Permanent residence - Regular full-time employment

Working as a self-employed can be part of the assessment of whether you meet the basic employment requirement.

You must document that the work as self-employed carries the weight equivalent of a full-time employment with an average of at least 30 hours per week. This corresponds to at least 120 hours per month. You must also document that the work can be characterized as main occupation in order to become self-sufficient. Furthermore, you must report the business' profit/loss and legally required VAT returns to the tax authorities.

In order to assess the scope of your work as self-employed and if the work can be characterized as main occupation in order to become self-sufficient, you must describe in the application:

• your work effort in the company,
• the type and size of the company including what services the company offers and the prices of these services, and
• the turnover, opening hours and customer base of the company.

As documentation for your self-employment you must attach the following to your application:

• Documentation for the ownership of the company via registration certificates from the tax authorities regarding CVR number, VAT liability and withholding obligation.
• Specified VAT registrations for the entire period, e.g. receipts from the tax authorities for registration of VAT.
• Signed annual accounts for the entire period that specify the turnover. If your annual accounts include a declaration from an accountant, the accountant must also sign.
• Preliminary accounting or another inventory of the company’s turnover in the current year, e.g. a balance sheet. The documentation must be signed.
• Annual tax returns from the Danish Tax Agency for the entire period.

Employment in your spouse's self-employed business may be taken into account when assessing whether you meet the employment requirement. This may be the case, for example, if you:

• are employed in your spouse's business,
• are an assisting spouse, or
• run the business jointly with your spouse.

You must have worked full-time. Full-time employment means employment in Denmark with an average working time of at least 30 hours per week. This corresponds to at least 120 hours per month.

To be taken into account, the income from the work must also be taxable.

Employment in your spouse's business

Your employment in your spouse's business may be taken into account as employment if the work:

• is not subsidised by public funds, for example through a wage subsidy scheme, and
• is paid in accordance with the applicable collective agreement or carried out under ordinary salary and employment conditions.

As documentation of your employment in your spouse's business, you may, for example, submit:

• your employment contract,
• your payslips.

Assisting spouse

Your work as an assisting spouse in your spouse's business may be taken into account as employment if the work is taxable and is of an extent comparable to ordinary paid employment.

As documentation of your work as an assisting spouse, you must submit:

• a description of your work tasks and your contribution to the business,
• itemised VAT returns for the entire period, for example receipts from the tax authorities confirming submission of VAT returns,
• the annual financial statements of the business showing that profits have been transferred to you as income as an assisting spouse. The annual financial statements must be signed by the owner of the business. If the annual financial statements include an auditor's report, the business's auditor must also sign them,
• your annual tax assessments from the Danish Tax Agency showing that you are registered as an assisting spouse.

Joint operation of the business

If you and your spouse run the business jointly, the work may be taken into account if you freely allocate the profits of the business between yourselves and you can demonstrate that you have worked full-time in the business.

As documentation of your work, you must submit:

• a description of your work tasks and your contribution to the business,
• itemised VAT returns for the entire period, for example receipts from the tax authorities confirming submission of VAT returns,
• the annual financial statements of the business. The annual financial statements must be signed by the owner of the business. If both you and your spouse own the business, both of you must sign them. If the annual financial statements include an auditor's report, the business's auditor must also sign them,
• your annual tax assessments from the Danish Tax Agency.

Employment with platform companies and similar businesses, for example Wolt, may be taken into account when assessing whether you meet the employment requirement, provided that you have worked full-time. Full-time employment means employment in Denmark with an average working time of at least 30 hours per week. This corresponds to at least 120 hours per month.

If you worked as a courier partner for Wolt before 1 June 2023, the work is regarded as self-employment.

You can read more about how we assess self-employment under "Work as a self-employed". There you can also find information about the documentation you must submit.

If you worked as a courier partner for Wolt after 31 May 2023, you are considered to have been employed as an employee.

As documentation of your employment, you must submit:

• your contract/courier partner agreement with Wolt,
• your payslips.

When assessing your work as a courier partner for Wolt, we use the minimum hourly wage published on Wolt's website as the basis for our assessment.

If you have cared for a disabled child, a seriously ill child or a critically ill family member for a period of time where you received or were qualified for receiving financial support this period can in some cases be taken into consideration when calculating whether the employment requirement is met.

The period only qualifies if it is within the last 4 years or 4 years and 6 months prior to the time when the permanent residence is granted, and if you can document that you have received or were qualified for receiving financial support according to the Social Service Act (lov om social service) or Parental Leave Act (barselsloven), equivalent to at least 30 hours per week.

In order to document that you have received financial support or were eligible to do so, you will be asked to enclose a letter with the municipality’s decision that indicates that you have received assistance. If you have not received financial support but could have received support, you must enclose a statement from the municipality indicating that you could have received financial support.

Periods of absence due to illness, holiday, care days and parental leave may be counted as ordinary employment, provided they fall within the scope of your employment contract. Below is a detailed explanation of what is meant by within the scope of the employment contract.

Illness

If you have been absent from work due to illness, the period of illness may be included, provided that you were employed by the same employer during the entire period of illness. It is a condition that the employment was full-time (a minimum of 120 hours per month).

Parental leave

If you have taken parental leave, the period of leave may be included if you worked full-time (a minimum of 120 hours per month) both before and after the leave.
If you were in full-time employment at the beginning of your parental leave but were dismissed during the leave, the entire period of parental leave may be included, provided that you begin a new full-time employment immediately upon completion of your parental leave.

If you do not begin a new full-time employment immediately after the end of your parental leave, only the period from the beginning of the parental leave until the expiry of the notice period may be included. The period after the expiry of the notice period cannot be included, as you did not return to full-time employment upon completion of the parental leave.

If you resign from your employment while on parental leave, the leave period may only be included if you begin a new employment immediately upon completion of your parental leave.

If you do not begin a new full-time employment immediately after the end of your parental leave, only the period from the start of the parental leave until the date on which you leave your position may be counted within the employment requirement. The period from the date of resignation until the end of the parental leave cannot be included unless you enter into new full-time employment immediately, as described above.

Holiday

If, for example, you are employed on an hourly basis and have taken holiday, resulting in you not working full-time (a minimum of 120 hours per month), the holiday period may be included if the holiday was taken while you were in full-time employment.

Care Days

If you have taken care days (omsorgsdage) and therefore have not worked full-time (a minimum of 120 hours per month), the care days may be included if they were taken while you were in full-time employment.

Employment abroad can be counted towards fulfilling the employment requirement if, as part of the employment in Denmark, you were stationed or deployed abroad. That means that you are employed in a Danish company but you have been deployed to solve a task or work abroad.

It is a requirement that the employer in Denmark is:

• a Danish public authority,
• a private company,
• a non-governmental organisation, or
• a foreign or Danish aid agency.

A Danish public authority should be understood to mean a state, regional or municipal institution.

When being stationed abroad for a private company it is a requirement that the organisation has a certain size. This means that the private company must have an average of at least 10 employees over a 12-month period. In the calculation all the employees must be taken into account without regards to the working hours.

Persons who are employed with public subsidies and persons who are employed under an employment agreement that is concluded for a specific task or time period cannot be included when calculating the number of employees.

When being stationed abroad for a non-governmental organisation it is a requirement that the organisation has a certain size. This means that the organization must have an average of at least 10 employees over a 12-month period. In the calculation all the employees must be taken into account without regards to the working hours. Persons who are employed with public subsidies and persons who are employed under an employment agreement that is concluded for a specific task or time period cannot be included when calculating the number of employees.

Furthermore, the organisation must work for the public good, and it must be a natural part of the organisation’s activities that it would have a foreign-based employee. The employee must be paid by the organisation while abroad.

Other employment abroad

Work abroad for other reasons than those mentioned above – that is, not being stationed or deployed – can count towards fulfilling the employment requirement, if there is significant reason for doing so.

It is a specific assessment if there are such significant reasons to the employment relationship in which the work abroad should count towards the employment requirement.

It is important in the assessment:

• whether the position in Denmark is related to the position abroad,
• whether you were working in Denmark prior to taking the position,
• whether you have been granted a leave of absence from the position in Denmark, and
• whether you will resume working in the previous position upon returning to Denmark.

Time spent working abroad

If you have been stationed or deployed for a Danish company or organisation abroad, you will be able to count up to 2 years of work abroad towards meeting the requirement of at least 3 years and 6 months employment and if applicable the supplementary requirement of at least 4 years employment.

If you have held other employment abroad, up to 1 year can count towards you meeting the requirement concerning 3 years and 6 months of employment and if applicable the supplementary requirement of at least 4 years employment.

Spouses or partners of someone stationed or deployed abroad who find an employment of their own while abroad will be able to count the time spent working towards meeting the employment requirement.

You must be aware that normally it is a condition in order to get a permanent residence permit that you reside in Denmark, when the Immigration Service makes a decision in your case.