Normal processing time
1 month

Processing fee
DKK 6,290,-

What is the the Labour Market Attachment Scheme?

You can apply for a new residence permit based on the Labour Market Attachment Scheme, if you have been working in Denmark for at least 2 years with the same employer, with your salary and terms of employment corresponding to the Danish standards, and if you have been denied an extension of your permit, or if your permit has been revoked. 

The scheme applies to you, if you have a residence permit as a refugee, a reunified family member, or if you are an accompanying family member to a foreign national, who has a residence permit under the following schemes:

  • The Positive Lists

  • The Pay Limit scheme

  • Researcher

  • Guest Researcher

  • Trainee

  • Special Individual Qualifications

  • Herdsmen and Farm Managers

  • Start-up Denmark

  • Fast-track

You cannot be granted a residence permit under the Labour Market Attachment Scheme, if you have a residence permit as an accompanying family member to a foreign national with a residence permit under the former Establishment Card Scheme, or the former Greeencard Scheme, which has been revoked or refused an extension.

You must submit your application no later than 7 days after you have received the final decision concerning the revocation, or refusal of extension. Once you have submitted your application, you can continue working at the job that you have used as the basis for your application.

You can also apply under The Labour Market Attachment Scheme if you have a valid residence and work permit granted under the special law for individuals who have assisted Danish authorities etc. in Afghanistan, or the special law for individuals displaced from Ukraine. You must submit the application before your permit expires.

You can be granted a residence and work permit based on skilled and unskilled work. 

Please note that if you are self-employed, you cannot use this as a basis for your residence permit under this scheme.

What are the conditions?

You must have had legal, and continual and unsupported employment with the same employer for at least 2 years, with your salary and terms of employment corresponding to the Danish standards. 

As a rule, this also means that you must have been employed full time (which normally corresponds to 37 hours per week) within the last 2 years. 

However, there may be job positions within certain industries, where an employment of less than 37 hours per week corresponds to a full time employment.

If at any point SIRI suspects that your salary and terms of employment may not have corresponded to the Danish standards within the last 2 years, we may ask professionals who are experts within the industry, to assess your terms of employment. This may be professionals or experts from the Regional Labour Market Council.

It does not make a difference whether or not the nature of your employment has changed, e.g. changed from a job at a warehouse to a job in the production facilities.

The company must not have received state/municipal wage subsidies for employing you. This means that your company must not have received state/municipal wage subsidies to supplement your salary, as stated by the Active Employment Policy Act (lov om en aktiv beskæftigelsesindsats). 

If your employment, eg. a course in the Integrational Education (IGU), has not been subsidised by the state or municipality. this counts towards the 2-year requirement. 

If you have been employed as an apprentice, this also counts towards the 2-year requirement. 

However, it is a requirement for you to have been employed at a company with a salary and terms of employment corresponding to the Danish standards, at the time of submitting the application.

You must be able to provide documentation proving that you have been employed with the same employer for a minimum of 2 years, e.g. via an employment contract, pay slips or an annual account.


You must have a valid contract, and your salary and terms of employment must correspond to the Danish standards.

This means that your salary and terms of employment must not be inferior to the standards within the professional field in which you work. This also means that you must work full time (which normally corresponds to 37 hours per week).

You can read more about Danish standards for salary and terms of employment here

However, there may be job positions within certain industries, where an employment of less than 37 hours per week corresponds to a full time employment.

If your terms of employment has changed within the last 2 years, you must also attach any supplements or updated versions of any employment contracts.

You can see what information the employment contract has to contain, here

You must be able to provide a valid authorization if your job requires it, e.g. if you work as a doctor or a nurse.

If at any point SIRI suspects that your salary and terms of employment may not correspond to the Danish standards, we may ask professionals who are experts within the industry, to assess your terms of employment. This may be professionals or experts from the Regional Labour Market Council.

 

Your previous residence permit must not have been revoked or an extension refused due to you giving wrongful information concerning conditions relevant to the residence permit.

Your previous residence permit must not have been revoked or an extension refused due to you receiving public benefits for your financial support in contradiction to the conditions that apply to your residence permit.

Your salary must be paid into a Danish bank account in your own name, and the bank has to be operating legally in Denmark.

It is not a requirement that the salary which is paid into your Danish bank account is transferred from a Danish bank account.

You must contact a bank yourself, in order to create a Danish bank account. There are no immediate restrictions concerning the type of bank account.

If you have not yet received a Danish address or CPR number and you are experiencing diffuclties creating a Danish bank account, in order to find out what options you have in terms of creating a basic payment account, you can read more on www.basalbetalingskonto.dk (opens in a new window)

Your Danish bank account must be opened within 180 days of your residence and work permit being granted. If you enter Denmark after you have been granted a residence and work permit, you must open a Danish bank account within 180 days from your entry into Denmark. If you already hold a Danish residence permit that is valid for at least 180 days, your salary must be paid into your Danish bank account from your first salary payment.

Read more about having your salary paid into a Danish bank account

Your salary can only consist of:
•Salary in the form of liquid assets
•Payments to labour market pension schemes
•Paid holiday allowance

Only paid holiday allowance from the employer whom you are currently allowed to work for can be counted as part of your salary. 

If you earn holiday allowance paid to you in the following holiday year, the holiday allowance cannot be counted as a part the annual salary of the year in which you earned the holiday allowance. 

Salary components like the following cannot be taken into account when assessing the wage level:
•Paid living and housing expenses
•Per diems
•Free use of car
•Paid phone
•Paid internet
•Benefits-in-kind
•Subscriptions
•Other services offered to you by your employer.

The list is not complete.

One of the conditions for a residence permit under this scheme is that an accompanying family member (spouse, cohabiting partner, children or in certain circumstances other family members) has not had its residence permit revoked more than once due to lack of a required work permit.

What are my rights if I am granted a permit?

What are you allowed to do with a Danish residence and work permit via the Pay Limit Scheme? – and what are you not allowed to do?

 

You are only allowed to work in the job, for which you have been granted a permit.

If you are offered a new job, you must apply for a new permit under another scheme. This also applies if you are offered a new position in the same company.

If you are offered a new job within the same professional field and hold a permit under the Labout Market Attachment Scheme, you can apply for a new permit under the Job Change within the same Professional Field Scheme.

If you change your job, your permit based on labour market attachment will be revoked. If you wish to remain in Denmark, you must apply for a new permit based on the Job Change within the same Professional Field Scheme or based on one of the other existing schemes, e.g. the Pay Limit Scheme.

If you are offered sideline employment, you must apply for a specific work permit for this.

Read more about sideline employment here

Please note that a Danish residence and work permit does not grant you the right to work in other Schengen countries.

Read more about Schengen here

A residence and work permit allows you to stay in Denmark for the period of time your permit is valid.

In addition, a permit allows you to stay in the Schengen area for up to 90 days within the latest 180 days period. The permit, however, does not allow you to work in other Schengen countries.

You must not give up your Danish address or stay abroad for longer than 6 successive months. A violation will result in the lapse of your permit. This means that you will lose your right to stay in Denmark.

If you need to stay abroad for an extended period of time, e.g. if you are stationed abroad for a period of time by your employer, you can apply for a dispensation to prevent your permit from lapsing. 

Read more about permit lapse and about how you can apply for a dispensation here

You must be able to support yourself and your family during your stay. You are not allowed to receive benefits under the terms of the Active Social Policy Act, e.g. social security benefits.

If you or your family members receive such benefits during your stay, your permit can be revoked – and you will lose the right to stay in Denmark.

If an authority, e.g. a municipality, disburses benefits to foreign nationals, SIRI will be notified.

You can see a list of benefits that you are not allowed to receive here

With a residence permit in Denmark, you are entitled to free Danish lessons. However, you must have turned 18 years and have your Danish address registered in the Danish National Register.

If you have a residence permit in Denmark based on work, study, etc. you have to pay a deposit before you can start receiving lessons. Be aware that you can lose your deposit if you do not pass the different modules within a specific timeframe.

Your municipality of residence is obliged to offer you Danish lessons and refer you to a language centre. If you have not been offered Danish lessons within a month after registering your address in Denmark, you can contact your municipality.

You will (typically) be taught together with other foreign nationals who have arrived in Denmark recently.

If you are going to stay and work in Denmark, there are a number of things to acquaint yourself with. Depending on your personal situation, you might need other important information and options.

The portal lifeindenmark.dk provides you with information, links and in many cases also options concerning the most important subjects such as:

  • MitID
  • The CPR register
  • Health card
  • Tax matters
  • Holiday entitlements
  • School and daycare
  • Housing
  • Danish lessons
  • Car registration and driver’s license

Click here to go to lifeindenmark.dk

How long can I stay in Denmark?

You can be granted a residence and work permit for up to 2 years at a time and after 2 years for up to 3 years at a time. If your employment is shorter than 2 years, you cannot be granted a permit for longer than the duration of your employment contract.

It is very important that you apply for an extension before your permit expires.

If you submit your application for an extension in time, you can stay in Denmark and continue to work while we process your application even though your permit is expiring.

A residence permit can only be valid until 3 months before the expiry date of your passport.

If your passport has a shorter validity than the otherwise possible period of stay, your residence permit will be shortened. This means that the validity of your residence permit will be shorter than it could be. When you have renewed your passport, you can apply for an extension of your residence permit – however, this can only be done 3 months before your permit expires at the earliest.

Read more about the passport requirements

What should I do if I lose or change my job?

When you are granted a permit based on the Labour Market Attachment Scheme, your residence permit is linked to your job in Denmark. Your employment is the basis for your permit.

You must always inform SIRI if you lose or change your job.

Your work permit is limited to the employment that is the basis for your permit.  You are not allowed to work in other positions than the one stated in your permit. This also applies if you are offered a new position in the same company.

If you find a new job while you are holding your current job, you must submit an application for a new residence and work permit with information on the new job.

With a new job you can no longer apply after the Labour Market Attachment Scheme. You must therefore submit an application based on one of SIRI's other work schemes. If you change to a job within the same professional field, you can apply for a new residence permit based on job change within the same professional field.

You are not allowed to begin working before you have been granted a new permit.

If you have been offered a new job with the same or improved salary and terms of employment within the same professional field, you can submit an application for a new residence and work permit with information on the new job.

A residence and work permit granted based on job change within the same professional field will grant you the same rights and the same duration as a permit after the Labour Market Attachment Scheme.

If you hold a residence permit based on the Labour Market Attachment Scheme or a residence permit based on job change within the same professional field and if you become unemployed due to no fault of your own, you will automatically be granted a job seeking period of 3 months fra the termination of your employment.

Can my family be granted a residence permit?

A residence and work permit based on a job in Denmark allows your family to come with you to Denmark.

A permit can be granted to your spouse, registered or cohabiting partner as well as children under the age of 18 living at home.

Read more about accompanying family members here

What more do I need to know before I apply?

An application for a residence permit on the basis of work is processed by the Danish Agency for International Recruitment and Integration (SIRI).

Before submitting your application, you must create a case order ID for your application and pay a fee to cover SIRI’s case processing expenses. You can do this on the “How to apply” tab to the right. Here you also find the relevant application forms, AR1 or AR6.

In AR1 your employer must fill in one of two parts of the form. Your employer must be the first to fill in his or her part. When your employer has completed his or her part, a reference number and password will be shown, which your employer must pass on to you. You are then able to open the online application and complete your part.

If you have granted your employer power of attorney to handle the application on your behalf, your employer can use the AR6 online form. This form is only filled in by the employer. 

You can find an approved template for a power of attorney here.

SIRI will contact you or your employer if we need further information to process your case.

Below you will find a step-by-step guide to submitting an application to the Danish Agency for International Recruitment and Integration (SIRI).

It is important that you have carefully read the conditions for being granted a residence permit before you begin step 1. You can do this on the tab “Need to know” on the left.

 

It is a good idea to gather the necessary documents before you start to complete the application form. You can use the check list below.

You must attach

Expect to use

30 minutes

completing the application

2 persons

You and your employer are each required to complete a part of the form.

In this step you and your employer have access to the relevant application forms.

Make sure that you have completed all the preceeding steps before you begin.

All our application forms contain careful instructions on how to complete the form and what kind of documents you must submit along with the form.

You can read more about how we process your personal data here

You can choose between these two online application forms:

  • AR1, in which you and your employer each are required to complete separate parts of the form

  • AR6, in which you grant your employer power of attorney to apply on your behalf

In the AR1 form your employer must complete the first of the two parts of the form. When your employer has completed his or her part, a reference number and password will be shown, which your employer must pass on to you. You are then able to open the online application and complete your part.

In the AR6 form only your employer must complete the form.

Read more about power of attorney and download an approved power of attorney standard here.

Make sure you have all documents ready in digital form, in order to attach them as you complete the application form.

If you do not have a MitID, you must sign, scan and attach to the application the document 'Sworn declarations and information'.

You can download the document 'Sworn declarations and information' here (also available in the form)

 

Use the AR1 form                 Use the AR6 form

 

Please note that it is mandatory to use this application form. Under special circumstances, you can be exempted from the requirement to use an online application form. You can read more here.

When you apply for a residence permit, you must have your biometric features recorded. This means that you must have a facial photo taken and your fingerprints recorded. The facial photo and your fingerprints will be stored on a microchip embedded in the residence card, which will be issued to you if you are granted a permit.

If you do not agree to have your biometric features recorded, your application will be rejected. This means that your application will not be processed.

Read more about biometrics here

You can have your biomtric features recorded in one of SIRI's branch offices.

If you plan to have your biometrics recorded in one of SIRI’s branch offices you must remember to book an appointment.

You have submitted your application succesfully if you have:

  • created a case order ID
  • paid the fee
  • submitted the application
  • had your biometric features recorded

You can see the normal case processing time to the right on this page. When we make a decision in your case, you will receive an answer.

SIRI will contact you or your employer if we need further information to process your case.

Read more about what you can expect while you are waiting for an answer.

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Contact SIRI

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