Country Update 2024: DENMARK

Contributed by: Helle Holm Thomsen (Holm/Thomsen Law)

May 2024

1. Legislative Changes

A political agreement was implemented to strengthen international recruitment in April 2023.

This led to a supplementary Pay Limit scheme which has revised the minimum salary threshold to DKK 375.00 (2023-level). This was to make the scheme available to job categories with a lower standard salary and to cover skilled workers and not only highly skilled workers (with a university degree). 

However, the supplementary Pay Limit scheme has additional requirements compared to the Pay Limit scheme because employers must demonstrate they have recruited through Jobnet and EURES, and the scheme is only applicable while the seasonally adjusted gross employment rate in Denmark remains below 3.75%. Further, the job offered cannot be encompassed by a legal labour conflict and the employee cannot have been fined under the Criminal Code or the Aliens Act.

In addition, the Fast-track certification requirements were eased, by lowering the requirement for the number of full-time employees from 20 to 10.

The Positive List was expanded with more job titles being added.

The Start-up Denmark scheme was expanded to include third-country nationals who already own a business outside Denmark and who seek to open a branch in Denmark, and who wish to relocate and work from Denmark.

Further, an effort was made to retain graduates who had completed their studies in Denmark. They will be eligible to seek employment and reside in Denmark for up to 3 years following the completion of their education.

On November 17, 2023, a new exemption for the requirement of work permits was introduced which allows the following group of people to enter Denmark to work without having to apply for a work permit:

The requirement to fall within the work permit exemption is as follows:

1. You must be employed in a company established abroad that is affiliated with a company established in Denmark,

2. The company established in Denmark must have a minimum of 50 employees,

3. You are allowed to work in Denmark up to 2 separate working periods, consisting of a maximum of 15 working days each within the span of 180 days,

4. The 2 periods of 15 days must be separated by a stay outside Denmark for a minimum duration of 14 days,

5. The scheme does not apply to the following industries; construction, agriculture, forestry and horticulture, cleaning (including window cleaning), hotel and catering, as well as carriage of goods by road – unless the foreigner in question is travelling to Denmark to carry out work at a management level or work requiring intermediate or higher-level knowledge.

2. Business Immigration

Expected changes to the rules related to the Pay Limit scheme. A yearly On March 20, 2024, a new legislative proposal was introduced which has three main focuses;

1. To ease the possibility of applying for an extension of the short term-track for certified companies under the fast-track scheme. It is still only possible to get a permission for 90 days a year; however, until now, if you had only applied for, e.g., 30 days and needed an extension, you would have to go through the entire procedure again. It is proposed to make the procedure for a prolonged stay more flexible.

2. To adjust the job change rule so one can maintain and continue the job even if the person needs to apply according to a different scheme without having changed his/her job or employer.

3. To adjust the requirement for a Danish bank account for the employees. For researchers and some of the tracks under the fast-track scheme the requirement for a Danish bank account will be abolished. For other schemes the bank account will not need to be in place until after 180 days instead of the current 90 days.

If the law proposal is adopted, it will enter into force on July 1, 2024.

3. Family based immigration

There have been no significant changes in the rules regarding family reunification.

However, on April 14, 2024, a new law proposal was launched that would ease the conditions for family reunification if adopted. If the law proposal is adopted, it will enter into force on July 1, 2024. 

The main point in the law proposal is:

1. Danish citizens living abroad wanting to return to Denmark with their third country spouses will be governed by the same rules applicable to third country nationals who gets a work permit in Denmark and apply for family reunification for their accompanying family members in certain situations. Today they must meet a full list of requirements to obtain family reunification compared to third country nationals who move to Denmark on a work permit visa and who are entitled to bring their spouses without any additional requirements. It is however a prerequisite that the returning Danish national has certain employment qualifications. An assessment will be made of whether the returning Danish national will meet the condition for obtaining a work permit after e.g. the Pay Limit scheme, the Positive List or the Fast-track scheme. 

2. The language requirement for the spouse in Denmark is adjusted; Today, as a general rule, it is a requirement that the spouse in Denmark has passed a test in Danish 3 or a similar test at the same or at a higher level. If the law is adopted, it will be possible to meet the Danish language requirement in two ways, either

✔  By passing the Danish test – Danish 3 or equivalent or higher, or

✔  By being in ordinary full-time employment for at least 5 years or as self-employed business owner in Denmark with significant communication in Danish.

It will still be possible to obtain exemption if Denmark's international obligations require it.

3. It is a requirement for family reunification to post collateral in form of a financial guarantee. The requirement for collateral is halved.

   Today, a financial guarantee of DKK 113,823.30 must be provided. This will be reduced to DKK 57,000 (2024 level) if the law is adopted.

   The guarantee will still be reduced in the same way as today if the spouse (the applicant), after being granted a residence permit in Denmark, passes a series of Danish tests within a specified deadline.

Further, another important adjustment of practice was launched in October 2022 due to the EU court’s ruling of 5 May 2022, in the joined cases C-451/19 and C-532/19, XU and QP. In the ruling it was stated that  a third-country national, as a parent of a minor EU citizen, must exceptionally be granted a residence permit under Article 20 TFEU, if there is a dependency relationship between the minor EU citizen and the third-country national that, upon denial of residency, would require the child to leave the EU with the third-country national.

As a result of the ruling, the Immigration Service has launched a new application form for third-country nationals who are parents to a minor child who is a Danish citizen. If the requirement is met as listed above from the ruling the third-country national will be granted a residence permit in Denmark due to their Danish minor child. No further requirements are needed.  

4. Asylum

As mentioned above the number of asylum seekers and granted residence permit in Denmark since 2015 has declined by 87 %.

This is due to different circumstances. 

The Afghans who assisted the Danish authorities in Afghanistan were given residency under a temporary special act and not as asylum seekers. The same applies for the Ukrainians who have also been granted temporary protection according to a special act. 

Within the two groups some have applied for asylum later on. Many Afghans have been granted asylum.

For the Ukrainians this is still to be seen. The Refugee Appeals Board temporarily halted the processing of asylum cases involving Ukrainians on February 24, 2022. With 6 pending cases, the suspension was implemented to monitor and assess the situation in Ukraine. On October 12, 2023, the Board determined, however, that there was no immediate likelihood of resolution and ended the suspension. They instructed the Immigration Service to reevaluate the 6 cases as initial applications and reopen any suspended cases for further review. There are around 750 pending cases at the Immigration Service which will be evaluated in the near future. The decisions have most likely been put on hold to wait for the joint COI report by the Danish Immigration Service and The Danish Refugee Council which has just been completed. 

The numbers of other nationalities entering and applying for asylum in Denmark are still low. This is most likely due to the withdrawal of Syrian national’s residence permits, as well as Denmark’s legislation on extraterritorial asylum and ongoing negotiations with Rwanda and the EU for solutions.  

5. Deportation

There has been a number of cases against Denmark regarding deportation of third-country nationals with a criminal record. This is due to an adjustment of practice concerning third-country nationals who have committed crimes. As a general rule third-country nationals will be expelled from Denmark unless if it is considered to be against our international obligations. This has led to testing the boundaries of our international obligations. 

As a result, many have filed a complaint to the ECHR. Many of the Danish court decisions have been approved, but not all of them and especially the length of the entry ban has been considered to be a violation of article 8.  

6. Citizenship

The last regulation on the requirement for obtaining Danish citizenship was adopted in 2021. No significant changes have been made since.