In Denmark, you are a ten-digit number before you are anything else. The CPR number sits on your health card, your tax records, your bank account and your child's school file.
If you are moving to Denmark, getting the CPR number is the single most important administrative step. This guide explains how to get a CPR number in Denmark and what to do the day after.
What exactly is the CPR number?
CPR stands for Det Centrale Personregister, the central civil registration system. The number is attributed when you register as resident in a Danish municipality. After that, the municipality, the tax authority, your GP and your employer all find you through it.
The same ten digits also work as a personal tax number. Skattestyrelsen, the tax authority, explains that if you stay in Denmark for a short time (up to six months for EU/EEA and Swiss citizens, up to three months for others) you receive a personal tax number so you can be paid and taxed. The page adds that the digits are the same and valid for life. If you have lived or worked in Denmark before, you already have one: do not ask for a second.
Who needs a CPR number in Denmark, and when?
Lifeindenmark, the official portal for new arrivals, says you must notify the authorities if you stay six months or more as an EU/EEA or Nordic citizen, or three months or more as a citizen of other countries. In practice, anyone who works in Denmark, rents a home, opens a bank account or sends a child to school needs one very quickly.
The sequence for an EU/EEA or Swiss citizen is fixed:
- Obtain the EU residence document from SIRI. Nordic citizens skip this step. See the EU residence document.
- Find a home where you actually live. Lifeindenmark is blunt: you cannot apply for a CPR number before you have found a place to live and actually live there. The minimum residence period before an address counts as permanent varies by municipality, usually one to three months.
- Register in person.
How do you register for a CPR number in Denmark?
You must show up in person at a Borgerservice (the citizen service desk of your municipality) or at an International Citizen Service (ICS) centre. Bring:
- your EU residence document (not needed for Nordic citizens);
- your passport or national ID card;
- proof of address, such as your lease;
- marriage or birth certificates, and name-change documents if relevant.
At ICS East in Copenhagen you apply online and then receive a personal link by email to book your slot. The ICS centres are in Copenhagen, Aarhus, Odense, Aalborg, Esbjerg and Sønderborg, and an appointment is required for the registration.
If your situation is unusual, for example you are a student without an employer, you are self-employed, you share a flat with no lease in your name, or you moved from another Nordic country, Moovy can tell you which documents to bring to the appointment, and draft a polite email to the municipality in Danish with an English translation. You read it and send it yourself.
What comes after the CPR number?
Once registered, a chain of steps opens:
- Health card. The yellow sundhedskort arrives by post about two to three weeks later, with the name and address of your GP. Make sure your name is on the mailbox. See healthcare in Denmark.
- Tax card. If you work, request it through TastSelv or by phone. Skattestyrelsen sends the preliminary income assessment within two weeks when the form is complete. Without a tax card, employers withhold 55 per cent. See working in Denmark for what happens before your first salary.
- Bank account. Lifeindenmark says a Danish bank account can only be opened once you have your tax card. See bank account in Denmark.
How do you get MitID as a foreigner?
MitID is the digital identity that opens the online tax portal, the bank, the Digital Post and almost every public service. Two ways to get it, according to Lifeindenmark:
- In the MitID app, by choosing the passport option, scanning the code and reading the chip of a valid passport or chip-equipped ID card, then scanning your face. You need a recent smartphone.
- At the Borgerservice, with valid ID and either a witness who confirms who you are or answers to questions drawn from the CPR register.
Without a CPR number, the app asks for an eight-digit P code. That MitID gets you into some services but not the ones that require a CPR number, such as the full set of tax and municipal services.
What is the NemKonto and how do you designate it?
The NemKonto is not a special account. It is an ordinary bank account that you designate as the one where public bodies pay you: tax refunds, benefits, public-sector salaries, holiday pay from FerieKonto. It is free, it needs a CPR number, and the public authorities can only pay into it.
You can designate it through your Danish bank (not all offer this), online at nemkonto.dk with MitID, or on a form when the account is abroad. The form for a foreign account must be signed in front of two witnesses or a notary. For an online designation or a foreign account, an activation code arrives by post at your CPR address (not by email, not by Digital Post), generally within 10 to 14 working days, valid 60 days. Check your CPR address before you change anything.
What is Digital Post, and why do you have to read it?
From 15 years old and with a CPR number, you automatically get Digital Post, the official electronic mail. Tax decisions, hospital letters, school and nursery notices all arrive there, and you are expected to read them. Not reading is not a defence. You can read your Digital Post in the Digital Post app, on lifeindenmark.dk, in e-Boks or on mit.dk. An exemption is possible, but it has to be asked for in person at the municipality.
What if you only stay for a few months?
Not every arrival is a settlement. A seasonal worker, a short contract or a trial period raises the question of whether to register at all. The rule of thumb from the tax authority is the six-month line for EU/EEA and Swiss citizens. If your stay is shorter, you will not be registered as a resident, but if you earn money in Denmark you still need a personal tax number and a tax card, so that your employer can pay you and withhold the right amount of tax. A tax number is something you can ask for through the tax authority, with the application form for a tax card, which is also available at the ICS centres.
If your plans change and the stay lengthens, do not wait until the last week. Start the residence document and the housing search as soon as you suspect you will stay beyond the limit. The delay you cannot control is the municipality's minimum residence period for an address.
The personal tax number is also what lets you get paid in the weeks before your registration is complete. The Danish administration page on the topic explains that before the CPR number you can get a personal tax number to be paid and taxed, and that it becomes your CPR number when you settle. For healthcare in the meantime, use your European Health Insurance Card, and only in the public system.
Keep your paperwork together in one folder, digital or paper: residence document, lease, registration confirmation, health card, tax card. Every later step, from the bank to the school, will ask for something from this list, and you will save yourself several appointments.
What mistakes cost newcomers time?
- Asking for the CPR number before the residence document. The order is imposed.
- No real address. A hotel or very short rental may not be accepted. Ask the municipality about its rule.
- Walking into an ICS centre without an appointment and expecting a CPR number. Walk-ins are for general advice.
- A wrong address on the register. The NemKonto code goes there.
- Registering twice. If you have lived in Denmark before, your number is still valid.
For the full sequence on arrival, read moving to Denmark.