Denmark has released the new wage statistics for the Positive List for skilled work of foreign workers. The updated wage statistics that apply to the Positive List for skilled work from 3 October 2025 have been released by SIRI.
When evaluating applications on the Positive List for skilled work, the Danish immigration agency utilizes wage statistics from Statistics Denmark to determine if the proposed wages meet Danish standards.
Currently, SIRI uses wage statistics based on data from Statistics Denmark’s wage register, which contains information from Q1 2024. Now, the wage statistics have been updated with information from Q2 2025, which will be valid from 3 October 2025.
This means that all applications on the Positive List for Skilled Work submitted before 3 October 2025 will be assessed according to the wage statistics from Q1 2024. From 3 October 2025, SIRI uses the updated wage statistics from Q2 of 2025.
Positive List for Skilled Work
The Positive List for Skilled Work shows jobs included in the list of skilled professions experiencing a shortage of qualified professionals in Denmark. If you have been offered a job included in the Positive List for Skilled Work, you can apply for a Danish residence and work permit based on this scheme. The normal processing time is 1 month and the Processing fee is DKK 6,055.
All the job titles on the Positive List for Skilled Work are arranged according to the professional field. In the list, each of the job titles is listed with the corresponding classification code (DISCO-08-code). The Positive List for Skilled Work is updated twice a year – 1 January and 1 July.
If you have been offered a job requiring university level qualifications in a profession with a shortage of qualified professionals, then you will have to refer to the Positive List for the Highly Educated.
Salary Requirements
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.
This condition applies to both first-time applications and applications for extension, including schemes like Pay Limit Scheme, Supplementary Pay Limit Scheme, Fast track Scheme (pay limit track, supplementary pay limit track, short-term track, researcher track), Researcher’s Scheme, Positive List for People with a Higher Education and Positive List for Skilled Work.
Uncertain salary income, such as commissions or bonuses, cannot normally be included in the calculation of your salary.
In most cases filed after 1 January 2021, the salary must be paid to a Danish bank account. Your salary can only consist of salary in the form of liquid assets, Payments to labour market pension schemes, and Paid holiday allowance.
SIRI will usually assume that your salary corresponds to Danish standards if it is stated in the application form and employment contract that your employment is covered by a collective agreement. In cases where the employment relationship is not covered by a collective agreement and the employer is not a member of an employers’ organisation, SIRI will assess whether the salary corresponds to Danish standards up to approximately DKK 74,958.
To be granted a residence permit based on the Positive List for Skilled Work, it is a condition that your employer has met their educational obligations regarding the training of apprentices. Thus, your employer must be covered by Læreplads-AUB (Arbejdsgivernes Uddannelsesbidrag). So, ensure you ask your employer to make sure they are covered by Læreplads-AUB before you apply.