Fre­em­over

A freemover is a student who studies at a foreign university outside of an exchange agreement. 

As a freemover, you typically need to plan everything about your semester abroad with limited support from the universities involved. 

You must be prepared to some time and energy to prepare your exchange stay and make sure that you obtain all relevant information for the process and your own university. 

We recommend that you start planning your freemover stay as early as possible - preferably up to a year in advance.

Requirements for being a freemover

You can come to CBS as a freemover if:

• you are a university student and your university is not a Danish university
• you do not attend a CBS partner university
• you do not have EU / EEA / Nordic citizenship
• the courses you take with us will be credited towards your degree at your own university
• you need 30 ECTS credits per semester and will take 30 ECTS at CBS

We will not be able to sign any Erasmus documents for freemovers such as learning agreement, arrival certificate, etc. as freemovers are not considered Erasmus students at CBS.

Who cannot apply as a freemover

You cannot be admitted as a freemover if:

• you are an EU, EEA, Swiss or Nordic national. You can apply as a single course student
• you are a student from a CBS partner university. You will only be accepted upon nomination by your home university and then you will be doing an Exchange at CBS

Freemovers are required to pay tuition fees for the courses they attend at CBS.

A full year is 60 ECTS credits; one semester is 30 ECTS credits. The fee is a flat fee and is not dependent upon the number of credits.

The fees for non-European nationals for the academic year 2025/2026 are: 

Cancellation policy

If you have paid for the coming semester, but withdraw from your stay before the first day of the welcome week, the tuition fee for the coming semester will be reimbursed. The tuition fee cannot be reimbursed if you withdraw after that.

The first day of the welcome week for the autumn 2025 is August 26 2025. 

Please note that a service fee might be retained by the bank(s) processing the reimbursement.

Application deadline

The application deadline is October 15 2025. 

Application portal

You apply in the application portal MoveOn 

Documentation

You will be asked to upload the following documentation when you apply:

• A letter from your home university stating you will get a credit transfer for the courses you take at CBS*
• A letter that prove proof of enrollment at your home university for the duration of the semester you want to spend with us*
• Color scan of your passport (photo page only)
• Your most recent university transcript with an explanation of the grading scale
• Proof of English proficiency: upload the result from one of the English proficiency tests below 

* Your university may combine these two declarations in one letter

English proficiency:

You will need to document English proficiency. CBS accepts the following English proficiency tests:

• CAE passed / Level C1 (Certificate in Advanced English, University of Cambridge ESOL examinations)
• CPE passed / Level C2 (Certificate of Proficiency in English, University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations)
• IELTS overall score of minimum 7.0
• Duolingo with a minimum score of 130
• TOEFL iBT score of minimum 94 - note that we do not accept the TOEFL ITP

Upload the result to your application.

Exeption: English university degree

If your university degree is taught entirely in English, you do not need to provide us with further proof of English proficiency. You only need to document that your degree is indeed taught entirely in English.

After we have assessed and accepted your application documents, we will send you an acceptance letter and residence permit application form. 

Non-European students must obtain their residence permit before entering Denmark. The Danish Agency for International Recruitment and Integration (SIRI) has a service goal of 2 months to reach a decision from the date they receive a fully completed application. I.e. if the student submits an incomplete application, the timer resets and the students should again expect 2 months before a decision is reached. Please note that if your citizenship allows you to travel visa-free to Denmark, you can choose to apply for the student residence permit after arrival to Denmark. Doing so will save you one of the application fees involved.

CBS has no influence over Danish diplomatic missions or SIRI, and we cannot speed up the process for any student who applies late. Therefore, it is extremely important that non-European students apply for their residence permits immediately upon receipt of the application form that they will receive from us via e-mail.
 

Non-European students must pay two application fees in connection with the residence permit application: one fee to the Danish diplomatic mission where they submit their application (the amount due depends on the consulate/embassy in question) and one fee to SIRI in Copenhagen who will process the application. If the students apply for the permit after arrival they only have to pay the fee to SIRI. For more information about the fee to SIRI, please see the Danish Immigration Service at nyidanmark.dk.