Apply for an extension of your visa or visa-free stay in Denmark
In special circumstances, you may be granted an extension of the validity of your visa or your right to stay in Denmark without a visa.
Under certain circumstances, a Schengen visa issued for less than 90 days can be extended to cover a total stay of 90 days.
These circumstances include:
- Humanitarian considerations, compelling business or personal reasons.
- New information which was not available at the time the original visa was issued.
- If you have been prevented from leaving the country due to extraordinary circumstances such as airline strikes or inclement weather (force majeure).
- You or the person living in Denmark have/has fallen seriously ill.
It is a condition for extension that the purpose of your visit remains unchanged and that you can document that a visa extension is necessary. You must also document that your travel insurance policy is valid for the period for which you want your visa to be extended.
You must submit your application for an extension before your visa expires.
In special circumstances, your visa-required or visa-free stay may be extended by up to a further 90 days. This means that you may stay in Denmark for a maximum total of 180 days.
Normally, you can only be granted an extended stay if there are extraordinary circumstances present. For instance, it may be the case if you were to become sick during your visit and can document, according to a medical assessment, it would be unreasonable for you to travel home before the lapse of your visa or visa-free stay, as far as your health is concerned. If the person you are visiting in Denmark becomes seriously ill or passes away, this can also be the basis of an extension of your stay.
It is a prerequisite for the extension of your stay in Denmark that there have been unforeseen, sudden circumstances that were not present when the visa was being issued or when you entered Denmark, which has meant that you were unable to arrange your stay accordingly.
Besides the abovementioned situations where extraordinary circumstances are present, you can be granted this type of extension if:
- You applied for family reunification with a spouse or cohabiting partner who lives in Denmark and are currently waiting for the ruling of your case and has not obtained a procedural stay in Denmark, and you entered Denmark at a time when both of you were at the age of at least 23 and six months. This is to ensure that spouses or cohabiting partners who do not yet meet the 24-year requirement for family reunification have an opportunity to stay together until the immigration authorities have determined that the other requirements for family reunification are met.
- You are a third-country citizen visiting a spouse, cohabiting partner, boyfriend/girlfriend or fiancé/fiancée, parents, children or siblings living in Denmark, and the person you are visiting in Denmark is a citizen of an EU/EEA country or Switzerland, and are intending to take advantage of his/her right to free movement in Denmark under the EU-laws.
You must submit your application for an extension before your visa-required or visa-free stay expires. If you submit your application too late and are therefore staying in Denmark illegally when you apply, your application for an extension will, as a general rule, be refused. However, we will always make a specific and individual assessment of whether special circumstances prevented you from submitting your application on time.
You have the right to remain in Denmark while we process your application for an extension of your visa-required or visa-free stay. This will also be recorded in the Entry/Exit System (EES).
The time you spend in Denmark while waiting for a decision on your application for an extension counts towards the maximum number of days you are allowed to stay in Denmark. You may stay in Denmark for a maximum total of 180 days: up to 90 days as a visa holder or under the visa-free regime, plus an extension of up to 90 days. The period during which you are waiting for a decision on your application for an extension also counts towards this total.
If your application for an extension is refused, the entire period during which you remain in Denmark until you leave the country will be included in the calculation of your stay. This period may also affect when you will be able to re-enter Denmark, the other Schengen States, the Faroe Islands and Greenland.
If your stay in Denmark is extended, the entire period you have spent in the Schengen States, including Denmark, the Faroe Islands and Greenland, during your current stay will be taken into account. This means that both the period during which you were waiting for a decision on your application for an extension and the period of the extension itself will be included. As mentioned above, this may also affect when you can enter the Schengen States again.
If your stay in Denmark, the other Schengen States, the Faroe Islands and Greenland exceeds 90 days, you will not be able to re-enter Denmark, the other Schengen States, the Faroe Islands or Greenland until 90 days after you leave. This applies whether you are subject to a visa requirement or are exempt from the visa requirement. Read more about the permitted length of stay, including how it affects a subsequent entry
If, at the time we make a decision on your application for an extension, you have already stayed in Denmark for a total of 180 days, your stay cannot be extended any further.
If your visa-required or visa-free stay in Denmark is extended, the extension of your stay in Denmark does not, as a general rule, entitle you to enter or stay in the other Schengen States, including for the purpose of transiting through another Schengen State on your journey home. If you are not travelling directly from Denmark to a country outside the Schengen area, you should contact the authorities of the country through which you intend to travel to find out whether you are permitted to transit through that country.
The same applies if your application for an extension is refused and you are given a deadline for leaving Denmark.
Fill in application
You can fill in the application form in Word format on your computer before printing it out. The application form is also available as a PDF file that can be printed out and filled in by hand.
Download form VS2 for print:
A paper version of the application form is also available at the Immigration Service's Citizen Service.
Submit application
You can submit your application at the Danish Immigration Service's Citizen Service. You must book an appointment before you show up at the Citizen Service. Read more about where the Immigration Service’s Citizen Service has branch offices and how you book an appointment
Normally, the person you are visiting in Denmark must accompany you.
You must pay a fee of DKK 225 if you apply for an extension of your Schengen visa for up to 90 days, which is the maximum number of days for which a Schengen visa can be issued within a 180-day period. You must pay the fee when you submit your application for extension.
When you apply for an extension of your visa, make sure that your passport is valid. The Immigration Service can revoke or refuse to extend your visa if you do not hold a valid passport or other valid travel documents.
Your visa can only be extended up to 3 months before your passport expires. In other words, if your passport expires in 4 months, your visa can only be extended by 1 month.
If you hold a national passport (i.e. a passport from your country of origin), the diplomatic mission of your country of origin will renew it.
Applications for an extension of a visa or the right to stay in the Faroe Islands or Greenland are processed in accordance with the same practice as applications for an extension of a visa or the right to stay in Denmark. Applications for an extension of a visa must be submitted to the police in the Faroe Islands or Greenland.