My experience with the Danish family reunification visa

In 2018, my husband and I applied for the Danish “family reunification” (familiesammenføring) visa so that I could live in Denmark. Thankfully, we were approved and I’ve been a legal resident since January 2019. I’m now in the process of renewing my visa, which is (fortunately) much more straightforward than the initial application, but it still gives me some of that same anxiety I had the first time around. I remember how many questions I had and how helpful I found it to read other people’s experiences with this visa process, so I’m sharing mine here in the hopes that it can answer some questions for someone else in the same boat!

Of course, this was a couple years ago so some of my memory may be a little off, and some aspects of the application and approval process may have changed. But hopefully this can still help! 🙂

Before applying

January 2018: The very first thing we did after deciding that we wanted to apply for a family reunification visa was meet with an immigration lawyer. Many people who have been through this process will say that you really don’t need a lawyer in most cases, because the application is pretty straightforward. But we had a lot of questions that we had trouble finding answers to online, and so we thought it made sense to have a consultation with an expert so we knew what we were getting into. Was it necessary? No, probably not. But we found the consultation incredibly helpful, as the lawyer was able to answer all of our questions and even provided information we hadn’t thought to ask about. For us, it was worth it to have this meeting before we applied, even though we didn’t need a lawyer for the rest of the process.

March 2018: Once we felt we understood the process and wanted to move forward with it, the next step was to get married! We scheduled our wedding with Copenhagen Municipality (København Kommune) 4 months ahead of when we wanted to get married (July 2018). This was fairly straightforward, though my husband did have to call and follow up when our application took longer than expected to approve (it had gotten lost in the shuffle and was quickly approved after that). We chose the date we wanted, thinking it would be at City Hall, but actually got lucky because they were doing “open air weddings” that day. So then we just had to cross our fingers for good weather!

June 2018: I “moved” to Denmark! I say “moved” in quotations because I was technically still a tourist, so it wasn’t guaranteed that I could stay yet. Americans can stay in Denmark as tourists for 90 days, and then you are allowed to stay after applying for a visa while the application processes. So I booked a one-way ticket, and told the Danish passport control agent that I was going to apply for a visa before my 90 days were up.

July 2018: We got married! And we did get lucky with absolutely gorgeous weather. Our “city hall” ceremony was at Ofelia Plads, across from the Opera House, and our families and close friends were able to join us for the big day. Now we could actually apply for the visa!

The application & approval process

August 2018: A few weeks after the wedding, my husband and I sat down and completed the visa application. Once we finished, I had to make an appointment to submit our application and accompanying documentation at the immigration office. They stamped my passport to show that I had an application in progress, which allowed me to remain in Denmark until I received an answer. I also had my biometrics (fingerprints, photo, and signature) recorded at this appointment. (I did not realize that the photo they took at this appointment would be the picture on my residence card, and it ended up being one of the worst photos ever taken of me. Learn from my mistake!!!)

Fall 2018: One of the requirements for the family reunification visa is that you need to pass the A1 and A2 Danish tests within 9 months of being approved (but if you pass them before you are approved, then you don’t have to pay as much for the financial collateral. More on that later). I had started teaching myself Danish using Duolingo and this book, so I decided to go ahead and take the A1 test before I started taking formal Danish classes.

The A1 and A2 tests are really simple, both in content and format. At the testing center, all you do is sit at a computer with headphones. You listen to the questions, which are all multiple choice, and all you have to do is answer A, B, or C out loud. You can listen to examples here, and they are seriously almost exactly like the real thing. I can’t remember exactly what was needed to pass, but I think it was only 20/30 when I took these tests. If you can pass the example test, you can pass the real one.

So I actually took the A1 test before we even submitted my visa application, and passed. Then I signed up for the next round of Danish classes at one of the language schools in Copenhagen. Usually if you are on the family reunification visa, you can take Danish classes for free at one of the government-sponsored language schools. But since I wasn’t approved yet, I just chose a school and we paid for my classes. This was totally worth it for me. I wasn’t allowed to work while I waited for the visa to be approved, so I was happy to have Danish class 3 times a week to give me something to focus on!!

I took the A2 test after I had finished the equivalent level at my Danish school, and passed. Yay!!

December 2018: We received a letter that basically stated that our visa application was going to be approved, but we needed to post the financial collateral first. There are 2 options for the collateral: If you have the money yourself, you can transfer it to a secure account with your bank. The money is still yours, but you can’t access the account until the collateral is released (ie: you are no longer on the family reunification visa). The other option is to get a bank guarantee, which is essentially a loan. Either way, you have about 3 weeks to post the collateral once you get this letter.

January 2019: We posted our collateral, and received my official approval letter in the mail a few days later! So the entire application and approval process took about 5 months for us.

After getting approved

Registered CPR number: I received a CPR number (Danish Social Security number) with my visa approval letter, but I had to “register” it in order to use it for anything. This involved making an appointment at the International House. I had to fill out some forms, they walked me through next steps, and gave me a folder of welcome materials.

Received yellow health insurance card & residence card: I couldn’t do anything else until my yellow health insurance card came in the mail. This is like your Danish social security card, and you need it for a lot more than just doctor’s appointments. My residence card came a few weeks later.

Set up Nem-ID, e-Boks, and banking: After my yellow card came, I could make an appointment at our local library (which is where citizen services are housed) to set up my Nem-ID, which I could then use to set up my e-Boks and a Danish bank account.

Job Center meeting: I actually already had a job lined up when my visa was approved, but I still had to go to an “integration meeting” at the Job Center. There, a counselor asked me about my job and my progress learning Danish. She also gave me several resources that would help get me started with learning Danish or getting a job, if I needed them. (I was also required to go back a year later for a follow up.)

Applied to renew: My visa was valid for 2 years, and you can apply to renew when you are within 3 months of the expiration date. The renewal application is a pretty simple online form, and then you have to make an in-person appointment for a new round of biometrics. I applied to renew in November, and at the time, the estimated wait time for a reply was 7 months. I’m writing this in April and we are still waiting on an answer, but fortunately I am allowed to continue living and working in Denmark in the meantime!

Edit: I received my approval a couple days after posting this! So it ended up being about 5.5 months for renewal.

Phew!! So it’s quite a process, but of course it’s worth it to get to live here. Let me know if you have any questions about the family reunification visa, or if you have any insight from your own experience to share!