Labour Market Attachment

You must have had legal, and continual and unsupported employment with the same employer for at least 2 years, with your salary and terms of employment corresponding to the Danish standards. 

As a rule, this also means that you must have been employed full time (which normally corresponds to 37 hours per week) within the last 2 years. 

However, there may be job positions within certain industries, where an employment of less than 37 hours per week corresponds to a full time employment.

If at any point SIRI suspects that your salary and terms of employment may not have corresponded to the Danish standards within the last 2 years, we may ask professionals who are experts within the industry, to assess your terms of employment. This may be professionals or experts from the Regional Labour Market Council.

It does not make a difference whether or not the nature of your employment has changed, e.g. changed from a job at a warehouse to a job in the production facilities.

The company must not have received state/municipal wage subsidies for employing you. This means that your company must not have received state/municipal wage subsidies to supplement your salary, as stated by the Active Employment Policy Act (lov om en aktiv beskæftigelsesindsats). 

If your employment, eg. a course in the Integrational Education (IGU), has not been subsidised by the state or municipality. this counts towards the 2-year requirement. 

If you have been employed as an apprentice, this also counts towards the 2-year requirement. 

However, it is a requirement for you to have been employed at a company with a salary and terms of employment corresponding to the Danish standards, at the time of submitting the application.

You must be able to provide documentation proving that you have been employed with the same employer for a minimum of 2 years, e.g. via an employment contract, pay slips or an annual account.

You must have a valid contract, and your salary and terms of employment must correspond to the Danish standards.

This means that your salary and terms of employment must not be inferior to the standards within the professional field in which you work. This also means that you must work full time (which normally corresponds to 37 hours per week).

You can read more about Danish standards for salary and terms of employment here

However, there may be job positions within certain industries, where an employment of less than 37 hours per week corresponds to a full time employment.

If your terms of employment has changed within the last 2 years, you must also attach any supplements or updated versions of any employment contracts.

You can see what information the employment contract has to contain, here

You must be able to provide a valid authorization if your job requires it, e.g. if you work as a doctor or a nurse.

If at any point SIRI suspects that your salary and terms of employment may not correspond to the Danish standards, we may ask professionals who are experts within the industry, to assess your terms of employment. This may be professionals or experts from the Regional Labour Market Council.

Your previous residence permit must not have been revoked or an extension refused due to you giving wrongful information concerning conditions relevant to the residence permit.

Your previous residence permit must not have been revoked or an extension refused due to you receiving public benefits for your financial support in contradiction to the conditions that apply to your residence permit.

Your salary must be paid into a Danish bank account in your own name, and the bank has to be operating legally in Denmark.

It is not a requirement that the salary which is paid into your Danish bank account is transferred from a Danish bank account.

You must contact a bank yourself, in order to create a Danish bank account. There are no immediate restrictions concerning the type of bank account.

If you have not yet received a Danish address or CPR number and you are experiencing diffuclties creating a Danish bank account, in order to find out what options you have in terms of creating a basic payment account, you can read more on www.basalbetalingskonto.dk (opens in a new window)

Your Danish bank account must be opened within 180 days of your residence and work permit being granted. If you enter Denmark after you have been granted a residence and work permit, you must open a Danish bank account within 180 days from your entry into Denmark. If you already hold a Danish residence permit that is valid for at least 180 days, your salary must be paid into your Danish bank account from your first salary payment.

Read more about having your salary paid into a Danish bank account

Your salary can only consist of:
•Salary in the form of liquid assets
•Payments to labour market pension schemes
•Paid holiday allowance

Only paid holiday allowance from the employer whom you are currently allowed to work for can be counted as part of your salary. 

If you earn holiday allowance paid to you in the following holiday year, the holiday allowance cannot be counted as a part the annual salary of the year in which you earned the holiday allowance. 

Salary components like the following cannot be taken into account when assessing the wage level:
•Paid living and housing expenses
•Per diems
•Free use of car
•Paid phone
•Paid internet
•Benefits-in-kind
•Subscriptions
•Other services offered to you by your employer.

The list is not complete.

You are only allowed to work in the job, for which you have been granted a permit.

If you are offered a new job, you must apply for a new permit under another scheme. This also applies if you are offered a new position in the same company.

If you are offered a new job within the same professional field and hold a permit under the Labout Market Attachment Scheme, you can apply for a new permit under the Job Change within the same Professional Field Scheme.

If you change your job, your permit based on labour market attachment will be revoked. If you wish to remain in Denmark, you must apply for a new permit based on the Job Change within the same Professional Field Scheme or based on one of the other existing schemes, e.g. the Pay Limit Scheme.

If you are offered sideline employment, you must apply for a specific work permit for this.

Read more about sideline employment here

Please note that a Danish residence and work permit does not grant you the right to work in other Schengen countries.

Read more about Schengen here

A residence and work permit allows you to stay in Denmark for the period of time your permit is valid.

In addition, a permit allows you to stay in the Schengen area for up to 90 days within the latest 180 days period. The permit, however, does not allow you to work in other Schengen countries.

You must not give up your Danish address or stay abroad for longer than 6 successive months. A violation will result in the lapse of your permit. This means that you will lose your right to stay in Denmark.

If you need to stay abroad for an extended period of time, e.g. if you are stationed abroad for a period of time by your employer, you can apply for a dispensation to prevent your permit from lapsing. 

Read more about permit lapse and about how you can apply for a dispensation here

You must be able to support yourself and your family during your stay. You are not allowed to receive benefits under the terms of the Active Social Policy Act, e.g. social security benefits.

If you or your family members receive such benefits during your stay, your permit can be revoked – and you will lose the right to stay in Denmark.

If an authority, e.g. a municipality, disburses benefits to foreign nationals, SIRI will be notified.

You can see a list of benefits that you are not allowed to receive here

With a residence permit in Denmark, you are entitled to free Danish lessons. However, you must have turned 18 years and have your Danish address registered in the Danish National Register.

If you have a residence permit in Denmark based on work, study, etc. you have to pay a deposit before you can start receiving lessons. Be aware that you can lose your deposit if you do not pass the different modules within a specific timeframe.

Your municipality of residence is obliged to offer you Danish lessons and refer you to a language centre. If you have not been offered Danish lessons within a month after registering your address in Denmark, you can contact your municipality.

You will (typically) be taught together with other foreign nationals who have arrived in Denmark recently.

You can be granted a residence and work permit for up to 2 years at a time and after 2 years for up to 4 years at a time. If your employment is shorter than 2 years, you cannot be granted a permit for longer than the duration of your employment contract.

It is very important that you apply for an extension before your permit expires.

If you submit your application for an extension in time, you can stay in Denmark and continue to work while we process your application even though your permit is expiring.

If you find a new job while you are holding your current job, you must submit an application for a new residence and work permit with information on the new job.

With a new job you can no longer apply after the Labour Market Attachment Scheme. You must therefore submit an application based on one of SIRI's other work schemes. If you change to a job within the same professional field, you can apply for a new residence permit based on job change within the same professional field.

You are not allowed to begin working before you have been granted a new permit.

If you have been offered a new job with the same or improved salary and terms of employment within the same professional field, you can submit an application for a new residence and work permit with information on the new job.

A residence and work permit granted based on job change within the same professional field will grant you the same rights and the same duration as a permit after the Labour Market Attachment Scheme.