Can I enter Denmark on a business trip?
Quite possibly.
According to the Q&A section on the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs website, “persons commissioned to deliver goods or services to/in Denmark or to transport goods out of Denmark” have a so-called “worthy purpose” to enter the country.
According to a person we spoke to on the Danish police's border questions hotline (+45 7020 6044), the 'services' part of this could include anyone who has business in Denmark, so long as the business in question could not be just as easily done remotely.
“If you have a specific client in Denmark that you have to visit as part of your work, then you can travel into Denmark,” he said. “But that would have to be work that could not be done from your own country.”
The advisor emphasised, however, that to be able to enter the country, a business traveller would need to be able to document the reason for their visit, and also show that the work could not have been done at home.
One foreigner in Copenhagen managed to bring a business contact in to participate in a cooking show.
Journalists from Sweden seem only to have to show their press card at the border to get across.
Would this loophole also include a London-based banker, lawyer, or consultant coming to visit Danish clients? Could it include an international footballer inspecting a prospective club before signing a contract? Could it include a salesman visiting a Danish company pursuing a software licensing deal.
It might, but then again it might not. You can ring +45 7020 6044 to check, but as the person I spoke to admitted, there are a lot of grey areas, and the only way to know for sure is to arrive at the border with as thorough documentation as you can put together and try your luck.
Can my family come to visit me in Denmark?
If they are close family, yes.
On April 23, Denmark changed the rules so that “spouses, live-in partners, parents and children” of a Danish national or a foreigner resident in Denmark can enter the country, providing they otherwise have a legal right to enter Denmark.
So Mum and Dad can come and stay with you in Copenhagen — if they can get permission to leave wherever they are normally that is — but your brothers and sisters and cousins, and also your friends, will have to wait.
Absolutely. If you are a head of state, you are part of a head of state's delegation, if you are diplomat, or if you have a “laissez-passer” travel document issued by a United Nations agency or by the European Union, you can enter Denmark without any difficulty. You can also enter using military travel documents issued by Nato.
So if it's that easy, is business traffic across the border more or less normal?
Far from it. Copenhagen Airport registered a daily average of 865 passengers during the month of April – that is a 99 per cent drop relative to April of last year. Car traffic across the Øresund Bridge to Sweden, meanwhile, has declined about 65 percent.
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