Danish Work Permit: Pay Limit Scheme Guide

Denmark’s government said on Monday it plans to reduce the minimum wage threshold on a key work permit scheme, potentially opening the labour market to a larger number of foreign workers from 16 non-EU countries.

A key element of the government proposal is that it will reduce the minimum salary of Denmark’s Pay Limit Scheme to grant work permits. 

Under the scheme, applicants can be granted a Danish work permit if they can present a job offer from a Danish company which meets a set minimum salary threshold.

The agreement will reduce this threshold from 514,000 kroner per year in salary to 300,000 kroner per year.

READ ALSO: Danish government confirms proposed changes to work permit rules

The 16 non-EU countries which will be eligible are the USA, the United Kingdom, Singapore, China, Japan, Australia, Canada, India, Brazil, Malaysia, Montenegro, Serbia, North Macedonia, Albania, Ukraine, and Moldova.

The proposal does not impact citizens of EU countries, because they are entitled to work in Denmark under the EU’s free movement provisions and therefore do not need a work permit.

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How do you apply for a Danish work permit through the Pay Limit Scheme?

While this article explains what the Pay Limit Scheme is and where to apply, it unfortunately doesn’t help with the hardest part: you need a job offer from a Danish employer.

But if you’ve applied for a job from abroad or within Denmark, or been offered a position in Denmark with your current employer, and now have a job offer in hand, the Pay Limit Scheme is your likely route to a work permit.

READ ALSO: ‘It all happened online’: How foreigners in Denmark got their jobs

You can apply for a residence and work permit via the Pay Limit Scheme if you have a job offer with a specified salary.

This salary would have to be high when set at the existing threshold of 514,000 kroner per year, but the proposed changes will make the scheme accessible at lower salaries.

It’s worth keeping in mind that several types of income may be considered when Danish authorities calculate what constitutes your salary, while certain supplement types may not be eligible.

READ ALSO: What counts as salary under Denmark’s work permit threshold?

The Pay Limit Scheme does not require you to be qualified within any specific field or have a specific educational background.

Several other criteria must be fulfilled, including a requirement that your salary be paid into a Danish bank account. This can be problematic because opening a bank account in Denmark usually requires a personal registration (CPR) number and a Danish address. 

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However, you have 180 days to open a Danish bank account from the time the work permit is granted if you don’t yet have one. More information can be found about this on the website of the Danish Agency for International Recruitment and Integration (SIRI), the agency which processes work permits.

Other requirements also apply under the existing Pay Limit Scheme which are likely to continue into the reformed version. These include a stipulation that the job offer doesn’t undercut Danish industry standards – the Danish authorities make an assessment of this as part of the procedure to process your application.

You must work at least 30 hours a week and you must also have the required Danish authorisations for applicable professions – such as doctors or nurses.

Application for the Pay Limit Scheme is online. You can find the portal here. You will be asked to submit the necessary documentation and pay a processing fee of 6,055 kroner. Processing time is relatively short at around one month, but can be extended if you are asked to submit additional documents.

A second Pay Limit Scheme, the “Supplementary Pay Limit Scheme”, has a lower salary threshold of 415,000 kroner annually, but this limit will also be reduced to 300,000 kroner under the new agreement.

Under this scheme, additional demands are made on the employer which do not apply on the regular scheme, notably in relation to the employer having attempted to fill the position through job ads on Danish and European job portals.

The application portal for this version of the scheme can be found here.