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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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WORK PERMITS

‘Tinder for jobs’: EU’s new job scheme for non-EU workers moves step closer

The creation of a common EU Talent Pool platform, in which non-EU nationals can register their profiles and find jobs across the 27 member states, has moved a step closer to reality.

Published: 14 June 2024 10:15 CEST
'Tinder for jobs': EU's new job scheme for non-EU workers moves step closer

At a meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs Council in Luxembourg, the EU Council, which includes representatives of each of the 27 member states, agreed a joint position on the proposal, referred to as “Tinder for jobs” by EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson. 

The Council will now begin negotiating with the European Parliament to agree on the final legislative text on the proposal, which is part of the EU’s broader skills and talent mobility package. 

What’s the scheme?

“This will not replace anything but it will be an additional tool to make recruitment from outside the EU easier,” Johannes Kleis, a press officer at the European Council, told The Local. “It should help to overcome some barriers that employers might find if they look for staff outside the EU, and this portal will be an easier entry point for third country jobseekers.” 

In a press release announcing the agreement, the Council said it hoped to reconcile principles of fair recruitment with a secure and comprehensive migration system while also “reinforcing the position of the European Union in the global race for talent”. 

READ ALSO: The new scheme to help non-EU nationals find jobs in Europe

The EU’s Home Affairs Commission Ylva Johansson hsa described the Talent Portal as ‘Tinder for jobs’. Photo: Simon Wohlfahrt/AFP

The idea is to set up an EU-wide online platform where jobseekers from outside the EU can set up profiles detailing their skills, qualifications, work experience and which languages they speak. Employers from all participating member states will then be able to post up jobs to the platform. 

Only job vacancies involving skills or professions where member states or the EU as a whole have declared a labour shortage will be listed on the platform. 

The Talent Pool will be designed to help EU employers overcoming some of the challenges of recruiting internationally by helping ensure the “accuracy, quality and comparability” of the foreign applicants’ qualifications and skills. It will also help applicants overcome some of their current difficulties in “accessing and understanding information about recruitment processes” as well as reducing costs. 

The Talent Pool is not intended to set up a common work permit system, with anyone who gets a job through the platform still having to apply for a regular work permit in the country where they find a job. 

The Council has added several new proposals to the system put forward by the European Commission in November, setting up a withdrawal procedure through which member states can leave the Talent Pool after giving six month’s notice.

The Council also wants to empower member states to be able to decide whether individual employers can post up vacancies, whether private employment agencies can do so, or whether only state-run national employment agencies can do so.   

What happens next?

“We’re at the beginning,” Kleis said. “The European Parliament and the Council will now have to sit together to agree on the legal text, and that will happen after the summer. From the Council side, this is the first step but the legislation has yet to be agreed on. So there a lot more hoops to jump through.”  

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