The Danish authorities have announced that a new income requirement will start applying from January 1, 2024, to foreigners entering Denmark for work purposes and applying for a residence and work permit.

According to the Danish Agency for International Recruitment and Integration (SIRI), to be granted a residence and work permit, the salary of foreigners as well as their terms of employment, must meet the Danish standards.

This means that foreigners entering Denmark for the purpose of working and then applying for a residence and work permit must receive a wage that corresponds to the country’s standards,

To be granted a residence and work permit, your salary and terms of employment must correspond to Danish standards. This means that you must receive a remuneration which corresponds to the standards of the type of employment in question in Denmark.

As the authorities explain, SIRI uses income statistics provided by the Confederation of Danish Employers (DA) when processing residence and work applications to asses if the offered salary is in line with the standards of Denmark.

Since the new income requirement will start applying on January 1, 2024, SIRI highlighted that those who have applied for a residence and work permit after December 31, 2023, will have their application evaluated in line with the new requirements.

On the other hand, those who have applied for the document between October 1 and December 31, 2023, will have their application evaluated according to the previous requirement.

In line with the current requirement, foreigners entering the country for work purposes and applying for a residence and work permit must have a salary of at least €9,095 (DKK 67,812.50) per month.

Moreover, the employment of the foreigner is required to be covered by a collective agreement in the relevant employment sector.

The condition that a foreigner applying for a residence and work permits for the purpose of taking up a job in the country applies to the following schemes:

• Pay Limit Scheme
• Fast track Scheme
• Researchers Scheme
• Positive List for People with a Higher Education
• Positive List for Skilled Work
• Special Individual Qualifications Scheme
• Herdsmen and Farm Managers Scheme
• Internship Scheme
• Employment for Adaption and Training Purposes Scheme

In cases when SIRI assesses that the salary does not correspond with Danish standards, the authority asks the employer for a comment on the matter and then makes a decision on the case.

Just like some other EU countries, Denmark is also dealing with a labour shortage, with the country being mostly in need of highly educated workers.