Driving in Denmark - How to Exchange Your License

11 YEARS LATER - more than a decade after moving to Denmark - I finally exchanged my Argentinean driver’s license to a Danish one.

It took this long because the exchange process is a mess: it’s long, complicated, and - in my case - even impacted by the COVID lockdowns.

In this video, I’ll tell you everything you need to know about getting your own Danish driver’s license with excruciating detail.

Just note - this video is for exchanges only. If you don’t have a license at all, this is not fully relevant to you.

The Basics

• If you live permanently in Denmark, you need to have a Danish driver’s license. Technically, you can drive with your foreign license in Denmark for the first 180 days after you moved in. But, after that, you need to convert your old license into a Danish one.
• There’s one exception here - and that’s if you’ve an EU Country + Iceland & Norway driver’s license that was issued before you moved in. Everyone else needs to exchange the one from their home country into a Danish one.

The process, then, can go from easy to incredibly complicated depending on where your license was issued. There are the easy countries and the hard countries.

“Easy” Countries

This includes:

• Australia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Israel Japan, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Russia, Serbia, Switzerland, South Korea, Taiwan, Ukraine, Australia, USA and the UK

If you’ve a license issued by any of these countries, you’re good - you can go through the fast-track approach. Not as fast as with EU countries, but fast enough.

Just Note - this is about the country the license was issued, not your country of citizenship. If you’re from Senegal - that’s not on this list - but have a Serbian license, you’re good.

So, in this case you can exchange your license to a Danish one with minimal hassle - though the process can take time. You need to show up in the Citizen Service with:

• Your foreign driving license - which, again, must have been first issued before you moved to Denmark
• A valid passport
• A valid photo
• Your CPR Card, or Residence Permit
• A medical certificate from your doctor. You will receive it in a closed envelope, which must be unopened when you hand it in at Citizen Service. The certificate must be less than six months old. You arrange this with your doctor, but it’s usually a 10 minute check or so, that can cost up to 500 kr.
• If your driving license is not written in the Latin alphabet, bring a Danish, English or French translation of the driving license. The translation must have been made by a public authority in the issuing country or by the country’s embassy/consulate in Denmark.

…and that’s it. You’ll pay (as of today) 280 kr and that’s it.

If you have stayed in Denmark for less than 180 days when you come to Citizen Service, you can get a temporary Danish driving license. The license is valid in the Scandinavian countries, and you can use it while we process your application.

The whole process can take up from a few weeks to a few months to over a year. That’s because the police needs to verify the authenticity of your original license.

That’s kind of a black box process, and again it varies extremely from person to person. In my case it took a few months. I know some cases where it took almost a year.

The “Not Easy Countries”

If your license is NOT issued by an EU Country, or any of the “Easy” Countries it’s more complicated.

You need to do ALL of the above, but as well pass two driving exams - theory and practice. This is a pain and can be expensive.

If you’ve applied for the exchange within the first six months you moved to Denmark, you’ll get a temporary license while you’re doing these tests. It’s the same license I told you about before and only applicable for the Scandinavian countries.

(Just note, there’s a six months limit here - if you take too long to do the tests, you won’t be able to renew the temporary license. So better to move fast.)

Theory Exam

• The theory exam is hard. You can wing it: you need to study well for it.
• The main motivation here is that the first time you try is free - or it’s “included” in that 280 kr exchange fee, but if you fail, any new attempt will cost you 890 kr.
• It’s 25 questions, all multiple choice, and you pass if you get 20 of them correct. They’re playing a video in the background, and you’re asked to one question at a time. No repetitions, so you need to be fast.
• The questions can be tricky: it’s not like 1 + 1 always equals 2, or stuff like that. You need to study exams to know exactly what they’re looking for. It’s always a picture and then in many questions you’ll be asked what to be “especially aware of”.
• Personally, I prepared with Prove.dk: I did all their video lessons and then like dozens of exams. I listed down all the special questions in a file and used that study. Examples of my notes were:
  • If a firetruck, etc. has blue lights on/blinking - be aware of pedestrians, as a fireman could suddenly come running out.
  • If a car is overtaking on a wide road but with checked line markings you should be "particularly aware" of it.
  • Keep an eye for brake lights in the motorway/merging type of questions - When traffic in front brake then you also need to brake too.
  • Lots of stuff like that…
• It’s also hard to get a time for the exam. (At least for me!). Especially if you want to do it in English - which I obviously recommend.
• You get the pass/fail note in the moment. I passed on my first try but barely, I think I had four mistakes.

Practice Exam

• The practice exam is, in short, you driving around the streets, highways and all that for 30 to 50 minutes with the examiner sitting to your right. The examiner will tell you: go here, go there, now do this, park, do a U-turn, etc.
• If you know how to drive already - as I did - it’s not complicated, BUT you must be well aware of being sharp on the few things the examiners care about.
  • Here, a concrete example is that in Denmark they’re obsessed on you not only looking at your mirrors when changing lanes or turning, but also doing this “blind spot” check which you need to be quite exaggerated in the exam.
  • Then, of course, be super careful with the traffic signs, speed limits (like, go lower if you’re at a school area, etc.)
• For MOST People, I recommend you take 2-3 classes with an instructor before doing the exam. I did that myself, and, again, not because I needed to learn to drive, but because the teacher will help you prepare for the exam:
  • They’ll take you driving through the same area you’ll have the exam - so you’ll be sharp on where all the signs are, what the examiners are looking
  • They’ll call you out when you make even small mistakes and help you correct.
  • For example, I learned that if you go too slow in the highway, you’re going to fail - and too slow was kind of not much under the speed limit. Things like this.
  • They’ll also help you prepare for some “technical questions” you’re asked before the exam kicks off - this can be things such as checking the oil, if the breaks work, etc.
• The driving school will also loan you the car for the exam as well. Kind-of crucial.
• So - The practical exam will cost you up to 1500 kr, and more if you need a translator (which as far as I remember, is obligatory even if you speak Danish). So it can be up to 2000 kr each time.
• SO - Better to pass on the first time. The driving lessons would normally cost you around 500 kr for 45 mins or so. Ask the instructor if he/she thinks you’re ready. In my case I thought I would be fine with one class but ended up taking three.

Once You Pass

You’ll get the pass/fail feedback in the spot. If you passed, you’ll right then and there get a temporary license (again, only for Scandinavia) and will get the definitive one via post in around a month (plus minus a couple of weeks, depending on the time of the year).

I procrastinated on this so much because I never needed to drive in Denmark, and then because I was hoping that Argentina would be included in the list, but that never happened and with kids thought like, hey, better get this sorted out.

Hope this is helpful. I’ll also share the link to the driving school I used in the video description. The teacher was extremely helpful and it was a good car and I can recommend him for this.