Denmark releases updated version of Danish standards for salary of foreign workers

Foreigners seeking employment in Denmark must stay updated on the country’s residence and work visa laws. The Danish government has updated the practice note to determine whether the pay offered to foreign workers meets Danish requirements.

On September 27, 2024, the Danish Agency for International Recruitment and Integration (SIRI) published an updated version of the practice note that is used to assess whether an offered salary in certain work cases corresponds to Danish standards. The practice note also applies to the processing of applications already submitted.

In March of 2022, SIRI published a note concerning SIRI’s practices concerning the assessment of Danish standards for salary. Since then, the note has been the basis for SIRI’s assessment of questions concerning the Danish standards for salary, in terms of certain work schemes.

The practice note has been updated, among other things, because the Supplementary Pay Limit Scheme and the Fast-track Scheme’s supplementary pay limit track have been added to the work schemes since the last practice note.

The updated version of the practice note covers cases under the Pay Limit Scheme as well as the Supplementary Pay Limit Scheme, the five tracks of the Fast-track Scheme, the Researcher Scheme, the Positive List for People with a Higher Education and Work Permits for accompanying family members.

As the practice note states, SIRI will generally not assess whether an offered salary corresponds to Danish standards within cases where the employment is covered by a collective agreement. Within the cases where the employer is a member of an Employer’s organisation, SIRI will assess whether an offered salary corresponds to Danish standards up until the level just above the regular pay limit. Within additional cases, SIRI will generally always assess whether an offered salary corresponds to Danish standards.

In cases where SIRI assesses whether the salary corresponds to Danish standards, SIRI will also assess whether the other material terms of employment correspond to Danish standards.

Earlier this week, Denmark released an updated version of the income statistics which contained information from the second quarter of 2024. The updated income statistics will be used in the case processing of applications submitted from 1 October 2024. The income figures are updated quarterly, and the next change is planned to take effect on January 1, 2025.

If you apply for a residence and work permit after September 30, 2024, your application will be evaluated using the income statistics for the second quarter of 2024. If you applied between July 1 and September 30, 2024, your application will be evaluated using the pay figures for the first quarter of 2024.