Denmark Work Visa 2026: Types, Cost, Processing Time, How to Apply

Who needs a Danish work visa at all

EU, EEA and Swiss citizens need no permit to work in Denmark. You arrive, start work and apply for an EU residence document within three months. Nordic citizens need nothing at all.

Ukrainians under the Danish special act for displaced persons may work from the day the residence permit is granted, with no separate work permit. The act has been extended in line with EU temporary protection, which runs until 4 March 2028.

Everyone else needs a residence and work permit before starting. Denmark's system is unusual in Europe: it is built almost entirely around salary thresholds and lists, with very little room for "we could not find a Dane". If your job and pay fit one of the schemes below, the process is fast and predictable. If they do not, there is usually no other door, and no agent can open one.

The permit types and what they cover

• Pay Limit Scheme (Beloebsordningen): a permit for any job, in any trade, if the gross annual salary is at least the current limit. For 2025 the limit was DKK 514,000 a year, adjusted every January; as of October 2026 check the New to Denmark (SIRI) page. That is around DKK 43,000 a month, which a welder, an electrician or a skilled industrial worker can reach, and a cleaner or a farm hand cannot.
• Supplementary Pay Limit Scheme: a lower limit, DKK 393,000 a year in 2024 and 2025, for employers that meet conditions on size and collective agreements. Still around DKK 33,000 a month, so still skilled work.
• Positive List for Skilled Work: a list of occupations with a shortage of skilled labour, updated twice a year. When your occupation is on it, there is no salary limit beyond Danish standard pay. In recent years it has included chefs, some construction trades, industrial technicians, social and health care assistants and drivers in specific categories. The list changes; check it before you apply, not after.
• Positive List for People with a Higher Education: for degree-level jobs.
• Fast-track Scheme: for employers certified by SIRI; the employer files and you can start quickly. Mostly large companies.
• Seasonal and trainee permits: agriculture and horticulture have limited trainee and seasonal tracks tied to approved programmes, not an open seasonal visa.

There is no general "skilled worker" permit in Denmark. If your job is not on a list and your pay is below the limit, the answer is no, regardless of experience.

Who files what, and in which order

• 1. A Danish employer offers you a job with a written contract stating pay, hours and conditions. Pay must be Danish standard for the trade, and under the Pay Limit Scheme the cash salary alone must reach the limit; housing or meals do not count.
• 2. The employer creates the case on the SIRI portal and fills in its part; many employers do this with a power of attorney and submit the whole application for you.
• 3. You complete and submit, pay the fee, then within 14 days visit a Danish embassy or VFS centre, or a Danish diplomatic partner in your country, to give biometrics.
• 4. SIRI decides. With the permit you travel, and within a few days of arrival you register at the Citizen Service (Borgerservice), get a CPR number and the residence card.

Denmark does not run a labour market test for these schemes. The checks are on the employer (real company, correct pay, no unpaid taxes) and on your documents.

Official fees

SIRI fees are fixed per scheme and change on 1 January. As of October 2026, roughly:

• Pay Limit, Positive List, Fast-track, first permit: around DKK 6,000.
• Extension: similar to the first application.
• Family members: a separate fee per person, in the same range.
• Biometrics at VFS: a service fee in local currency.

The fee must be paid before the case is processed, and the case ID from the payment must be entered in the application. A missing or mismatched case ID is the most common reason a Danish application sits for weeks doing nothing.

Processing time

SIRI publishes a service goal of one month for Pay Limit and Positive List cases that are complete. In practice:

• Complete case, biometrics done within 14 days: three to six weeks.
• Fast-track with a certified employer: ten working days, and you may start on a temporary basis.
• Questions about the employer or a pay package that does not reach the limit in cash: two to three months, or a refusal.

A worked example: a Jutland steel fabricator offers a Bangladeshi welder DKK 44,000 a month, above the 2026 Pay Limit, in March. The employer files on the SIRI portal on 10 March with power of attorney, the welder pays the fee the same day and gives biometrics at the VFS centre in Dhaka on 18 March. SIRI asks for a readable copy of the welding certificate on 2 April, gets it on 4 April, and grants the permit on 14 April. Arrival, CPR number and residence card by the end of April. Seven weeks, and the only reason it was not four is a certificate scanned at the wrong resolution.

What slips: biometrics. If you do not give biometrics within 14 days of submission, the case is rejected and the fee is lost. Book the VFS appointment before you press submit.

Documents and legalisation

Passport, the employment contract, proof of qualifications for the job, and the fee payment receipt. For regulated trades (health care assistants, electricians, some drivers) the Danish authorisation is needed before or as part of the application. Documents not in Danish, English, German, Norwegian or Swedish must be translated. Denmark rarely asks for apostilles on the first permit, but it does verify diplomas for Positive List occupations, and a certificate that cannot be verified means refusal. Police clearance is not normally required.

Reality check

• The limit is cash salary: an employer who writes DKK 45,000 on paper and pays DKK 25,000 plus "housing" is breaking the law, and SIRI audits this. If the pay is not real, the permit is cancelled and you are the one sent home.
• The Positive List moves: a trade on the list in January can be off it in July. The date of your application decides.
• No labour market test means no excuse for an agent: there is nothing to "arrange". Either the job fits a scheme or it does not.
• Cleaning, warehouse, farm, restaurant service: below the limit and not on the list. Denmark fills these jobs with EU workers.
• Danish is not required for the permit, but permanent residence requires a language test and years of full-time work.
• Family: can be included from the start on most schemes, with their own fee.
• The job must be a real position: SIRI checks that the employer could pay this salary before, from its accounts. A company with two employees offering three Pay Limit jobs is refused.
• Changing employer means a new application, but you may start the new job once the new application is filed if you were already on a Pay Limit permit.

Where this leaves you

Denmark works for trades that pay Danish wages: industrial, technical, health care assistants with Danish authorisation, chefs when they are listed. Read the page for your country, for example working in Denmark from India or from Bangladesh, the trade pages electrician jobs in Denmark and chef and kitchen jobs in Denmark, and the Denmark work permit processing time page.

Whatever route fits you, the Workuro profile is free: employers search the register and contact you, and nobody is ever charged to be listed, so create a free profile and let the employers who can actually sponsor you find you.