Visa to Denmark following Brexit
Special rules apply to British citizens and their family members who are covered by the Withdrawal Agreement that the EU and the UK have made in connection to Brexit, including the requirement for visa to the Schengen region and Denmark.
Read more about the Withdrawal Agreement
Below you can read more about when you as a British citizen or as a family member of a British citizen must have a visa to be able to enter Denmark.
British citizens are exempt from the visa requirement upon entry into the Schengen region and Denmark.
If you are a British citizen and do not have the right to stay in Denmark on any other grounds, you can enter Denmark without a visa in connection with a stay of a maximum of 90 days in a period of 180 days.
If you as a British citizen have entered Denmark before 1 January 2021 and continue to stay here, but are not covered by the Withdrawal Agreement made between the EU and the UK, the 90 days that you can stay in Denmark and the other Schengen countries will be calculated from 1 January 2021.
If you are a citizen of a country where a visa is generally required, and you are a family member of a British citizen who has rights in Denmark under the Withdrawal Agreement, and you had a residence in Denmark under EU law before 1 January 2021
You can enter Denmark without a visa if (all three conditions must be met):
- you are a family member of a British citizen who has rights in Denmark under the withdrawal agreement,
- you had a residence in Denmark before 31 December 2020 under the EU rules on free movement (and therefore were exempt from the visa requirement) and
- if you continue to reside in Denmark after 31 December 2020 on the basis of the withdrawal agreement
To retain your right of residence in Denmark under the Withdrawal Agreement, you must apply for a new residence status and a new residence document as confirmation no later than 31 December 2021. You can read more about this here
You do not need a visa if you have already been issued a new residence document under the Withdrawal Agreement. When entering Denmark across the external Schengen border, you can - if you have not yet been issued a new residence document - until 31 December 2021 use your previously issued EU residence card as documentation of your continued right of residence in Denmark and the following exemption from visa. After 31 December 2021, you will only be exempt from the visa requirement if you can present a receipt for applying for a new residence status and residence document.
You must have a valid passport when entering and leaving Denmark.
Ex: A British citizen has taken up residence in Denmark under the EU rules on free movement before 31 December 2020 and lives here with his Pakistani spouse. The Pakistani spouse has likewise obtained the right to reside in Denmark under the EU rules on free movement as a family member of the British citizen. The couple still lives in Denmark after 31 December 2020 and have applied for new residence documents under the Withdrawal Agreement, but have not yet been issued any. Until the Pakistani spouse is issued a new residence document, he or she can still travel in and out of Denmark with a valid passport and without a visa, if the person in question presents his or her previously issued EU residence card.
If the person has not yet been issued a new residence document after 31 December 2021, he or she will - to be exempt from the visa requirement - in addition to the previously issued EU residence card also have to present a receipt for having applied for a new residence document.
If you are a citizen of a country where a visa is generally required, and you are a family member of a British citizen who has rights in Denmark under the Withdrawal Agreement, and you will join the UK citizen in Denmark after 31 December 2020
You must have a visa to enter Denmark if:
- you are a family member of a British citizen
- you are covered by the Withdrawal Agreement
- you want to join the British citizen in Denmark after 31 December 2020
In that case, your visa application must be processed according to a special procedure, which means, among other things, that the case must be processed as soon as possible and without payment of a fee.
The family members who may be eligible to have a visa application processed according to the special procedure are:
- Family members who were directly related to the British citizen and resided outside Denmark before the end of the transitional period (31 December 2020), and who at the time of application still meet the conditions for being a family member, cf. Article 10 (1) point (e) (ii) of the Withdrawal Agreement,
- A cohabitant of the British citizen provided that the cohabitation already existed before the end of the transitional period and continues to exist at the time of the application, cf. Article 10 (4) of the Withdrawal Agreement.
- A British citizen's visa-required child who was born or legally adopted after the end of the transitional period in or outside Denmark, who has not reached the age of 21, or who is supported by the British citizen, cf. Article 10 (1) point (e) (iii) of the Withdrawal Agreement. It is a condition that:
- Both parents are British citizens with rights in Denmark under the Withdrawal Agreement,
- One of the parents is a British citizen with rights in Denmark under the Withdrawal Agreement, and the other parent is a Danish citizen, or
- One parent is a British citizen with rights in Denmark under the Withdrawal Agreement and has full or joint custody of the child.
- Other family members who, before the end of the transitional period (ie before 1 January 2021), submitted an application under Article 3 (2) of the Citizens’ Rights Directive to join the British citizen in Denmark, but whose application was still being processed at the end of the transitional period, cf. Article 10 (3) of the Withdrawal Agreement. These are family members who are supported by the British national or are a part of his or her household , or whose serious health reasons make it necessary for the British national to personally care for them. Such an application must be completed in accordance with the procedures set out in Article 3 (2) of the Citizens’ Rights Directive, and if the applicant is deemed eligible, a visa must be issued as soon as possible and free of charge.
You must provide documentation that you are covered by the Withdrawal Agreement. You can learn more about this at the representation where the application is to be submitted.
Ex: A British citizen lives in Denmark and has rights under the Withdrawal Agreement. The British citizen traveled to China in June 2020 and married a Chinese citizen, after which the British citizen returned to Denmark. The Chinese spouse spends a little over half a year phasing out work and housing in China and in January 2021 applies for a visa to Denmark to join his or her British spouse under the Withdrawal Agreement. Visas must be issued as soon as possible and free of charge, as the couple married each other before the end of the transition period and are still married at the time of application.
Ex: A British citizen lives in Denmark and has rights under the Withdrawal Agreement. The British citizen has a son who lives in Pakistan. The son was 19 years old at the end of the transition period. The son applies for a visa to Denmark on 3 March 2021 and states that the purpose is to join his father, a British citizen, in Denmark. As the son is still under 21 years of age at the time of application, a visa must be issued as soon as possible and free of charge.
Ex: A British citizen lives in Denmark and has rights under the Withdrawal Agreement. On a trip to Morocco in February 2021, the British citizen meets a Moroccan citizen. They get married in Morocco in May 2021. The Moroccan spouse then wants to join the British citizen in Denmark and applies for a visa to gain entry. As the family relationship between the two is only established after the end of the transitional period, the Moroccan spouse is not entitled to be issued a visa as soon as possible and free of charge, cf. Article 14 (3) of the Withdrawal Agreement. The visa application must be processed in accordance with the general rules on Schengen visas, after the Visa Code and national visa practice.
You do not need a visa to enter Denmark if you are a family member of a British citizen who has rights under the Withdrawal Agreement in a Schengen country other than Denmark and who has been issued a new residence document in the other Schengen country.
You have the right to travel to Denmark for up to 90 days within a period of 180 days.
If you have not yet been issued a new residence document following the Withdrawal Agreement, you can document your right of residence and the subsequent visa exemption in the following way:
- Family members who usually require a visa, and have rights under the Withdrawal Agreement in a Schengen country where it is mandatory to apply for a renewed residence status and document before a set deadline, can prove their right of residence and visa exemption by presenting a previously issued EU residence document before the deadline set by the country in question. After the deadline, a previously issued EU residence document only exempts from the visa requirement if it is supplemented by a receipt for applying for new residence status under the Withdrawal Agreement.
- Family members who have rights under the Withdrawal Agreement in a Schengen country where it is not mandatory to apply for renewed residence status and residence document can document their right of residence in the Schengen country and the resulting visa exemption by presenting a previously issued and still valid EU residence document.
If you are a citizen of a country where visas are generally required and you are a family member of a British citizen residing in the United Kingdom
After the end of the transition period, i.e. from 1 January 2021, EU law no longer applies in the UK or to British citizens. As such, British citizens and their family members are no longer covered by EU regulations on free movement.
Therefore, when traveling to Denmark and other Schengen countries, as a visa-required family member of a British citizen residing in the United Kingdom, you must comply with the general rules of the Visa Code and the Schengen Borders Code that apply to third-country nationals, regardless of whether you travel with or without the British citizen. This means, among other things, that if you intend to travel, and are not already in possession of a visa, you must apply for a short-stay visa following the general rules of the Visa Code.
If you, as a family member of a British citizen living in the United Kingdom, have been issued a visa under EU rules before 1 January 2021, you can still travel on this visa, but you must meet the entry conditions that apply to third-country nationals, as you are no longer covered by EU rules on free movement. At the border, the police may thus ask you to provide documentation that you meet the general entry conditions that apply to third-country nationals, cf. the Schengen Borders Code. You can read more about the general entry conditions here
If, as a visa-required family member of a British citizen at the border, you are unable to document that you meet the usual entry conditions, you may be denied entry and your visa may be revoked.
If you, as a visa-required family member of a British citizen, have entered Denmark on the basis of an EU residence card issued by the United Kingdom and before the end of the transition period as visa-free, e.g. because you were accompanied by the British spouse, you can stay in Denmark for up to 90 days from 1 January 2021.
The calculation of the stay of up to 90 days does not include the part of the stay that precedes the end of the transition period (i.e. prior to 1 January 2021).
If you are a citizen of a country where visas are generally required and you are a family member of an EU citizen who is not a British citizen but who lives in the UK
After 31 December 2020, you must have a visa to Denmark and the other Schengen countries if:
• you have an EU residence card issued by the United Kingdom, (residence card issued to family members of EU citizens)
• You live in the UK
This applies regardless of whether you are accompanying or joining the EU citizen. If you have a new residence document issued by the UK to EU citizens and their family members, you will also need a visa.
However, when traveling to EU member states other than the one in which the EU citizen has citizenship, you will continue to be covered by the EU rules on free movement. Read more about processing visa applications according to EU rules here
Ex: A French citizen lives in London. He is married to an Indian citizen who, at some point before the end of the transitional period, has been issued a British residence card as a family member of an EU citizen (the French citizen). They have now received new residence documents in the UK. The couple wants to travel to Denmark for Easter 2021. The French citizen exercises his right to free movement in the EU when he travels to Denmark, and the Indian spouse who is to travel with him is therefore entitled to a visa issued after the EU the rules, i.e. free of charge and as soon as possible.
When traveling to the EU member state in which the EU citizen holds citizenship, the general conditions for entry and visas in the Schengen Borders Code and the Visa Code for third-country nationals apply.
Ex: A Danish citizen lives in London. He is married to an Indian citizen. The couple wants to travel to Denmark for Easter 2021. The Indian citizen must apply for a Schengen visa according to the general visa rules and meet the general entry conditions.