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VISAS

Is the Danish work visa law to blame for Chinese chef living in Copenhagen restaurant’s storage room?

A Chinese chef said he was brought to Denmark under false promises after working seven days a week for 30 kroner per hour, and being forced to sleep in a restaurant storage room.

Is the Danish work visa law to blame for Chinese chef living in Copenhagen restaurant's storage room?
An illustration photo showing a menu in Chinese and Danish. File photo: Morten Germund/Ritzau Scanpix

National service broadcaster DR reported on Sunday that after coming to Denmark to work as a chef, 34-year-old Chinese national Huashan Hong was not given a day off for six months.

He was also paid well under the Danish minimum wage and forced to sleep in a restaurant storage room, the broadcaster writes.

The owner of the restaurant, which is located in Copenhagen’s Nørrebro district, told Hong “every month that he would find a place (for me to live), but it never happened,” the chef, who no longer works for the restaurant, told DR.

He was told that he would be provided with a work permit when he first came to Denmark in 2018, but was instead forced to work illegally as a chef and cleaner for up to 14 hours daily, according to the report.

Meanwhile, he slept in a storage room in back of the restaurant and was paid around 30 kroner per hour.

The story has prompted discussion of exploitation of Chinese workers in Denmark’s restaurant industry and criticism of Danish laws that enable this.

A work visa law for non-EU nationals working in Denmark, known as the pay limit scheme (beløbsordningen in Danish), has come into particular focus, notably in employee union publication Fagbladet 3F, which collaborated with DR on the story.

The provision enables companies to hire employees who are nationals of non-EU countries, provided they are paid a minimum of 417,793 kroner per year (roughly 35,500 kroner per month).

READ ALSO: Opinion: Danish odds are stacked against skilled foreign workers

It is this system which is used to apply for working residency permits for Chinese chefs, but they do not receive pay stipulated by the scheme, according to the reports.

The Agency for International Recruitment and Integration (Styrelsen for International Rekruttering og Integration, SIRI) raised concern over potential exploitation of Chinese chefs as long ago as 2015, Fagbladet 3F writes.

“In most [investigated] restaurants, assessment suggested breaches of regulations with employment contracts, including salaries, duties and job titles,” states an internal memo sent by SIRI to the immigration ministry in 2017, the media reports.

As such, SIRI has long been aware of abuse the pay limit work visa system by restaurants hiring Chinese chefs but the issue has not been addressed.

SIRI has declined to comment to Fagbladet 3F regarding the story.

The Socialist People’s Party (SF), a parliamentary ally to the government, on Monday demanded investigations into the issue.

The party called for a focus group to visit restaurants with Chinese chefs in order to check working conditions.

“I think that the minister for employment [Peter Hummelgaard, ed.] should immediately set down a task force consisting of police, workplace inspectors and tax authorities,” the party’s spokesperson for employment Karsten Hønge told Ritzau.

“And (the task force) should visit all of the places where work permits have been granted under the pay limit scheme,” Hønge said.

“I hope that a Social Democratic government will see the seriousness of this. We cannot accept this brutalization at Danish workplaces,” he added.

Minister for Immigration and Integration Mattias Tesfaye said that the conditions described in the DR and Fagbladet 3F reports were not acceptable.

“This is serious social dumping and we must make sure we weed it out,” Tesfaye told DR.

“There must be an awful lot of highly-paid Chinese chefs, or else something is not right here,” the minister added in regard to the used of the pay limit scheme for work visas.

“This is also I have taken the initiative to give (immigration) authorities the muscle to work with the tax authorities to bring these workplaces into line when we suspect something is wrong,” the minister also said.

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VISAS

What is a Danish Working Holiday visa and who can apply?

Citizens from seven different countries outside of Europe can apply for a Working Holiday residence permit in Denmark.

What is a Danish Working Holiday visa and who can apply?

The seven countries whose nationals are eligible for the one-year Working Holiday visa are Argentina, Australia, Canada, Chile, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea.

The criteria for application vary depending on the country of your citizenship.

What is a working holiday?

Working Holiday visas allow the holder to reside in Denmark and to work to a limited extent.

Specifically, this means being allowed to work a set number of months withing the one-year period that the visa is valid. They also allow you to attend an educational course of limited duration.

They can only be granted once – so it’s best to only apply for the visa if you are sure of your plans.

Under the terms of the Working Holiday arrangements, Danish nationals can apply for working holidays in any of the seven countries covered by Denmark’s Working Holiday visa.

Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Japan and South Korea

The conditions for each of these countries follow the same basic structure but with differences in the individual criteria.

You must be within a certain age range: 18-36 for Australians and Canadians and 18-31 for people from New Zealand, South Korea and Japan.

You must have a certain amount of funding up front for food and accommodation during the first part of your stay. If you are from Canada, Japan or South Korea this is 15,000 kroner. For Australia, it rises to 18,000 kroner and is 24,000 kroner if you come from New Zealand. For all countries, you must also have a return ticket or an additional 5,000 kroner to pay for it.

Various types of health insurance are also required, with specifics depending on your nationality.

The working rights provided by the visas also vary slightly between each country. Australians and New Zealanders can work for up to six months, but no more than three months for a single employer. Canadians and Japanese can work for up to six months provided the job is “not regular”, meaning it is a limited employment. For South Koreans, nine months of limited employment is permitted.

You can study on the visa for either three months (Australia, Canada) or six months (New Zealand, South Korea. For Japan, the maximum duration of courses you attend is not specified, but like the Working Holiday visa is valid for one year as with all other eligible countries.

The processing time for the application is three months and the fee for citizens of Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Japan and South Korea is 2,490 kroner. If you are from Japan, there is no fee.

The application portals for Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Korea; Japan;  can all be found via the Danish Agency for International Recruitment and Integration (SIRI).

Chile and Argentina

For Chile and Argentina, the Working Holiday visa provides similar rights to the other five countries, some specifics of which are given below.

The main difference is that the visas for these two countries are quota-based. So, for example, up to 75 residence permits for citizens of Chile and up to 75 residence permits for citizens of Argentina can be granted under the Working Holiday scheme between March and August this year (2024). Permits are granted on a first come, first served basis.

Additionally, Chileans and Argentinians must apply for the visa with agencies based in their home countries (rather than using the Danish authority SIRI’s online portal). This is done at VFS Buenos Aires (Argentina) and VFS Santiago (Chile).

These two agencies will make appointments available for the March-August 2024 quotas on March 1st, 2024, SIRI announced in a recent statement.

Chileans and Argentinians must be aged over 18 and under 31 to be eligible for the visa.

You must have a certain amount of funding up front for food and accommodation during the first part of your stay: 15,000 kroner as well as a return ticket or an additional 5,000 kroner to pay for it.

Health insurance is also an obligation for nationals of both countries.

No set time limits on working are specified, but SIRI states that the purpose of the visa “must primarily be to be on holiday for an extended period of time” and that you can “carry out salaried work in order to supplement your travel funds”.

The processing time for the application is three months and the fee is 2,490 kroner. Detailed information on the conditions can be found for both Chile and Argentina on SIRI’s website.

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