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Amendment to the rules on recruitment of foreign workers adopted
The Danish Parliament recently adopted an amendment to the Aliens Act to make it easier to recruit workers from countries outside the EU/EEA.
In early February, the Ministry of Immigration and Integration submitted a draft bill to amend the Aliens Act to strengthen international recruitment.
The amendments, which originate in a political agreement reached in June 2022, are specifically aimed at addressing labour shortages by introducing a number of new initiatives to make it easier for employers to recruit foreign workers.
Specifically, the amendments include the following new initiatives:
- A new supplementary pay scheme that will make it possible to obtain a residence permit if a foreign national has entered into an employment agreement providing an annual salary of at least DKK 375,000 (2023 level).
- The minimum number of full-time employees that a business must employ in order to be certified to use the Fast Track scheme will be lowered from 20 to 10 in Denmark (excluding temporary workers).
- Businesses that are already certified when the act enters into force will not have their certification withdrawn even if the business no longer fulfils the condition of 20 full-time employees after the act enters into force if the requirement of a minimum of 10 full-time employees is met.
- Foreign nationals who obtain a Danish bachelor’s, professional bachelor’s, master’s or PhD degree in Denmark will be granted an automatic job-search residence permit which allows them to work in Denmark for three years after completing their studies.
- The Positive List for People with a Higher Education will be expanded by allowing unemployment insurance funds covering defined professional areas to introduce supplementary job titles to the Positive List, which will apply to all of Denmark within the professional area of the unemployment insurance fund in question, and the Regional Labour Market Councils will have the option of introducing supplementary job titles to the list for their respective regional areas.
- The Start-up Denmark scheme will be expanded to enable foreign business owners that wish to set up a branch in Denmark of an existing business abroad as well as foreigners who have already established a successful self-employed business in Denmark to apply for residence permits under this scheme.
The amendments entered into force on 1 April 2023.
The content of the above is not, and should not be a substitute for legal advice.
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