China ranks fourth for first-time Danish residence permits

Denmark granted almost 50,000 first residence permits to non-EU citizens in 2025.

Chinese citizens including Hong Kong received 2,685 permits.

This makes China the fourth largest nationality group.

Eurostat figures show study visas were the main reason for moving to Denmark.

Study permits made up 36.7 percent of all Danish permits.

Work permits ranked second with 32.4 percent.

Family reunification placed third at 25.6 percent.

The remaining permits were listed as other.

Across the EU, countries issued about 3.9 million first permits to non-EU citizens.

Work permits were the most common EU type at 33 percent.

Denmark differed from most EU countries.

Only Denmark, Ireland, and France issued study permits most often.

US citizens received the highest number of Danish permits at 8,712.

They made up 17.5 percent of the total.

Indian citizens placed second with 4,670 permits or 9.4 percent.

Nepalese citizens came third with 3,375 permits or 6.8 percent.

Chinese citizens ranked fourth with 5.4 percent.

Citizens of Bangladesh were fifth with 2,678 permits.

These statistics exclude EU citizens and protected Ukrainians.

(Source: The Local)