Published 13-05-2019

New rules for interns in the green sector from 1 June 2019

The minister of Immigration and Integration has made amendments to the executive order regarding residence and work permits for interns and volunteers. The amendments will be effective as of 1 June 2019 and they apply exclusively to the green sector.

The amendment content details:

Age of intern

Present rules: The intern has to be 18 years old but not more than 30 at the time of application.
New rules on 1 June 2019: The intern has to be 18 years old but not more than 35 at the time of application.

Language qualification

Present rules: The intern has to document a passed recognized language test in either Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, English or German.
New rules on 1 June 2019: No condition regarding language qualification.

Educational condition

Present rules: Internship must supplement the educational programme of a current education.
New rules on 1 June 2019: Internship must supplement the educational programme of a current or completed education.

Internship duration

Present rules: Permit for internship in Denmark can be issued for of up to 12 months.
New rules on 1 June 2019: Permit for internship in Denmark can be issued for of up to 18 months.

The place of internship still has to be approved to host interns, and the internship has to be in coherence with the current or completed education of the intern.

Also, it is still a condition that salary and terms of employment correspond to current Danish collective bargaining agreements for interns.

If the proposed internship supplements a completed education, as of 1 June 2019 SIRI will in addition to the professional content of the education also consider the period from date of completion. The education has to be completed recently. If the education was completed more than 18 months before the date of application SIRI will consider whether there still is coherence between internship and education. Information about current employment will here be part of the consideration.

Applications submitted after 1 June 2019 will be processed according to the new rules. Also, pending applications submitted before this date will be processed according to the new rules. Interns applying for the full 18 months period have to state this in the application and attach a valid employment contract for the full period.

Interns who already have shorter permits and wish to extend such permits up to the 18 months have to submit applications for extension. Application for extension can at the earliest be submitted 3 months before expiration of the present permit.

Intern pages on Newtodenmark will be up-dated with the new rules on 1 June 2019

Information about extension can be found here.

The amended executive order regarding residence and work permits for interns and volunteers can be found here.