The 2020 shutdowns created a backlog of applications for the Danish Agency for International Recruitment and Integration (abbreviated SIRI in Danish), and processing times for many visa and residency permit applications are “too long,” SIRI acknowledged in a May 20 announcement on their website.

Any delay has a significant impact on the lives of new arrivals since you need a CPR number to access the Danish healthcare system, open a Danish bank account, sign up for a Danish credit card, get a cellphone plan, attend Danish language classes, and use the ubiquitous MobilePay that has almost made the Danish kroner obsolete.

READ MORE: Is life in Denmark possible without a CPR?

The Local Denmark reached out to SIRI on August 6^th, requesting data on how long people who have already applied for the various residency permits and visas can expect to wait. After two weeks of correspondence with SIRI, their data on processing times is difficult to parse and doesn’t offer a consistent timeline (other than hurry up and wait).

Here’s a condensed chart from their May 20 statement. We’ve omitted some of the more obscure residency permits, including those for herdsmen and volunteers.  

In response to a request from the Local Denmark for updated estimated processing times, SIRI also provided data on the average processing time this year for various applications.

Call centre agents provide different estimates 

But SIRI call centre agents asked about specific cases paint a less optimistic picture. One writer for the Local was told to expect a processing time of at least 4-5 months for a residency permit as a family member to an EU citizen – while the data provided by SIRI’s communications team indicate that the average wait in 2021 for this permit has been just 42 days.

Asked about the disparity between these numbers, SIRI provided the following statement: “The indications about case processing times provided in SIRI’s call centre are current estimates of the expected case processing times for applications where a decision has not yet been made. These estimates are affected by among others increases in the number of applications in specific case categories.”

Spokespeople from SIRI did not provide a list of “current estimates of the expected case processing times for applications where a decision has not yet been made,” to use their statement’s language, in response to the Local’s request for a category-by-category breakdown.

There is some reason for hope since SIRI is back to full staffing levels after summer vacations, according to a SIRI call centre agent. And the agency has been “continuously…expanding the workforce of case handlers” since January, a spokesperson told the Local Denmark on August 13^th.