If you wish to get married in Denmark

You must apply for a certificate of marital status either to the Agency of Family Law (Familieretshuset) or to your municipality.

The organisation to which you must apply will depend on both your nationality and that of your partner and on the basis for your residence in Denmark.

You must apply to the Agency of Family Law if you or your partner: 

• is not a Danish or Nordic citizen
• does not have an indefinite residence permit in Denmark
• does not have an indefinite right to reside in Denmark under the Executive Order on Residence in Denmark (EU-opholdsbekendtgørelsen).

You must apply to the municipality if you both:

• are Danish or Nordic citizens
• or have indefinite residence permits in Denmark
• or have an indefinite right of residence in Denmark under the Executive Order on Residence in Denmark.

In order to enter into marriage in Denmark, you must both be 18 years of age or over and you must both be unmarried.

If one of you has previously been married, the previous marriage must have been dissolved before you can remarry.

Marriage between close relatives is not permitted and, if one of you is under guardianship, the guardian must consent to the marriage.

Pro forma marriages are prohibited in Denmark.

This means that a marriage may not take place if there is reason to believe that the purpose of the marriage is to obtain residence rights in Denmark, an EU Member State, Switzerland or a country which is covered by the agreement on the European Economic Area.

Due to the ban on pro forma marriages, we will ask you about your personal circumstances, for instance how long you have known each other, where you met, whether you have joint children, whether you live or have previously lived together, etc.

While we are processing your application, we may also contact you if we have any questions or need more information. We may also invite you to a meeting if we believe it is necessary.

In order for you to get married in Denmark, you must both be able to lawfully enter and reside in Denmark. There are differing requirements regarding entry into the country and residence depending on which country you come from.

You do not need to have entered Denmark at the time you apply.

Lawful residence in Denmark can be based on:

• Danish citizenship
• citizenship of another Nordic country
• citizenship of an EU/EEA country of Switzerland
• citizenship of a country whose citizens do not require a visa (visa-free country)
• residence permit in Denmark
• visa for entry into and residence in Denmark or another Schengen country.

The following will be accepted as proof of lawful residence in Denmark:

• visa/including tourist visa
• residence permit or EU residence certificate from Denmark
• residence permit from another Schengen country
• passport
• other valid documentation of Nordic citizenship or citizenship of another EU Member State
• documentation of the time of entry into Denmark, for instance entry stamp.

If you have Danish citizenship, you do not need to submit documentation of lawful residence. The same applies if you are entitled to reside in Denmark as a citizen of another Nordic country and you have a residence in Denmark.

If you only have right of residence in Denmark because you have submitted an application to the immigration authorities, you will have what is known as ‘procedural residence’ while the authorities are processing your application.

Procedural residence is not lawful residence in the sense of the Danish Marriage Act and you will therefore not normally be allowed to marry in Denmark.

The following groups of people do not have lawful residence in the sense of the Marriage Act:

• Asylum seekers without a residence permit in Denmark who are only entitled to reside in Denmark because the immigration authorities are currently processing their application
• Asylum seekers who have received a final rejection to their application for asylum but not yet left or been deported from Denmark
• Other foreign citizens who are only entitled to reside in Denmark because the immigration authorities are currently processing their application for a residence permit in Denmark, for instance if you have submitted an application for family reunion and the visa period/visa-free period has expired, only the foreign citizen will have procedural residence in Denmark during the processing of the application for family reunion, but there is no lawful residence in the sense of the Marriage Act and there will therefore not normally be any right to enter into marriage in Denmark
• Foreign nationals who have been notified of a deadline for leaving Denmark following rejection of their application for a residence permit. This also applies if the deadline to leave Denmark has not yet expired.

In special circumstances, the rules concerning lawful residence may be waived, for instance if a foreign citizen has a long-term affiliation to Denmark, if you have joint children, in the event of serious illness or other extraordinary circumstances.

When you enter Denmark and reside here, you must have a valid passport or other approved travel document.

Requirements regarding your passport if you are a citizen of a country outside the EU/EEA who is entering Denmark:

• Your passport must be valid for at least 3 months after the date on which you expect to leave Denmark.
• Your passport must have at least 2 blank pages.
• Your passport must have been issued during the past ten years. A passport with a validity period exceeding 10 years cannot be used as travel documentation in Denmark beyond the first 10 years from the passport's date of issue. This also applies if your passport has been extended beyond a validity period of ten years from the date of issue of the passport.

If your passport has a shorter validity period than the possible validity period of your certificate of marital status, the validity period of your certificate will be shortened. This means that the validity period of the certificate of marital status will be shorter than it would normally be.

For example, if the validity period of a certificate of marital status would normally have been 4 months, but the passport is only valid for 5 months at the time the certificate is issued, the validity period of the certificate will be limited to 2 months.

To enable us to process your application and check that you fulfil the conditions for marriage, we will request personal information about you and your partner. We will also ask you to document that the conditions for entering into marriage are met.

The documents we will request and the applicable requirements regarding these documents will depend on the answers you give in your application and the country which issued the documents.

If you are unable to enclose one or more of the documents we request, you must state this on the application form. It is important that you state why you are unable to enclose the document(s) we ask for.

Your signature on the application must be signed by hand in order to be considered a valid signature. Therefore, digital signatures cannot be used, for instance Adobe or Paint.

The requirement regarding signatures does not apply if you are both applying with MitID. The requirement also does not apply to the party that has MitID if you submit separate applications.

We recommend that you have the following information and documents to hand before starting to fill in the application form:

• your passport – you must enclose photographs of all pages of your passport including the front and back page, even blank pages – the photographs must be in colour and it is important that they are of very good quality, or
• your ID card (for EU citizens only) – we must receive photographs of both sides of the ID card – the photographs must be in colour and it is important that they are of very good quality.
• documentation of the right to enter and reside in Denmark. Go to lawful residence to read more about the documentation requirements.
• any certificate of marital status from your current country of residence If you live in Denmark, you do not need to enclose documentation of your marital status.
• certificate of residence or other documentation if you have a joint residence abroad. The document must be enclosed in both the original language and translated into either English or German.
• if you have one or more joint children – birth certificate(s) for your child(ren). The document must be enclosed in both the original language and translated into either English or German.
• if you have been married previously, you must enclose documentation confirming that the marriage has ceased through divorce, death or revocatory action: 1) photograph or copy of a divorce decree, 2) photograph or copy of a death certificate, 3) or photograph or copy of the revocatory action judgement.

The documents must be enclosed in both the original language and translated into either English or German.

You may be required to have the documents legalised or endorsed by an apostille.

If the marriage has been annulled in Denmark, you will not normally have to enclose documentation verifying that the marriage has ceased.

• The entire document must be copied, including all corners and all pages of passports, including the cover.
• It is recommended that you take photographs of the documents, instead of scanning them.
• Photographs must be in colour.
• Take the photograph from directly above the document and under even lighting.
• Avoid reflections and backlighting.
• Check the sharpness of each photograph.
• Use the highest possible resolution.
• Upload photographs in their original file format and avoid inserting photographs in text documents.
• Avoid compressing the file.

To enable us to accept the documents, special requirements may apply regarding the documents that you must enclose with your application. For example, it may be a requirement for the document to be stamped by an official authority – either through endorsement by an apostille or through legislation.

Foreign documents must be translated into Danish, English or German by an authorised translator. This also applies to any apostille endorsement. If the document has been legalised, all stamps, etc. must also be translated.

Note that this must be done before you submit your application to the Agency of Family Law.

If the certificates are foreign, we will consider whether they are genuine and can be accepted in Denmark. Documents from certain countries must be legalised or endorsed by an apostille.

If only one of you is a Danish or Nordic citizen or has a residence permit under Sections 7-9(f) or 9(i)-9(n) of the Danish Aliens Act – and not the other – you will not be able to marry in Denmark unless both of you have submitted a declaration that you are aware of the provisions of the Danish Aliens Act concerning family reunions.

You must therefore both sign an 11(b) declaration.

This does not apply to EU citizens.

By signing the declaration, you declare that you are familiar with the provisions of the Danish Aliens Act concerning family reunions. However, you do not waive the right to apply for family reunion because of your marriage.

You must also read the article entitled ‘When you get married – remember the financial aspects’, which explains the significance of marriage as regards the mutual financial circumstances of the spouses.

• Find the 11(b) declaration (in Danish)

This fee is determined and adjusted by the Minister for Children and Social Affairs. We may not consider your application until the fee has been received in our account.

As of 1 January 2024, the fee is: DKK 1,900 (2024).

The Agency of Family Law offers 3 ways of paying the fee:

• You can pay the fee as an extension of you completing the digital application form with a marriage declaration. This method is the quickest way to get your application started – you pay the fee at the same time as you sign and submit your application. You should therefore have your payment card ready when completing the application.
• You can also pay the fee via your bank. The amount must be deposited in our account with Danske Bank: Reg. No: 0216 – account No: 4069217060. Remember to state your CPR number or your name and passport/ID number when making the payment. If you do not, we will not be able to see which application the fee is linked to.
• If you have an account with a foreign bank and you wish to pay the fee to the Agency of Family Law, you must use the following information: IBAN: DK91 0216 4069 2170 60. BIC/SWIFT: DABADKKK. Remember to state your CPR number or your name and passport/ID number when making the payment. If you do not, we will not be able to see which application the fee is linked to.

The Agency of Family Law does not accept cash or cheques.

If you wish to appeal against the decision, you must appeal to the Agency of Family Law.

You must submit your appeal to us because we will need to see whether we should re-consider the case – that is re-open the case.

You cannot appeal against a rejection on the basis of pro forma.

• Act on the law on marriage and dissolution (in Danish)

• The Agency of Family Law on if you wish to get married in Denmark (in Danish)
• LGBT+ family (in Danish)