Moving to Denmark from the UK: permits, customs and the first 180 days

Does a British passport still let you move to Denmark?

No. The United Kingdom left the EU on 31 January 2020, the transition period ended on 31 December 2020, and since 1 January 2021 British citizens are third-country nationals in Denmark. The EU rules on free movement no longer apply to you, which means no registering at the local office and starting work, and no EU residence document: you need permission to reside, granted under the Danish Aliens Act New to Denmark.

This is the difference that catches people out. A Polish or German colleague arrives, applies for a free EU residence document and can start work; a British colleague with the same job offer needs a residence and work permit first, and usually has to be granted it before starting work.

There are three exceptions worth checking before you read any further.

• You lived in Denmark before 31 December 2020. Then you are covered by the EU-UK Withdrawal Agreement, with essentially the same rights you had as an EU citizen - see below.
• You also hold an EU, EEA or Swiss passport. Then use that passport: enter and leave Denmark on it, because your rights come from that citizenship, not the British one GOV.UK.
• You are joining a family member who has one of the above. Your route is as their family member.

Which set of rules applies to you?

Two completely different systems cover British citizens in Denmark, and everything downstream - the fees, the card, the clock to permanent residence - depends on which one you are in.

If you are in the first row, the residence card is free, is posted to the CPR address automatically within 2-3 weeks of the decision, and is valid for 5 or 10 years depending on whether your permanent right was already established New to Denmark. The application window itself closed on 31 December 2023; a late application is only processed if SIRI accepts that there were reasonable grounds for the delay, and the general rule is that rights under the agreement are lost if they lapse New to Denmark.

Permanent residence under the agreement needs five consecutive years of genuine and effective residence, with a ground for residence - employee, self-employed, student, self-supporting, or family member - throughout. It costs nothing, takes about 4 months and up to 6 New to Denmark. Apply before your card expires: the card’s ten-year limit does not touch the right itself, but a gap in your permit does affect the Aliens Act clock.

If you are in the second row, read on - the rest of this page is written for you.

What permit routes does a British citizen actually have?

The routes are the same ones open to any non-EU citizen, and for a British reader the practical ranking is: a job with a high enough salary, a profession on the shortage list, or a family member already here.

The Pay Limit Scheme is the most common route, because it requires no particular degree or field. You need a job offer with an annual salary of at least DKK 552,000 (2026 level), at least 30 hours a week, on terms that match Danish standards. The fee is DKK 6,810, and the normal processing time is one month, up to three New to Denmark. Only cash salary, guaranteed fixed supplements, pension contributions from both sides and paid holiday allowance count towards the limit - a free car, a paid phone, a paid canteen or paid housing do not, so a package that “reaches DKK 552,000” on paper may not reach it in SIRI’s arithmetic. The salary must be paid into a Danish bank account in your own name, opened within 180 days of the permit being granted, or of your entry if you entered later.

The Positive Lists work if your profession is on the shortage list for higher education or for skilled work; we walk through the education checks, the wage rules and the 180-day bank-account clock in the Positive List guide. Fast-track is the same idea for an employer that SIRI has certified, and is usually the fastest route if your employer is on the list New to Denmark. Family reunification with a spouse or cohabiting partner in Denmark has its own conditions and its own waiting times New to Denmark.

One thing that no longer helps: an EU qualification or an EU internal transfer. Since Brexit, a British qualification is a non-EU qualification, assessed through the Danish recognition route rather than the automatic EU one Life in Denmark. Regulated professions - doctors, nurses, teachers, electricians - need authorisation before you can practise, and that is a separate application from the permit.

Can you move first and apply from Denmark?

For work routes, often yes - and this is the part most UK guides get wrong in both directions.

You can enter Denmark without a visa for up to 90 days in any 180-day period. You may not work on that stay. But being visa-exempt counts as a legal stay, and if you apply while you are staying legally you get a procedural stay: you may remain in Denmark while SIRI processes the application, even after the basis for your entry would otherwise have expired New to Denmark.

The catch is in the detail. On a procedural stay you can submit and have processed a work permit under the Pay Limit Scheme or the Fast-track Scheme. You cannot submit and have processed a permit for study, au pair, internship, working holiday or as an accompanying family member. And if you have been given a deadline to leave Denmark, the application will not be processed at all.

So the safe sequencing is: interview and job offer from the UK, application submitted with the employer’s paperwork, and travel decided afterwards. If you do come first, keep the 90 days in mind and do not book a one-way shipment before the application is in.

Once you hold a Danish residence permit, time in Denmark on that permit does not count towards the 90-day visitor allowance, which matters if you travel in the Schengen area for work GOV.UK. British residents with a Danish residence card also do not register with the EU Entry/Exit System; the EES applies to short stays New to Denmark.

What happens to your furniture and your car at the border?

The UK is outside the EU customs territory, so your container is an import. That is the single largest practical difference from moving from, say, the Netherlands - and the reason a removal company will ask you for a customs declaration it never asks an EU mover for.

You can bring your household goods in free of customs duty and VAT as flyttegods, if you meet all of these Toldstyrelsen:

• You have lived outside the EU for at least 12 consecutive months.
• You have owned and used the goods for at least 6 months before the move.
• The goods arrive no earlier than 6 months before your move and no later than 12 months after it. Arriving early means lodging a security for the duty and VAT.
• You keep using the goods for the same purpose as before.
• You do not lend, pledge, rent out, transfer or sell them during the first 12 months after import - if you do, the duty and VAT fall due.

Excluded from the relief: alcohol, tobacco, commercial vehicles, and equipment for business use other than tools and instruments that are genuinely portable. Household quantities of normal goods, pets and cycles are included.

The process is two documents, and it is the part people leave until the container is already at sea. Your carrier or freight forwarder files the import declaration; you fill in form 12.024, Erklæring om flyttegods, and send it with your evidence to the customs office named on the declaration Toldstyrelsen. Useful evidence: your tenancy or house-purchase contract, employment contract, a bopælsattest showing your stay abroad, and receipts proving you owned high-value items for six months.

If you lived outside the EU for less than 12 months, the relief is normally lost. There is an exception where you can document that you intended to stay more than a year and the stay was cut short.

A car can come in on the same relief if it is for private use and you have owned and used it for the last six months. Two warnings. The vehicle’s Danish registration must be sorted out within 30 days of import Skattestyrelsen, and Danish registration tax (registreringsafgift) is not covered by the customs relief - it is a separate Danish tax, handled by Motorstyrelsen, and it can be large enough that selling the car in the UK and buying here is the cheaper plan Motorstyrelsen. Price it before you pay for shipping.

Your driving licence: the 180-day clock, and a date that matters

Your UK licence is valid in Denmark for 180 days from the date you take up habitual residence - which is usually, but not always, the day you register your address. After that you must hold a Danish licence, so book the exchange at your municipality’s Borgerservice well before day 180.

The rule that only applies to British licences concerns when yours was issued, and it comes from Færdselsstyrelsen, not from the EU directive Færdselsstyrelsen:

• Issued before 1 January 2021 - exchanged on essentially EU terms: no driving test, no medical certificate, just a declaration that your right to drive has not been withdrawn.
• Issued on or after 1 January 2021 - treated as a group 1 country licence: still exchangeable for a category B licence without a controlling test, but the application needs a medical certificate and a sworn statement about disqualifications.

Miss the 180 days and you are no longer exchanging a licence, you are applying for a Danish one as a non-EU national, which means tests. The full document list, fees and the medical certificate rules are in our driving licence guide.

Healthcare: what replaces the NHS

There is no NHS cover in Denmark. Registering is what gets you care: your residence document first, then registration with the CPR system, where you also choose your GP. When the CPR registration is accepted you are sent the yellow health card GOV.UK.

Two British-specific cases sit outside that:

• Posted workers - if a UK employer sends you to Denmark temporarily, you use a GHIC, an EHIC or an S1 form.
• S1 holders - if you receive a UK State Pension or another exportable benefit, an S1 gives you healthcare on the same basis as a Danish citizen; you must register it with Udbetaling Danmark.

Anyone registered for Danish healthcare before 1 January 2021 can use a Danish-issued blue EHIC when travelling in the EU. Our doctor and healthcare guide covers the GP choice, and the sundhedskort guide covers the card itself.

Tax: the tax card, the treaty, and what you bring with you

Get a tax card before your first payday - your employer needs it to withhold at the right rate, and there is a specific route for non-Danish employees skat.dk. We walk through it in the tax card guide, and the rates are in Danish tax rates 2026.

The UK and Denmark have a double taxation agreement, so the same income is not taxed twice GOV.UK. You must tell the Danish tax authority about assets and savings you hold abroad, but savings and assets you bring with you when you move are not taxed on arrival - interest and dividends earned on them afterwards are.

The order that works

The steps depend on each other, and doing them in the wrong order costs weeks.

1. Permission to reside. A residence and work permit, or - if you moved before 2021 - your Withdrawal Agreement card. Nothing else can be completed without it: no CPR number, no bank account, no tax card.
2. An address, then CPR. Register your address with the municipality, where you also choose your GP. In Copenhagen and the larger cities an International Citizen Service centre handles the same steps for foreigners.
3. MitID and a bank account. MitID needs CPR. The bank account is on a clock: 180 days from the permit being granted, or from your entry if you arrived afterwards, and your salary must be paid into it.
4. The customs declaration, before the container ships. The forwarder files the import declaration and you file form 12.024; do not leave this to arrival.
5. The driving licence, before day 180. Book Borgerservice early - appointments and processing both take time.
6. The tax card, before the first payday.

FAQ

Do I need insurance while my permit is being processed? You are not in the Danish public health system until you are registered with the CPR system, so cover the gap with travel or private insurance rather than assuming you are treated as a resident from arrival.

Can my British spouse and children come with me? Yes, as accompanying family on your permit, and they need their own applications. They are third-country nationals too, so the same rule applies: their permission comes through your permit, not through EU free movement.

Does my time in Denmark before Brexit count towards permanent residence? If you are covered by the Withdrawal Agreement, yes - five years of genuine and effective residence, including the years before 2021. If you are on an Aliens Act permit, the 8-year (or 4-year) clock runs on legal residence under that permit.

What happens if my permit lapses while I am abroad? A work permit lapses if you give up your Danish address or stay abroad for more than six successive months. If your employer posts you abroad, apply for a dispensation before you go, not after New to Denmark.