Getting married

If both of you do not meet at least one of the criteria above you must apply for a certificate of marital status (prøvelsesattest) from the Agency of Family Law (Familieretshuset).

Where you should apply depends on both of your nationalities or your basis for residence in Denmark. 

Go to the website of Familieretshuset - International marriages

To enter into marriage you must meet a number of criteria. For instance, you need to document that neither of you are already married.

• Nordic citizens must bring a civil status certificate from the Nordic country og show their passport to Citizen Service (Borgerservice)

• Have you or your partner previously been married outside of Denmark, Citizen Service must be shown the original documents stating that the marriage is dissolved whether this is due to divorce or death. The documents must be translated into Danish and legalised.

Legalising documents

Documents from Europe, the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand do not have to be legalised.

Please note that in terms of the legalisation of documents, the following countries do not count as European, and must therefore be legalised:

• Bosnia-Herzegovina
• Kosovo
• Croatia
• Slovenia
• Albania
• Armenia
• Azerbajdjan
• Belarus
• Georgia
• Kazakhstan
• Kyrgyzstan
• Tajikistan
• Ukraine
• Uzbekistan
• Russia

The purpose of legalising is to get documentation of the authenticity/validity of the document and the validity of the authority who has issued the document. Legalisation, therefore, is not a confirmation of the content of the document.

For a document or an endorsement of a document to be legalised it must contain a number of signatures which typically looks like this:

• A signature by the authority superior to those who have signed the document when it was issued. This will typically be the ministry that those issuing the document belong to.
• Thereafter this signature must be validated by the country's foreign ministry.
• The signature of the country's foreign ministry must be validated by the Danish representation in the country in question. You may find the addresses of the Danish embassies and consulates on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark.
• All signatures must be given directly on the original document or the original certified copy.

If you need help filling in the application for a certificate of marriage issued by the municipality, please call Citizen Service (Borgerservice) at  89 40 22 22.