Childcare when moving to or within the City of Copenhagen

If you are moving to Copenhagen with a child younger than 3 years old, you should sign your child up on the waiting list for a day nursery or public childminder. The City of Copenhagen offers a childcare guarantee which ensures that your child will get a childcare offer within two months of signing your child up on the waiting list.

A number of places on the waiting lists in Copenhagen are reserved for new city residents. Your child can be added to the waiting list for public childcare from the date your move is registered at the Civil Registration Office.

As a newcomer to the City of Copenhagen  you can sign your child up on a waiting list for one of the reserved places (if a reserved place is still available on the waiting list for the childcare institution in question) and on another waiting list for a public childminder or day nursery where the normal waiting list rules apply. Pladsanvisningen can inform you about childcare institutions with short waiting lists.

If you would like to use the opportunity to sign your child up on the waiting list for one of the reserved places as a new resident, you must do so within 3 months of moving here.

If you are moving to the City of Copenhagen with a child older than 3 years, you should sign your child up on a waiting list for kindergarten.

If you move to the City of Copenhagen with a child aged 3-5 years, you can sign up on maximum 3 waiting lists for kindergarten. Your child can be added to the kindergarten waiting list from the date the move is registered at the Civil Registration Office and both you and your child have CPR numbers.

If you move to the City of Copenhagen, your child can get seniority from its 2nd birthday when you sign up your child on the waiting list for kindergarten within 3 months of moving here.  

Please note that you must call or send an email to Pladsanvisningen and inform us that you have moved within the last 3 months for your child to receive seniority from its 2 year birthday. You can get the 2 year seniority on a maximum of 3 kindergarten lists. This means that if you later regret your registrations and change them, your child will be placed on the waiting list with the new registration date on the new waiting lists.

In any case, the general waiting list secures your child a place in a kindergarten located a maximum of 4 kilometres from your home and within 3 months from the move-in date in The Civil Registration Office.

In order to be added to a waiting list for one of the reserved places when moving within the City of Copenhagen, the distance from your old home to your new home must be longer than 4 kilometres. Pladsanvisningen can tell you the status of reserved spots on the waiting list for individual childcare options. If you would like to sign your child up on a waiting list for one of the reserved places, you must do so within three months of moving.

If you move more than 4 kilometers within the City of Copenhagen, you can choose to keep your child’s current place in kindergarten or sign up for another kindergarten.

As an internal mover within the City of Copenhagen, your child can get seniority from its 2-year birthday when you sign up your child on the waiting list for kindergarten within 3 months of moving.  

Please note that you must call or send an email to Pladsanvisningen and inform them that you have moved within the last 3 months for your child to receive seniority from its 2-year birthday. You can get the 2 year seniority on a maximum of 3 kindergarten lists. This means that if you later regret your registrations and change them, your child will be placed on the waiting list with the new registration date on the new waiting lists.

In any case, the general waiting list secures your child a place in a childcare option located a maximum of 4 kilometres from your home and within 3 months from the move-in date with the Civil Registration Office. Children of kindergarten age must have received a place in a childcare service within 3 months from the arrival date with the Civil Registration Office.

You can also choose a general waiting list for kindergarten in your new district. If you chose to do this, your child will be secured a place through the general waiting list in childcare service located a maximum of 4 kilometres from your new home and no later than 3 months from the move-in date at the Civil Registration Office. Please contact Pladsanvisningen, if you want to use that opportunity.