Folk high schools
Residency route facts
Identity
| Official name (local) | Højskoleophold as of 2026-08-22[1] Heading of the Danish-language edition of this route's own page on nyidanmark.dk, transcribed as published. The Aliens Act enumerates the grounds by section number and gives the permits no names of their own, so the authority's published Danish heading is the local name. |
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| Official name (English) | Folk high schools as of 2026-07-01[1] |
| Legal basis | Udlaendingeloven (Aliens Act), LBK nr 1183 of 25 September 2025, section 9 i(1), first sentence, with the category confirmed by section 9 i(15)(3) as of 2026-08-22[1][2] Section 9 i(1) is the general education permit: admission to a programme or course at an educational institution in Denmark. Section 9 i(15)(3) places courses at folk high schools approved under the Folk High Schools Act and the Continuation Schools and Independent Vocational Schools Act, run without subsidy under those Acts, inside subsection 1. Danish text: “§ 9 i. Der kan efter ansøgning gives opholdstilladelse til en udlænding med henblik på uddannelse, hvis den pågældende er optaget på en uddannelse eller et kursus ved en uddannelsesinstitution her i landet.” and “Stk. 15. … 3) Kurser på folkehøjskoler m.v. godkendt efter lov om folkehøjskoler og lov om efterskoler og frie fagskoler, som gennemføres uden tilskud efter loven.” |
| Instrument type | residence permit as of 2026-07-01[1] |
Permit terms
| Initial duration | Not applicable[1] The duration of the stay at the folk high school, provided the holder participates actively in the course. No number: the term is the course's. |
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| How the initial term is set | matches the course |
| Renewable | Yes as of 2026-07-01[1] |
| Maximum total duration | up to 18 months as of 2026-07-01[1] A maximum of 18 months in total as a course participant at a folk high school in Denmark, whether at one school or several. |
| Work rights | none as of 2026-07-01[1] As a rule the holder must not work. Unpaid voluntary work is permitted without a work permit. Unlike the basic and youth programmes, this page describes no route to a work permit in special cases. |
Permanent residence and citizenship
| Counts toward permanent residence | Yes as of 2026-07-07[1][3] The Immigration Service's permanent-residence page counts eight years' uninterrupted legal residence held throughout on a permit under Aliens Act sections 7-9 f, 9 i-9 n, 9 p or 9 q (1) or (2), and this permit is granted under section 9 i, inside that range – so the residence counts. Two qualifications the same page states: education, including internships and other work forming part of a programme, is expressly excluded from both the regular-employment and the employed limbs of the separate employment requirements; and no source retrieved states whether study time counts in full, in part or not at all towards the naturalisation clock, which the Ministry of Immigration and Integration administers separately. citizenship_counting_factor is therefore omitted rather than guessed. Recorded on the same reasoning as the other study routes, with the same caveat that this route's own provision could not be identified. Collaterally, the permanent-residence page names participation in a folk high school stay as documentation that can satisfy the active-citizenship supplementary requirement – a different point, and one that concerns the applicant's activity rather than this permit. |
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Requirements
| Enrolment status required | enrolled as of 2026-07-01[1] Enrolment in a course at an approved folk high school. The school must be covered by Danish legislation on folk high schools, continuation schools, housekeeping schools and needlecraft schools, and must be state approved and monitored by the Danish Ministry of Culture. The principal signs a statement that the course is eligible for state subsidies; where it is not, the school must supply an informative statement from the Danish Evaluation Institute about the course. |
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| Means requirement | DKK 7,426 per month as of 2026-07-01[1] DKK 7,426 (2026 level) per month, multiplied by the months of the stay. No 12-month cap is stated on this page, unlike the other three study routes. The requirement falls away entirely where the fee paid to the folk high school covers tuition, food and accommodation. |
Process
| Where to apply from | either as of 2026-07-01[1] Application ST1, in two parts, with a sworn declaration from the school principal in the school's part. |
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| Observed processing time | 2 to 3 months as of 2026-07-01[1] |
| Fees |
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Physical presence
| maximum consecutive absence | 6 months · to keep the permit as of 2026-07-01[1] SIRI states the standard Danish lapse rule for this permit: the holder must not give up their Danish address or stay abroad for more than 6 successive months, and a breach makes the permit lapse. A dispensation can be applied for in advance. |
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Your next step
Read the requirements above considering your own situation: the income multiple, the absence limits, who you can bring. Check the country record for the reference figure those amounts are calculated from, and for anything that has changed recently.
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Verification
| Sources cited | 3 |
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| of which official (tier 1) | 3 |
| Oldest as-of date | 2026-07-01 |
| Newest as-of date | 2026-08-22 |
| Reviewed on | 2026-08-22 |
| Schema version | 1.1 |
Sources
- [1] Folk high schools
Danish Agency for International Recruitment and Integration (SIRI) · official portal · Tier 1 · Published 2026-07-01 · Accessed 2026-08-20 - [2] Bekendtgoerelse af udlaendingeloven (Aliens Act, consolidated), LBK nr 1183 af 25/09/2025
Udlaendinge- og Integrationsministeriet / Retsinformation · statute · Tier 1 · Published 2025-09-25 · Accessed 2026-08-22 - [3] Apply for a permanent residence permit
The Danish Immigration Service · official portal · Tier 1 · Published 2026-07-07 · Accessed 2026-08-19