 a highly paid employee needs a guaranteed monthly salary of at least DKK 65,400, which skat.dk shows as a reduction from DKK 78,000 in 2025, so check the current figure before you sign; the scheme excludes anyone who has been liable to pay tax in Denmark in the past ten years, lasts up to seven years and can only be used once in your life, and both you and your employer must meet the conditions from your first day; under it your pay is taxed at 32.84% (8% labour market contribution plus 27%) skat.dk. Everything you need is in tax card and skat.
4. Watch the post for your health card. The yellow health card (sundhedskort) proves your right to public healthcare and shows your doctor and insurance group sundhed.dk. It typically arrives two to four weeks after registration.
5. Finish the housing paperwork. Get your rental contract, deposit receipt, meter readings and contents-insurance cover in one folder. By law a landlord can ask for at most three months’ rent as a deposit and three months’ rent in advance, plus the first month’s rent, so budget up to seven months’ rent at move-in Boligministeriet. In the big cities, expect the full amount for private rentals. Within two weeks (14 days) of the tenancy starting, report every defect to the landlord in writing, with photos, and keep a copy - otherwise you can be charged for it at move-out Boligministeriet. Never pay a deposit or prepaid rent before you have viewed the property and received a signed contract: check who owns it at tinglysning.dk or boligejer.dk, and transfer money only to a Danish bank account Politi. See rent an apartment; household insurance is usually required by the landlord.
6. Choose a monthly transport product. If you commute, a monthly pass or the commuter product is far cheaper than single tickets Rejsekort.

Months 2-3: the decisions that make life easier

1. Start Danish classes. The right to municipal Danish courses runs for up to five years from when you can start, and classes fill. Foreign workers and students count as self-supporting learners and pay a refundable DKK 2,000 deposit per module, which comes back if you pass each module test in time Dansk og prøver (SIRI). See Danish language courses.
2. Decide on a-kasse and union. Join an a-kasse early rather than after you lose a job: to be paid dagpenge you must have been a member for at least a year and meet an income requirement (for 2026, DKK 286,632 of income over the past three years for a full-time member, counting at most DKK 23,886 a month) borger.dk. If you were insured against unemployment in another EU/EEA country, ask your new a-kasse about aggregating those periods: you normally have to join within 8 weeks of your insurance ending in the other country, and the periods must come in a PD U1 or SED document issued there Life in Denmark. The union decision is separate and costs less than most people assume. See union and a-kasse.
3. Get insurance. Contents insurance (indboforsikring) and accident insurance (ulykkesforsikring) are the two newcomers skip and regret. See insurance.
4. Sort childcare or school. Copenhagen daycare costs DKK 4,289 a month with lunch or DKK 3,555 without lunch for children until the month they turn 3 years and 1 month, then DKK 2,816 with lunch or DKK 1,988 without (2026 prices) City of Copenhagen. Waiting lists are the real constraint, but Copenhagen’s guaranteed list promises a place within two months (from the age of 6 months, within 4 km), and lower-income families can apply for an income-based subsidy (økonomisk fripladstilskud) City of Copenhagen. See children, school and daycare.
5. Exchange or register your driving licence. A licence issued outside the EU/EEA is only valid for 180 days after you take up residence in Denmark, and for licences from countries outside the exchange agreements you must pass a controlling driving test to get a Danish one - so book at borgerservice as soon as you have a CPR number Færdselsstyrelsen. EU/EEA licences stay valid in Denmark. See public transport for the wider transport picture.
6. Join something. Two of the fastest routes into a social life are a club and a bike. See clubs and associations and bike rules and buying used.

What people forget

• Enter your expected deductions - commuting, interest, union and a-kasse fees - in your preliminary income assessment (forskudsopgørelse), so less tax is withheld during the year. If you miss one, you can still add it on your annual tax statement (årsopgørelse) in E-tax: you normally have until 1 May in the fourth year after the income year to correct it skat.dk.
• NemKonto is a one-minute task that quietly blocks refunds and holiday pay if you skip it NemKonto.
• You must have been a member of an a-kasse for at least a year before you can claim dagpenge, so joining after a job loss usually means waiting a year - unless you are a new graduate of a qualifying education of at least 18 months who joins within two weeks of finishing it (graduate dagpenge is paid at a lower rate) or you transfer periods from another EU/EEA country.
• Content insurance, bike lights and a lock cost little and cover the two most common losses newcomers face.
• Municipal language courses have a deadline, and it is not the same as your residence permit’s expiry date.

What it costs and how long it takes

Common mistakes

• Booking a CPR appointment without a proper address or without the original documents Life in Denmark.
• Starting work before the tax card exists, so 55% is withheld and your cash flow suffers for months until the excess comes back on your annual tax statement skat.dk.
• Assuming a bank account is instant. Some banks are slow, and a few say no to newcomers with no salary history.
• Using single tickets for months instead of a monthly product Rejsekort.
• Missing the sign-up window for municipal Danish classes.
• Leaving insurance until after the first theft or water leak.

If something goes wrong

If your CPR registration is refused or delayed, the usual cause is missing documentation or an address you cannot prove. Ask at the counter exactly which document is missing and in what form, then book a new slot through your municipality’s citizen service borger.dk.

If a bank refuses you, ask in writing for the reason. Anyone lawfully resident in the EU can point to the right to a basic payment account Finanstilsynet, and some banks are simply easier for newcomers than others.

If your health card has not arrived after four weeks, contact your municipality rather than waiting quietly sundhed.dk.