New Schengen Rules for Marriage Applications
Get married in Denmark
Since 10 April 2026, different documentation requirements have applied to certain non-EU citizens submitting a marriage application in Denmark.
The rules are connected to the European Entry/Exit System and affect how applicants document that they are staying legally within the Schengen Area.
The requirement to have legal residence is not new. However, since April 2026, some applicants have had to document their stay differently than before.
What changes has been made?
Who are affected by the new rules?
The documentation rules are particularly relevant if you are a non-EU citizen staying in the Schengen Area for a short period when submitting your marriage application.
What documents you need to provide depends on whether you:
- need a Schengen visa
- can enter Schengen without a visa
- hold a residence permit from a Schengen country
- have not yet entered the Schengen Area
Applicants with travel dates around April 2026 should pay particular attention to the date of their entry or exit, as different documentation applies before and after 10 April.
If you have a Schengen residence permit
If you hold a valid residence permit issued by a Schengen Member State, the residence permit can be used as documentation of your legal stay.
For short-term visitors who do not have a residence permit, other documentation is required.
If you need a Schengen visa
For visa-required citizens, the documentation depends on when the relevant entry or exit took place.
If you entered or exited before 10 April 2026, your stay can generally be documented using your visa sticker together with the physical entry stamp in your passport.
For entries or exits after 10 April 2026, the documentation requirements are different. The Agency of Family Law asks for:
- the visa sticker in your passport
- printouts of the data and result pages from the EES stay calculator
- plane tickets or boarding passes documenting your journey
These documents are used to establish that your stay within the Schengen Area is legal.
If you need a Schengen visa
Visa-exempt travellers are also covered by the requirements.
If your relevant entry or exit took place before 10 April 2026, the physical entry stamp in your passport can generally be used as documentation.
For entries or exits after 10 April, the Agency of Family Law asks for the relevant printouts from the EES calculator together with travel documentation such as plane tickets or boarding passes.
For travellers using the EES system, this means that the passport itself may no longer contain all the information needed for the marriage application.
What if you have not entered Schengen yet?
You can also submit a marriage application before travelling to the Schengen Area.
If you require a visa, you may need to provide your visa sticker together with information from the EES calculator showing your expected stay.
Visa-exempt travellers who have not yet entered Schengen may similarly need to use the EES calculator to document their planned stay.
What is the EES calculator?
The EES system records the entry and exit of non-EU nationals travelling to participating European countries for short stays.
For most short-stay travellers, the familiar 90 days within any 180-day period continues to apply. EES does not replace this rule but helps record border crossings electronically.
For a Danish marriage application, affected applicants may need to submit printouts of the data and result pages from the EES calculator.
Keep your travel documents
One of the practical consequences of the rules introduced in April is that travel documentation has become more important for some applicants.
Boarding passes and flight documentation can now form part of the evidence used to document legal stay.
It is therefore a good idea to keep your travel records and make sure that dates and information correspond with what is stated in your marriage application.
Missing or unclear documentation can result in the Agency of Family Law requesting additional information, which may delay the application.
We can help with the current requirements
The rules introduced in April 2026 mainly changed how certain non-EU citizens document their legal stay, rather than the basic requirement to stay legally in the Schengen Area.
At Just Married in Denmark, we help international couples identify which documents apply to their individual situation and prepare their applications correctly, so that they tie the knot as soon as possible without any hassle.
If you are unsure how the Schengen documentation rules introduced in April 2026 affect your application, contact us. We can help you identify the relevant documentation and guide you through the process.
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