documents 

What kind of documents do I need to get married in Denmark?

In this section, we have prepared a complete article about the documents you need to get married in Denmark.

We will explain each document step by step and what the most important characteristics are.

General enumeration of documents

• Valid passport or ID card
• A visa
• Residence Permit
• Death or Divorce Certificate
• Birth certificate of children
• Special permits (especially for members of the military)
• Signed power of Attorney
• Signed declaration of truth
• Proof of address and civil status
• Signed Danish declaration spousal reunification (only for Danish people or residents in Denmark)

1. Valid passport or ID card

It is important to mention what is required to have a valid passport for marriage in Denmark. First, it must be valid for at least three months beyond your stay in Denmark. Second, it must have been issued within the last ten years. Third, it must have blank visa or stamp pages.

*Disclaimer: The period you can get married in Denmark will be limited if your passport has less than four months left.

2. Visa

As Denmark is part of the European Union, you may not need to obtain a visa if you possess an EU passport or EU identity card.

If you need a visa because you are not an EU citizen, we explain which visas are available for marriage in Denmark.

a. Schengen C Visa (Tourist visa)

This visa is valid within the Schengen area. If the visa is valid on that day, you can celebrate your wedding. It does not exclude traveling to Denmark, and you have not exceeded the permitted stay.

b. Schengen D Visa

With this type of visa, you can celebrate your wedding if the visa is valid on that day. It does not exclude traveling to Denmark, and the rule of 90 days of stay is fulfilled with 180 days between stays.

c. Visa-exempt

People in this “Visa Exempt” category can get married without overstaying their time in the Schengen area. Most of them can stay no more than 90 days in 180 days, but it depends on the rules of the country of origin.

In addition to those mentioned above, it is important to consider:

1. The stamps in your passport: Help people prove they have not overstayed their time in the Schengen area.
2. The overstay mark could be a problem: it may affect your chances of getting your marriage application approved. In this case, you will need to prove that you have an exceptional reason for your overstay or that you have paid a fine.3. Resident permit

This document allows you to stay in another country longer than you can as a short-term visitor. Normally, the residence permit gives you unlimited or limited residence, either in Denmark or another EU country.

If you have a residence permit issued in the European Union, it is valid as a document for getting married in Denmark.

4. Death or Divorce certificate.

• Divorce certificate

If you or your partner have been married in the past, the marriage must be legally terminated before your new wedding.

You will need a final divorce decree or certificate to prove that you or your partner are divorced.

People often confuse divorce with other legal separation methods, so we think it is important to clarify them.

Divorce is a legal instrument that recognizes the end of a marriage between couples. With it, the partners are legally separated and free to remarry.

Annulment is the legal instrument that declares a marriage invalid, as if it had never taken place. It is used when it is found that one of the parties to the marriage was already married to someone else or that the marriage was celebrated out of interest. With this document, the partners are also legally free to marry again.

Separation: It is not the same as the other legal remedies. It is not a legal remedy; it is just that two partners are now living separately but legally remain married. In this case, if you are separated but not legally divorced, you cannot marry again until your divorce is finalized.

Further clarifications regarding divorce

It is important to mention other issues relating to the need for a divorce certificate because not all cases are identical, and your case may be an exception.

You will need a divorce certificate if:

• One of the parties has been legally married before (it does not matter in which country the marriage was celebrated).
• One of the parties was divorced more than once. Only the document of the most recent marriage is necessary.

You will not need a divorce certificate if:
– One of the parties was religiously married.
– One of the parties has registered a civil partnership with another person. A decree of dissolution is required, but it is a completely different legal remedy.
– One of the parties is dead. A death certificate is required.

• Death certificate

This is a legal document issued by the relevant authority certifying a dead person.

This document allows you to remarry if you were married to the person at the time of their death. But be careful, not all death certificates list the partner’s name as spouse or husband, in which case you will also need a marriage certificate with that person.

5. Birth certificate

Let us explain what a birth certificate is by way of introduction. This official and legal document certifies a person’s birth and is used to accredit the identity, date, or place of birth in case it may be necessary.

The authorities do not require a birth certificate for adults, but you will need to provide the birth certificate of your child or children if you and your partner have children together.

6. Special permits (military service)

In the hypothetical case that you, your partner, or perhaps both are part of the military service and provide services within the Schengen Area, you will need permission from your commanding officer or your military orders if you want to get married in Denmark.

Even if you or your partner are a civilian member of the military services in the Schengen area, you will still need to show your SOFA stamp.

All these documents are necessary to verify that your stay in the Schengen area is legal.

7. Signed Power of Attorney

A signed Power of Attorney document will give us the authority to assist you with your marriage application and to speak and act on your behalf and with your permission.

This document will help us represent your interests, submit your marriage application, keep you informed about its status, and contact and deal with the Danish Family Agency.

8. Signed Declaration of Truth

This is a standard legal document the Danish Family Law Agency issued that the couple must complete and sign.

When couples sign the declaration, they declare in legal form that all the information in the marriage application is true and correct and that all the documents are genuine.

This declaration, information, and supporting documents must not be falsified, as falsification is a criminal offense that may result in imprisonment or a fine.

9. Proof of address and civil status

The Danish Agency of Family Law does not normally require a certificate of Civil Status, but it could ask for one in exceptional cases.

We know that normally, this document might be complicated to find, but another possible resource is available to replace it.

Known by different names in different countries (e.g. in Germany: “Erweiterte Meldebescheiningung”), the document contains information about people such as address, name, place and date of birth, and the most important item “civil status”.

10. Signed Danish declaration of spousal reunification.

The complete name of this document is “Declaration under section 11b of the Danish Marriage Act on awareness of the rules on spousal reunification set out in the Danish Aliens Act”.

You must read, complete, and sign this document, called an 11b declaration, to confirm that you know and understand Denmark’s rules on family reunification. This requirement only applies when you are a permanent or legal resident in Denmark, and your partner is not a citizen of the EU.

Formalities of the documents

We have already explained in detail which documents the Danish government requires to get married in Denmark.

We will now tell you the formalities for presenting all the required documents and what you should be aware of.

• Language

The Danish authorities will only accept the required document in English, German, Danish or a Nordic language.

If your documents are in a language other than these, you may need to have them professionally translated before you can submit them.

• legalization

Some of the documents required to get married in Denmark will likely need to be legalised before they can be presented.

Legalization is a process of verifying and certifying that a document complies with the relevant legal requirements.

The most common documents that need to be legalized are final divorce decrees, death certificates, and divorce certificates. The Danish authorities may also require other documents to be legalized, but this is an exception.

• Apostille

The Apostille is a universal legalization certificate that can be used in all Hague Convention countries to verify the validity of a document without the need for additional legalization procedures.

You will need an Apostille If the country where your document was issued is a Hague Convention country.

There is also a slightly different process for legalizing your papers as part of your application if the country that issued them is not a Hague Convention.

• Format

The document required by the Danish Family Agency must be sent digitally in image format (jpg or PDF). It is not possible to send the document in paper form by post.

Because the documents must be digitized, the Danish authorities are very strict about how they must be presented.

If you make any mistakes, you may cause unnecessary delays in processing your application.

Getting married in Denmark