About the Danish National ID Centre

The Danish National ID Centre is an independent administrative body, but organizationally a part of the Danish Return Agency under the Ministry of Immigration and Integration. The centre was established by law on 1 January 2018 with the support of a unanimous Danish Parliament.

The primary task of the Danish National ID Centre is to advise and assist Danish authorities regarding questions of identity determination and ID control of foreign nationals.

This task is performed using, among other things, technical examinations of affected documents in the centre’s forensic laboratory and through analyses of falsification trends and other ID-related issues.

The Danish National ID Centre also has a biometric unit, whose task is to assist and advise the Danish immigration authorities with complex identity resolution cases by conducting fingerprint identification and facial image comparison at the forensic level.

The centre plays a central role in securing that falsification trends and risk assessments related to relevant foreign countries are processed and assessed before being made available to relevant Danish authorities. One of the primary tasks of the Danish National ID Centre is to coordinate the overall cooperation among the Danish authorities within the ID area.

Furthermore, the Danish National ID Centre provides ID training and basic training in facial comparison for relevant Danish authorities in order to provide authorities with the necessary level of competences.

The Danish National ID Centre also has an expert team, which provides technical support to Danish diplomatic missions and underpins the missions’ capacities within the area of security and control related to ID documents. The objective is to strengthen the identity determination and the control of ID documents of foreign nationals through technical support and through ID training.

The Danish National ID Centre has posted an ID-attaché at the Danish embassy in Ankara. The ID-attaché is tasked with supporting the embassy by verifying the identity of foreign citizens applying for a visa or a residence permit to Denmark. Simultaneously, the ID-attaché has established and maintains an international network of ID experts to share information and experiences regarding ID documents and trends of misuse in the region with the Danish immigration authorities.

Furthermore, a specific task of the Danish National ID Centre is to assess and recommend for the decision of the Minister of Immigration and Integration whether passports and other travel documents issued by foreign countries are considered valid for entry into Denmark.

As part of the overall objectives of the Danish National ID Centre, the centre also takes part in a number of national and international ID networks and the centre collaborates with corresponding authorities in other countries.

You can read more about the centre’s tasks etc. in the legislative works (only available in Danish) concerning the establishment of the Danish National ID Centre as well as on the other pages of this website.

Danish authorities who may request examination of ID documents

The list of national authorities who can get documents examined by the Danish National ID Centre is determined by the Minister of Immigration and Integration. The written statements provided by the Danish National ID Centre upon examining the authenticity of ID documents are not administrative rulings in themselves, but provides factual information contributing to the basis on which Danish authorities determine and provides rulings on cases within their areas of responsibility.

The public authorities covered under Danish legislation  dated 5 January , 2022, which the National ID-center must serve are:

• The Appeal Board
• The Agency of Family Law
• The Danish Refugee Appeals Board
• The Danish Return Agency
• The Ministry of Justice
• The Danish Police
• The Danish Agency for International Recruitment and Integration (SIRI)
• The Ministry of Foreign Affairs 
• The Ministry of Immigration and Integration
• The Immigration Appeals Board
• The Danish Immigration Service

Other than that, employees who conduct personal registration in following authorities are covered:

• ATP
• The Ministry of Ecclesiastical Affairs
• The Danish Tax Agency
• The Municipalities
• The Danish Agency for Education and Research

The Reference Group

The Reference Group is responsible for determining the overall strategy, priorities and focus areas as well as guidelines for the long-term performance and development of the Danish National ID Centre.

The Reference Group consists of members from the public authorities that are covered by the services of The Danish National ID Centre.

The member from the Ministry of Immigration and Integration chairs the Reference Group. The remaining members are appointed by the Ministry of Immigration and Integration upon recommendation from the authorities represented in the Reference Group.

The head of the Danish National ID Centre participates in the meetings of the Reference Group.

Members of staff

The Danish National ID Centre consists of 35 employees, including the head and deputy head of the Danish National ID Centre and a chief consultant.

Annual report

The Danish National ID Centre submits an annual report concerning its activities to the Minister of Immigration and Integration. The annual reports are also publicly available on the homepage in Danish.

Processing of personal information

The Danish National ID Centre has developed a series of guides concerning how the Centre processes personal data. The guides can be accessed via the following link: Processing of personal data by the Danish National ID Centre