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WORK PERMITS

Fast Track Scheme: What are the new rules on Danish work permit programme?

New rules have taken effect on the Fast Track Scheme, a programme by which foreign professionals can be granted Danish work permits.

Published: 5 April 2023 17:20 CEST
Fast Track Scheme: What are the new rules on Danish work permit programme?
Denmark's Fast Track work permit scheme has been broadened to give companies better options for hiring skilled foreign staff. File photo: Søren Bidstrup/Ritzau Scanpix

The Danish parliament last month voted to ease some work permit requirements, in a move designed to make it easier for companies to hire internationally.

The amendments came into effect on April 1st, easing rules on a number of work permit application schemes including the Fast Track Scheme, a programme which allows certified companies to employ foreign nationals with special qualifications more quickly and easily than through the standard pathway.

The new rules allow companies with as few as 10 employees to register for the scheme, a reduction from the minimum of 20 under the old rules.

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The Fast-track Scheme allows certified companies to employ foreign nationals with special qualifications more quickly and easily than through the standard pathway. It also allows the employees to work both in Denmark and abroad. This means that as a highly qualified employee, you can have a quick and flexible job start in the certified company. 

In short, employers, by registering for the scheme, can enable their foreign hires to be granted a temporary work permit so they can start their job immediately after arriving in Denmark, or – if the employee is not exempted from Danish visa rules – get them a permit including an entry visa within 10 days.

The new rules that took effect on April 1st 2023 expand the Fast Track Scheme by giving it a “fifth track”. Additionally, companies with as few as 10 employees can register for the scheme, a reduction from the minimum of 20 under the old rules.

The new, fifth track can be applied for by third-country (non-EU) nationals employed by a certified company with an annual salary of at least 375,000 kroner. This is equivalent to the pay limit amount of the new Supplementary Pay Limit scheme.

In some instances, you will need Danish authorisation or temporary authorisation for your profession in order to be granted the work permit. This primarily applies to professions which are regulated by law, such as lawyer, financial advisor, or doctor, for example.

The new fifth track – the supplementary pay limit track – now exists alongside the four other tracks. These include the regular pay limit track, which still has a higher minimum salary of 465,000 kroner. It can also be distinguished from the supplementary track because the new track has criteria related to the national unemployment level and a requirement for the employer to advertise the job on specified portals.

Other tracks are targeted at short term workers, researchers, and people who will be receiving or giving training during their stay in Denmark.

More detail on each of the tracks can be found on the website of the Danish Agency for International Recruitment and Integration (SIRI), the agency which processes work permit applications.

A step-by-step guide to submitting an application for a Danish work permit under the Fast Track Scheme can be found on SIRI’s website.

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For members

WORKING IN DENMARK

Why are Danish experts recommending closure of all job centres?

Recommendations made by an expert commission to the government on employment and welfare advocate for closure of all municipal job centres.

Published: 24 June 2024 17:32 CEST
Why are Danish experts recommending closure of all job centres?

Denmark’s job centres, which are responsible for administration of social welfare benefits for people seeking employment and of facilitating training and work placements under welfare lows, should be closed according to recommendations handed to the government on Monday.

Additionally, over half of the current rules related to unemployment benefits should be scrapped and 9 in 10 sanctions for people who fail to comply with criteria such as attending meetings or applying for a set number of jobs.

Denmark has two broad tiers for those out of work: dagpenge, which provides an income calculated on the person’s tax payments while in employment, and the more basic kontanthjælp.

Dagpenge is available to people who a paying members of a semi-private uninsurance provider called an Arbejdsløshedskasse or A-kasse, while kontanthjælp is available to everyone.

Both groups must comply with legal requirements related to job searching in order to receive the benefits they qualify for – these are administered by municipal job centres.

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When the coalition government took office at the end of 2022 it stated that it wanted to save three billion kroner annually by reforming the municipal unemployment area and improving its efficiency – specifically by targeting job centres.

This has led to an expert group, appointed by the government, making six specific requirements – those announce on Monday.

The government is not obliged to follow the recommendations.

But the expert group says there is much to gain from closing job centres.

“There’s great potential in replacing the current one-size-fits-all system with a new approach where individual needs are in focus,” group chairperson Claus Thustrup Kreiner said in a press statement.

The six broad recommendations are as follows:

  • Fewer target groups and special rules
  • Individual programmes
  • More balanced sanctions system
  • Abolish job centres and introduce free organisation at municipalities
  • Give more influence to A-kasse and private interests
  • Results, not system-based approach

|Source: DR

“Our report includes recommendations for the biggest reform of the jobseeking area ever, and will make the system cheaper, simpler and more dignified without weakening employment,” Kreiner said.

The national confederation for trade unions, Fagbevægelsens Hovedorganisation (FH), criticised the costcutting element of the recommendations in comments to broadcaster DR, and also said it would reduce the options and rights of jobseekers.

“I thought this was about giving unemployed people more freedom to decide what they need,” FH chairperson Nanna Højlund said.

“But the expert group clearly sees it as being about allowing municipalities to do exactly what they want,” she said.

The Confederation of Danish Industry (DI) welcomed the proposals.

“The expert group has proposed a simplification of employment with fewer rules and benefit categories and with a large saving” DI deputy director Steen Nielsen said in a statement.

“That is a good idea because it’s difficult to run a job centre efficiently with the many different criteria and rules that must be met for each of the many categories,” he added.

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