Denmark for German Expats: The Complete Relocation Guide

Moving from Germany to Denmark is one of the simpler relocations in Europe — you have EU freedom of movement, so there is no visa, no work permit, and no points system. What trips people up is the Danish admin sequence: nothing works until you have a CPR number, and you cannot get a CPR number until you have a registered address and an EU residence document. Get that order right and the rest falls into place.

This guide walks through the exact steps a German citizen takes, the cross-border option if you live near the border, plus the tax, banking and healthcare specifics. Every figure here is hedged or sourced — confirm anything time-sensitive on the official site linked.

Your rights as an EU citizen

As a German national you can enter Denmark and start looking for work or move in immediately — no permit needed. The catch: if you intend to stay longer than 3 months, you must apply for an EU residence document (an EU-opholdsdokument, the modern registration certificate) within those first 3 months. It is handled by SIRI (the Danish Agency for International Recruitment and Integration) via nyidanmark.dk.

You qualify on one of several grounds — as a worker (arbejdstager), self-employed, student, or person with sufficient means. This is a right, not a discretionary visa: if you meet a ground, it cannot be refused. The application is currently free of charge; check the latest fee status on nyidanmark.dk before applying.

The setup sequence (do it in this order)

1. Find an address and register it. You need a permanent Danish address to get a CPR number. The minimum residence period a municipality requires varies but is usually 1 to 3 months of a real tenancy. See how the CPR number works.
2. Apply for your EU residence document with SIRI — you need this before you can be registered in the civil system.
3. Get your CPR number (Central Person Register) at the Folkeregister / your local Borgerservice or an International Citizen Service (ICS) centre. The CPR is the master key to everything: tax, healthcare, banking, your child's daycare.
4. Get MitID, Denmark's national digital ID. You can create it in the MitID app by scanning the chip in your German passport, or book an appointment at Citizen Service. Without MitID you cannot log in to any public self-service.
5. Assign your NemKonto — the bank account all public payments (tax refunds, child benefit) flow to. Log in to the NemKonto self-service with MitID and point it at a Danish or a foreign account.
6. Get your tax card (skattekort) — see the next section.

The ICS centres are the shortcut: SIRI, the municipality and SKAT sit under one roof, so the residence document, CPR and tax card can often be done in a single visit. ICS has offices in Copenhagen, Aarhus, Odense and Sønderborg (the latter is convenient for the German border region). Details on lifeindenmark.borger.dk.

Tax: get your skattekort or pay 55%

Denmark taxes residents on worldwide income, and rates are higher than Germany's. The non-negotiable first move is your tax card (skattekort) — a digital record that tells your employer your withholding rate. Without a tax card you are taxed at 55% of your salary, refunded later, so this is worth doing promptly.

Apply via skat.dk using self-service (you need a CPR-bearing health card, a registered address and MitID) or paper form 04.063 if you do not yet have those. SKAT cannot generate the card until about 1 month before your start date. Full walkthrough on our tax card guide.

Danish income tax stacks municipal tax, state (bottom/top-bracket) tax and an 8% labour-market contribution (AM-bidrag); effective rates commonly land in roughly the 38–56% range depending on income — confirm your bracket on skat.dk. Newcomers with German employment income may also look at the special researcher/high-earner scheme if recruited at a high salary; check eligibility, as the salary threshold changes yearly.

Healthcare: the yellow card

Once you are registered and covered by national health insurance, you choose a GP (praktiserende læge) and are sent the yellow health insurance card (sundhedskort) — it arrives by post about 2 to 3 weeks after registration and shows your CPR, your name and your assigned doctor. There is a free app version, Sundhedskortet, that is equally valid.

Coverage is tax-funded: GP visits and hospital care are free at the point of use; you typically pay a share for dental and prescriptions. As a German, you can also order the blue European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) for trips back to Germany or elsewhere in the EU. See our Danish healthcare system explainer and the official health insurance card page.

Cross-border commuters: live in Germany, work in Denmark

Many Germans in the Flensburg–Sønderborg corridor work in Denmark without relocating. If you commute and keep your German home, you are under limited tax liability (begrænset skattepligt) — taxed in Denmark only on Danish-source income — and you never tip into full tax liability no matter how long you commute, as long as you travel back and forth.

If at least 75% of your income is Danish, you can opt into the cross-border worker rules and claim Danish personal and family deductions (commuting/transport deduction, union and unemployment-fund fees). Confirm your status with SKAT's cross-border rules; a Danish–German double-taxation treaty prevents you being taxed twice.

Banking and moving money

You can technically keep only your German account and assign it as your NemKonto, but most people open a Danish account so salary, rent and Betalingsservice direct debits run cleanly. You will need your CPR number and MitID to open one — banks cannot onboard you before that. Note Denmark uses the krone (DKK), not the euro.

For the gap before your Danish account is live, or for moving your German savings over without the poor exchange rates German high-street banks often apply, a service like Wise lets you hold and convert EUR to DKK at the mid-market rate and receive money to a local account. Useful for that first month when cash flow and paperwork overlap.

Culture and language notes

You can live and work in Denmark in English — Danes' English is excellent and most workplaces operate in it. Danish is not required for the move, but it helps for daily life and is needed for permanent residence or citizenship later. As a newcomer you are entitled to state-subsidised Danish lessons (danskuddannelse); ask your municipality. Coming from Germany the work culture feels flatter and more informal — first names, short hierarchies, and a hard stop on overtime. The famous 5 weeks of statutory paid holiday is real.

Common problems and fixes

• "I can't get a CPR number." You almost certainly lack a registered permanent address or the EU residence document. Both must exist first — sort the address and SIRI registration, then return to the Folkeregister.
• "My first paycheck was taxed at 55%." Your tax card was not in place. Apply on skat.dk; the over-withheld amount is refunded once the card is registered.
• "My German bank account isn't accepted for some Danish service." Assign a NemKonto via MitID self-service, or open a Danish account — some Danish direct-debit systems only accept a Danish IBAN.
• "I don't know whether I'm a resident or a commuter for tax." It hinges on where you actually live and sleep, not where you work. If you keep your German home and commute, you are limited-liability — confirm in writing with SKAT to avoid a surprise double assessment.
• "MitID app won't verify my passport." Use a passport with a chip and good lighting for the face scan, or book an in-person appointment at Citizen Service to get MitID issued manually.

Next step

Before anything else, lock down a registered Danish address and book a single appointment at an International Citizen Service centre — bring your German passport/ID, your tenancy contract and your employment contract. In that one visit you can walk out with your EU residence document underway, your CPR number, and your tax card. Start with our CPR number guide so you have the paperwork ready.