The job change rule
If your company wants to employ a foreign national who has worked at another Danish company until now, or if a foreign national wants to stay in their employment at your company but wants to change their residence scheme.
The job change rule applies in two different situations.
A: A foreign national who has a residence permit based on salaried work at a company (residence card type J or R) and is offered a job at your company, is allowed to begin working at the new job at your company on the same day as the foreign national has submitted his/her new application for a residence and work permit.
This also applies to foreign nationals with PhD student permits (residence card type Z), establishment cards (residence card type C) or authorisation stays (residence card type R or E) who have been offered a job at your company and have submitted an application for a residence and work permit according to a work permit scheme, for instance the Pay Limit Scheme.
B: A foreign national holding a residence and work permit based on employment at your company (a residence card J or R), who only wishes to change their grounds for residence, e.g. from the Pay Limit scheme to the Fast-Track Scheme, can continue working after the application for a new residence and work permit has been submitted.
The Job Change Rule does not apply to interns or volunteers, even though they have been issued a residence card type J. Interns and volunteers are therefore not allowed to begin a new job before a permit has been issued.
The job change rule does not apply in the following situation:
- A foreign national has a residence and work permit based on a job at another company (residence card type J or R) and is offered a job at your company. The foreign national starts working at your company before submitting a new application for a residence and work permit.
In this situation, the foreign national must stop working for you until they have received a new residence and work permit.
Example of the job change rule
A: A foreign national holds a residence permit under the Pay Limit Scheme (residence card type J or R) as an IT consultant at another company. The permit expires date A. Then, the foreign national gets a new job as a fulltime IT consultant at your company starting before date A. The foreign national can begin work at the new job as soon as a new application for residence and work permit has been submitted. If the start date is later than date A, the foreign national can begin working on the start date – provided that the application was submitted before date A.
B: A foreign national holds a residence and work permit based on the Positive List for People with a Higher Education (residence card J or R) as an environmental engineer at your company. Your company is subsequently certified under the Fast-Track Scheme. When the foreign national's residence permit based on the Positive List expires, they want to apply for a residence permit based on the fast-track scheme instead. The foreign national can continue working with you during their change of grounds of residence if the new application for a residence and work permit is submitted before the expiry of their current permit.
C: A foreign national has a residence and work permit under the Supplementary Pay Limit Scheme (residence card J or R) as a butcher at another company. The foreign national is then offered a new full time job as a butcher at your company. The foregin national begins working before you have submitted a new application for a residence and work permit. In this instance, the foreign national is not covered by the job change rule and must stop working for you.