Special individual qualifications – athlete or coach

If you have been offered a job as an athlete or coach in a sports club, you can apply for a residence and work permit in Denmark.

Normal processing time
1 month

Processing fee
DKK 6,810,-

What are special individual qualifications – athlete or coach?

You can apply for a residence and work permit as an athlete if you have been offered work as an athlete, or you can apply as a sports coach if you are going to coach a team or an individual in a particular sport.

What are the conditions?

You have special individual qualifications

You must have special individual qualifications. This means that you must have been offered work as a professional athlete or coach. For example, you may have been offered work as a footballer, ice hockey player or as a coach, where you will be training individuals or a team.

The sports club must be a member of an association under the National Olympic Committee and Sports Confederation of Denmark

As a general rule, the sports club that has offered you a job must be affiliated with a specialised association that is a member of the National Olympic Committee and Sports Confederation of Denmark (DIF). You can check whether the association is a member of DIF on their website.

Go to the DIF website (only in Danish and opens in a new window)

You must enclose an advance statement from the association

It is a requirement that you enclose an advance statement with your application.

This is because the relevant association must assess whether your salary and employment conditions correspond to the Danish standards. They must also assess whether you are qualified to work as an athlete or coach in the sports club in question.

Your employer (the sports club) must therefore obtain a statement from the relevant association in advance by asking the association to complete SIRI's form.

Download the form for an advance statement

The form must be attached to your application together with your contract.

Your salary and employment conditions must correspond to Danish standards

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. It must also state what holiday entitlements you have, e.g. whether you will be paid during your holiday.

Read about what information the employment contract must include

Work hours

Working as an athlete or coach must be your main occupation and not a sideline employment. This means that you must normally be offered full-time work for 37 hours per week.

If it is customary within your sport, permission may be granted for employment of as little as 20 hours per week with the same employer.

Several clubs cannot ‘join forces’ to employ you and share the wage costs.

Salary

Your salary can only consist of:

Cash salary. This includes, for example, fixed allowances, which are therefore guaranteed salary
Payments to labour market pension schemes, including both the pension contributions paid by the employer and the portion paid by the applicant
Holiday allowance

Only holiday allowance paid by the employer where you are currently authorised to work can be included in your salary.

If you earn holiday allowance that is not paid until the following year, it cannot be included in your salary for the year in which you earn it. Only holiday allowance paid by the employer where you are currently authorised to work can be included in the calculation.

Other salary components cannot be included in your salary and must not be included in your gross salary.

If you are offered other salary components, such as free accommodation, lodging, a free car or clothing, these cannot be included in the assessment of your salary.

In addition to your offered salary corresponding to Danish standards, it must at least be on a par with the rates for Danish self-sufficiency and return benefits.

Self-sufficiency and return benefits rates

Single sponsor: DKK 13,577 (2025 level) per month before taxes.
Sponsor, who is not a single sponsor: DKK 9,500 (2025 level) per month before taxes.
Persons older than 30 years of age and persons under 30 years of age, who do not live at home: DKK 6,789 (2025 level) per month before taxes.
Persons under 30 years of age who live together with their parents: DKK 2,925 (2025 level) per month before taxes.

Your salary must be paid into a Danish bank account in your own name

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

The job offered cannot be encompassed by a legal labour conflict

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.

What are my rights if I am granted a permit?

What are you allowed to do with a Danish residence and work permit on the basis of special individual qualifications as an athlete or coach? And what are you not allowed to do?

Work, sideline employment and loans

If you have been granted a residence and work permit as a professional athlete or coach on the basis of your special individual qualifications, the residence and work permit also entitles you to:

engage in sideline employment if the sideline employment offered is naturally related to your professional sports activities (e.g. if you teach your sport at a school or similar institution).

engage in sideline employment with one of your main employer's sponsors, regardless of the nature of the work. Please note that this only applies to work for one of your main employer's sponsors and does not include your main employer's partners.

As an athlete, you can be loaned to another sports club in Denmark, either part-time or full-time.

Therefore, you do not need to apply for a work permit if you are offered work in the situations described above.

You are also entitled to perform unpaid voluntary work.

Read about unpaid voluntary work

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

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

Read about working conditions in Denmark and the Danish model

Residence

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

Public benefits

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

Danish lessons

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.

Additional information

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.

Find information on lifeindenmark.dk (opens in a new window)

How long can I stay in Denmark?

Entry

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.

Validity of permit

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.

Shorter validity because your passport expires

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 accordingly. 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, the earliest this can be done is 3 months before your permit expires.

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

If you are granted a permit based on this 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 job that is the basis for your permit. You are not allowed to work in a job other than the one stated in your permit. This also applies if you are offered a new job in the same company.

If you change your job

If you find a new job while working in Denmark, you must submit a new application for a residence and work permit with information on your new employment. When you have submitted your new application, you can start working while you wait for a decision, even though you have not yet been granted a permit.

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 about accompanying family members

What more do I need to know before I apply?

An application for a residence permit on the basis of work must be submitted to the Danish Agency for International Recruitment and Integration (SIRI).

As a general rule, you must have an employment agreement with a company registered in Denmark to be able to apply. However, there are certain exceptions, e.g. if you work for a foreign company that provides services in Denmark.

Before you submit 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, AR1.

Your employer must start by completing the first part of the application.

Afterwards, we will send you an email so you can complete your part of the application.

Your employer must write your email address in their part of the application. You must use the link in the email to sign up as a user with the same email addressto access your part.

Make sure that the email address your employer writes is the same email address that you intend to sign up with.

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

Find our approved power of attorney templates

Please note that SIRI will, as a rule, reject applications for residence permits on new grounds that are submitted too early in relation to the desired start date of the stay in Denmark.

If you submit such an application more than 6 months before you are due to begin your stay in Denmark, you can therefore expect to receive a refusal. If you have paid SIRI's processing fee, the fee will not be refunded.

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 and work permit before you begin step 1. You can do this on the tab “Need to know” on the left.

If you are a commuter and will not be residing in Denmark and for this reason will only apply for a work permit, you do not need to create a case order ID or pay a fee. Instead, you can go directly to step 3.

Read about commuting

Create case order ID

Pay the fee

Gather documentation

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

If you submit documents written in other than English, Norwegian, Swedish or Danish, you must also submit a certified translation into Danish or English.

You must submit

Documentation of paid fee. Attach receipt for your payment

Copy of all pages of your passport – including all empty pages and the passport’s front and back cover

Employment contract or job offer

Preliminary statement from either the sports or specialised association

Documentation of any salary components that are not directly stated in the employment document, e.g. paid rent or salary paid abroad

See which information the employment contract must include

Complete and submit the application

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.

Read about how we process your personal data

You can choose between these two online applications:

AR1, in which you and your employer each are required to complete separate parts of the application
AR6, in which you grant your employer power of attorney to apply on your behalf

In the AR1 application, your employer must complete the first of two parts of the application. When your employer has completed their part, you must complete your part.

If you do not have MitID, you can send AR1 by signing our sworn declaration by hand and attaching it to the application. It is important that you sign and attach our sworn declaration.

Download our sworn declaration (PDF)

You can also download the sworn declaration in the AR1 application.

In the AR6 application, only your employer must fill in the application.

Read about power of attorney and download an approved power of attorney standard

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

AR1 AR6

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

Read about the application forms

Find the application

You can find your ongoing and completed applications for 30 days from your last login.

Biometrics

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 about biometrics

You must have your biometric features recorded no later than 14 days after you have submitted your application.

If you are unable to have your biometric features recorded within the time limit because you are unable to book an appointment at a Danish diplomatic mission before 14 days have passed, you can inform us of when you have been able to book a time to have your biometrics recorded. This way you can avoid having your application rejected.

You are abroad

You can have your biometric features recorded at a Danish diplomatic mission or an application centre in the country where you reside.

See the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ list of diplomatic missions or application centres where you can have your biometric features recorded

In certain countries, Denmark does not have a diplomatic mission or application centre. In these instances, the list will refer you to one of the Norwegian missions with which Denmark has made an agreement or to the nearest Danish diplomatic mission or application centre in the region.

If you submit your application to a Norwegian diplomatic mission, you must also submit a passport photo. If you are granted a residence and work permit based on your application, you must have your biometric features recorded within a specific time frame after you enter Denmark.

We recommend that you visit the local diplomatic mission’s webpage to get more information before you submit the application. The individual diplomatic mission can have additional requirements, for example regarding payment of additional fees, submission of additional passport photos or additional copies of the application.

You are in Denmark

If you are residing legally in Denmark, you are normally able to have your biometric features recorded in Denmark. This is the case if you:

hold a valid visa
are exempt from the visa requirement or
already hold a valid residence permit.

Read about the legal residence requirement and submission of your application in Denmark

You can have your biometric 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.

Book an appointment with SIRI

If you are a commuter who does not reside in Denmark, and for this reason will only apply for a work permit, you do not need to have your biometrics recorded.

Read about commuters

Receive an answer

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