What's it like crossing the border between Sweden and Denmark?

At 6am, the Swedish Öresundståg train bound for Copenhagen was certainly less crowded than normal times, but there were still a surprising number of people making the crossing. 

 

My fellow travellers, most but not all regular commuters, agreed that moving between Sweden and Denmark in the age of coronavirus border closures, was easier than you might think. 

 

I had equipped myself with my Swedish Union of Journalists press card, and a letter from a British newspaper saying I had to do an interview in Copenhagen, which underlined the fact that this interview could not have been done remotely. 

 

Journalist colleagues in Malmö said they had been able to cross by simply flashing their press card, although they said they had also heard stories of journalists being refused entry. 

 

As the train whistled across the Øresund Bridge, it felt strange that this journey, which I would normally do on a near weekly basis, was now something that could be difficult or challenging. Malmö, which has sometimes almost become a suburb of Copenhagen, is now very much in a different country. 

 

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When the train arrived at the platform at Copenhagen Airport, the influence of the border controls put in place during the 2015 refugee crisis was clear -- although now the system works in reverse, with the border controls on the trip into rather than out of Denmark. 

 

 

To leave the platform and enter the airport, foreign citizens need to go through a set a border controls. 

 

I smiled at the guard, and showed him my press card. 

 

He asked what I was doing. I said I was doing a story on Danish schools, and he waved me through with no further questions. He didn't ask to see a letter from my employer, or from the school, or make any calls to check my claims.

 

It seems a press card is all you need to enter Denmark, no questions asked, and I imagine the same might go for any business person saying they needed to meet a supplier, or inspect some goods, or sign a contract in person.   

 

I then had to go up the escalator, and down again to the other side of the platform, where the same train I had arrived on then  moved up to meet us. 

 

Danish citizens had to show their ID at another set of controls on the platform itself, and then could then just walk a few metres to the other end. 

 

Commuters say that you need to show your passport and employment contract in Denmark. 

 

The biggest problem, they say, is that there are now only two trains from Sweden to Denmark in the morning, and only one back in the evening, meaning that if you miss one, you face a long wait.