Special individual qualifications – other qualifications

It is a condition that you have special individual qualifications that mean that others cannot immediately perform the job offered. This may be work where, for example, you have special knowledge, expertise or relevant personal qualities within a specific field. This could be work as a professional jockey, for example. In our assessment of whether you have special individual qualifications, we look at your educational background, your professional experience and relevant personal qualities, among other things.

You must document your qualifications so that we can assess whether you have the special individual qualifications that enable you to perform the job offered.

When you apply, you must state what type of work tasks the job involves. This may be stated in your contract or as a comment in the online application. 

Your salary and terms of employment must correspond to Danish standards. This means that your salary, holiday entitlements and terms of notice etc. must not be inferior to the standards in the professional field where you are going to work.

Read about the Danish standards for salary and terms of employment

When you apply, you must attach a copy of your employment contract or job offer. All terms of employment must be stated in the contract or the job offer.

Read about what information the employment contract must include

When assessing whether the salary you have been offered corresponds to Danish standards, only the following salary components can be taken into account:

• Salary in the form of liquid assets, including fixed supplements which are, therefore, guaranteed salary

• Payments to labour market pension schemes, including the pension contributions paid by both the employer and the applicant

• Paid holiday allowance

If you earn holiday allowance that can only be paid to you in the following year, it cannot count towards the annual salary for the year in which you have earned it. Moreover, it is only holiday allowance paid by the employer whom you are currently allowed to work for, that can be counted as part of your salary.

Your employer might offer you, as a supplement to your salary, benefits such as paid canteen, free use of car, paid phone, paid internet and paid living and housing expenses. Note that these salary components cannot be taken into account when assessing whether your salary corresponds to Danish standards.

If SIRI has any doubts on whether your terms of employment correspond to Danish standards, we can ask the regional labour market councils to assess your terms of employment.

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 difficulties creating a Danish bank account, you can read about your options for creating a basic payment account on www.basalbetalingskonto.dk

Read about basic payment accounts on basalbetalingskonto.dk (opens in a new window)

After you have been granted a residence and work permit, you must open your Danish bank account within 180 days. During your first 180 days in Denmark, you salary can be paid into a foreign account. 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 about having your salary paid into a Danish bank account

It is not possible to be granted a residence and work permit for a job encompassed by a legal labour conflict. It is, however, possible to be granted a permit for other jobs in a company or institution involved in a legal conflict, if the jobs, according to the applicable agreements between the labour market parties, are not encompassed by the conflict.

One of the conditions for being granted a residence permit under this scheme is that any spouse, cohabiting partner, children or, in certain circumstances, other family members holding a residence permit as accompanying family members, have not had their residence permit revoked more than once due to lack of a required work permit.

You are only allowed to work in the job and in the company that you have been granted a work permit for.

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

If you wish to take a sideline job, you have to obtain a separate permit.

Read about sideline employment

You are entitled to perform unpaid voluntary work.

Read about voluntary work

A Danish residence and work permit does not allow you to work in other Schengen countries.

Read more about working conditions in Denmark and 'The Danish labour market model'

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-day period. The permit, however, does not allow you to work in other Schengen countries.

Read about the Schengen agreement

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 about the rules concerning a lapse of permit

Read about and apply for dispensation to prevent your permit from lapsing

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.

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.

See a list of benefits that you are not allowed to receive

With a residence and work 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 modules within a specific timeframe.

Your municipality of residence must 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 recently arrived in Denmark.

If you apply from abroad, you can be granted a residence permit that is valid 1 month before you start working. It will give you time to settle in Denmark. When you apply, you must declare that you can support yourself and any accompanying family members during the period.  If you do not declare this, your residence permit will be valid 14 days before you start working.

If you apply in Denmark, your residence permit will be valid from the day you start working.

You can be granted a residence and work permit that is valid for 1 year at a time during the first 2 years of your stay – however, the validity cannot exceed the length of your job contract. Hereafter, you can be granted a permit valid for a maximum of 2 years, and after 4 years, valid for a maximum of 3 years at a time. 

If you find a new job, you must submit a new application based on the new job – it can once again be based on your special individual qualifications or it can be based on another of our work schemes. When you have submitted your application based on the new job, you do not have to wait for your permit before you start working. You can start your new job on the day you submit the new application.

If your employment contract is extended, you must apply for an extension of your residence and work permit.

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

If you submit your extension application on time, you can stay in Denmark and continue your work while you await our decision, even though your residence and work permit expires.