Pursuing citizenship is a long journey for many internationals in Denmark. In case you missed my earlier article, there are a lot of requirements to become a Danish citizen. Even in the ideal scenario, it takes at minimum 9 years! Often it’s even longer and one reason for this is the requirement to pass Citizenship Exams.
Yes, there are two citizenship exams: Medborgerskabsprøven (The Active Citizenship Exam) and Indfødsretsprøven (The Naturalization Exam). Understanding these exams and studying properly can save you years of time! So let’s talk about them in more detail.
Medborgerskabsprøven – The Active Citizenship Exam
The first citizenship exam, medborgerskabsprøven, is connected to permanent residence and is completely optional. However, if you take this exam and pass it, you can expect to save a few years of time!
In Denmark, most international residents have to first transition to permanent residence before they can even apply for citizenship. If in doubt, lifeindenmark is your friend! Permanent residency is a status that recognizes you have contributed to Denmark for a long time and it guarantees that you can continue to reside in Denmark even if you ever face, for example, long-term unemployment.
For permanent residency requirements you should bookmark the New to Denmark page. At the end of the list of requirements there are four supplementary requirements. If any two of these four requirements are satisfied, you can apply for permanent residence in 8 years. But if you can say yes to all four requirements you can apply for an express permanent residence in only 4 years! So that’s a lot of time saved, if you are willing to commit to some heavy demands.
The supplementary requirements are:
- Language Proficiency: You must have passed Danish 3 (PD3), as opposed to Danish 2 (PD2) which is the minimum requirement.
- Long-Term Employment: You must have been employed for 4 of the last 4.5 years, as opposed to 3.5 years of the last 4 years which is the minimum requirement.
- Demonstrating Active Citizenship: You can either document participation in civil society (active citizenship) or take medborgerskabsprøven ‘the active citizen exam’.
- High Annual Income: You must have an annual taxable income of DKK 331,249.35 (2025 level) or more, averaged for the last 2 years.
What we are focussed on today is #3, Demonstrating Active Citizenship. If you plug ‘medborgerskab’ into Google Translate, you will see it translated it as ‘citizenship’. Only, it’s a very particular kind of citizenship. medborgerskab refers to fulfilling your civic duties or active citizenship. So to become a permanent resident, and later a citizen, you are expected to display active citizenship. Of course, this supplementary requirement is really optional and many people skip it. But it is in your interest to become recognized as an active citizen, so you can gain citizenship sooner
There is one more interesting quirk about the Demonstrating Active Citizenship requirement. It can be satisfied in one of two ways: either by documenting participation in civil society or by taking the Active Citizen Exam. But let’s assume you will take the exam.
How to prepare for the Active Citizen Exam
I spoke with a colleague who has recently been awarded active citizenship. Nazrul is an IT Engineer who came from Bangladesh to Denmark about 5 years ago. And he was more than glad to share his tips on the Active Citizen Exam.
It might seem tempting, or even more authentic, to pursue the civil society option instead of taking a pen-and-paper exam. After all, Denmark encourages volunteering. Nazrul, like many others, faced this same dilemma. However he decided to take the exam option, because he was aiming for permanent residence in 4 years and assumed it would just be faster.
‘On one hand you have the civil society option which is assessed subjectively. The Danish officer who reads your application will sit down and try to verify the documentation. They will think “Is this a parents’ committee, a school board, a board of a non-profit housing organization, an integration council or a senior council?”. You can search for some frivillig (volunteer) positions in your local municipality. However, not every association or NGO is equal in the eyes of the system so it’s a gamble. And if nothing else, it delays the processing time of the application. On the other hand, your active citizen exam is a pass or fail. The officer will not try to challenge your result. And I would recommend people take the active citizen exam, even if they are active in civil society, for this reason.’
The Active Citizen Exam quizzes people on social life in Denmark. Whether you arrived in Denmark in your 20’s, 40’s or 60’s, The Active Citizen Exam tests whether you are up-to-speed with how Danish society works.
You are given 30 minutes to answer 25 multiple-choice questions, and anything over 20 correct answers is a passing grade. The exam is held twice a year, in June and December. Did we mention the exam is in Danish only? So The Active Citizen Exam is something you should attempt when you have made some progress on your language skills. If you are comfortable with Danish, the official website for The Active Citizen Exam has many factsheets and other useful resources to help you prepare for the exam.
Nazrul was able to prepare for his exam by simply reading through the fact sheets and solving the practice exams from previous years.
‘Personally, I believe the active citizenship requirement is less about civic participation and more about understanding. Through practicing for the exam, you get to learn and appreciate the good in Denmark: the schools, green energy etc. But you are also shown the not-so-good, like crime and punishment. Certain practices that might be okay in your native culture, may be off-limits in Denmark. So I believe this policy is about integration through understanding. Passing the exam signifies that you have acquired the ‘folkeskole’ knowledge about Denmark.’
So with the right mindset and planning (again, you only get one exam in June and one in December) the Active Citizen Exam can easily be passed within your first 4 years in Denmark. The same could perhaps not be said for the much more difficult citizenship exam: Indfødsretsprøven.
Indfødsretsprøven – The Naturalization Test
When people talk about ‘The Citizenship Exam,’ they are informally referring to Indfødsretsprøven. Although the Active Citizenship Exam is optional, Indfødsretsprøven is mandatory for almost anyone. But make sure you double-check lifeindenmark, just to be sure.
For those who have obtained permanent residency, it is often The Naturalization Test that delays the acquisition of Danish Citizenship. For the record, naturalization refers to being granted Danish citizenship despite having a non-Danish or non-Nordic nationality. In that regard, this exam is even more comprehensive on the Danish Social Mileu than the active citizen exam.
How to prepare for the The Naturalization Test
We spoke to one of our readers, Nora, about how to prepare for the test. Nora is a psychologist who has been living in Denmark for the last 20+ years.
‘I was an EU-citizen and I settled in Denmark thanks to family-unification grounds. That was mostly a good process, because I married a Dane. Learning the language (PD3) and permanent residence took some time but those were feasible goals.’
The Naturalization Test also has an official website. You are given 45 minutes to answer 45 questions, and need at least 36 correct answers to pass. There are also 5 special questions on Danish values, where you fail the exam instantly if you cannot answer at least 4/5 correctly. The Naturalization Test is held twice a year, typically in May and November.
‘I was really disheartened when I failed my first naturalization test. At the time, I had already been living in Denmark for 10 years so it felt almost shameful. I continued to try again for 3 years and am now convinced that the test is designed to be unpassable.’
The contents of The Naturalization Test are very broad. You will find questions on history, geography and culture. And what’s more, The Naturalization Test is updated every year to feature at least 5 questions on ‘current affairs’, meaning events of the past year from politics to sports to literature.
‘It’s a multiple-choice exam but that does not feel like it makes it any easier. The choices are often very nuanced, so you might be asked whether something happened on the 14th or 15th of June. You have to know a lot of things by heart, and it’s really hard for people who aren’t normally interested in, say, history. It’s also curious that the question types are very particular. For example, I am used to the questions about sports and literature but I never saw questions on the Danish artists and actors people recognize as celebrities. We sometimes joke that ‘Danes cannot pass the test either.’
Nora’s Danish family and friends constantly tried to motivate her, but it only helped so much. Because these are individual assessments, every participant has to prove themselves. So she studied and studied hard. The official website has questions from past years and it is possible to search the web for mock exams. After solving 50k-60k questions over the course of 3 years and studying 2-3 hours a day for the last 6-12 months, she finally managed to pass!
‘I have been in Denmark for 20+ years and I have just recently gotten my citizenship. After I got the good news of having passed my naturalization test, I applied for citizenship and it took 3 whole years to get my letter. The application was also very tedious to fill out. So finally, in 2024 I met with the Borgmester (Mayor) of Vejle and I was at last granted my Danish citizenship!’
Nora also had some comments on the exam environments that can sometimes feel hostile.
‘I love Denmark: it’s a liberal and open-minded country. But the system is closed-minded. It makes you feel like an outsider. It does not feel like the process to obtain citizenship is about integration or fitting into the society. It feels like it’s set up for failure. If I compare, say, Canada, their immigration is based around a point-system where applicants can see their score based on literacy, language proficiency etc. Fair or unfair, you can see your rating, it’s transparent and your effort is recognized. In Denmark, you have these very awkward pass-fail milestones instead. And if you fail, you are set back by a whole 6 months. Still, the great environment I have found here in Denmark in my family, friends and neighbours has made it worthwhile withstanding those challenges.’
Conclusion and Notes
In summary,
- It has been said a million times already, but improve your Danish! You will need to be able to understand Danish to take either of the Citizenship Exams.
- If you don’t have permanent residency yet, mark your calendar for June and December so you can take the next the Active Citizen Exam. (Registrations are often the month before)
- ‘If you have permanent residency, mark your calendar for May and November so you can take the next Permanent Residency Test (Registrations are often the month before).’
- Follow the lifeindenmark, active citizenship exam and naturalization test websites to keep up-to-date with the latest changes.
- Consider also checking out the Danish Citizenship Test Facebook Group, a helpful community to ask questions on the citizenship exams.
It takes time, but thousands of people have managed to do it. And I am sure that some day, you can too!
