Work

Steps

1. Look for adverts on workindenmark.dk (2,000 to 3,000 adverts in English, a public service linked to EURES), on jobnet.dk (about 15,000 adverts, mostly in Danish) and on the EURES portal. The ICS (International Citizen Service) centres and your municipality also offer help.
2. Have your qualification recognised if needed. The Danish Agency for Higher Education and Science (Uddannelses- og Forskningsstyrelsen, ufsn.dk) issues a free written assessment, in 1 to 2 months. For one of the more than 100 regulated professions (doctor, nurse, public-school teacher, forklift driver…), contact the competent authority to obtain an authorisation.
3. Read your contract and check whether it refers to a collective agreement (overenskomst): it is often what sets your minimum pay, your premiums (evening, night, Sunday) and your notice period.
4. Insist on your written information (ansættelsesbevis): your employer must give you the essential conditions in writing no later than 7 calendar days after your first day (identities, place, position, start date, duration, pay, hours…), and the others (holiday, notice, collective agreements…) no later than 1 month after.
5. Obtain your CPR number and tax card before your first salary (see DK-NIF-TOUS-001), and designate your NemKonto, into which your salary is generally paid.
6. Decide on the union (fagforening) and the unemployment insurance fund (a-kasse): voluntary and separate memberships (see DK-TRAVAIL-TOUS-002).

Documents

• Passport or ID card, EU residence document and CPR number (see DK-SEJOUR-TOUS-001).
• Qualifications and, for an assessment, the documents requested by ufsn.dk.
• Criminal record extract (straffeattest), if the employer asks for it: the private extract is free and is requested online on borger.dk (Digital Post required) or, without MitID, by form or at the police station.

Costs and timelines

• Pay: no statutory minimum; possible sector minimum in the collective agreement. Monthly salaries are paid once a month, in arrears; hourly wages, once or twice a month.
• Working time: 37 hours per week in most sectors (collective agreement), 48 hours maximum on average (European directive), 11 consecutive hours of rest per day, a 24-hour day of rest per week, compulsory break after more than 6 hours of work.
• Paid holiday (ferieloven): 2.08 days per month, i.e. 25 days a year, earned from 1 September to 31 August and to be taken from 1 September to 31 December of the following year (16 months): this is "concurrent" holiday (samtidighedsferie). Two regimes depending on your pay (borger.dk): paid by the hour, you earn feriepenge of 12.5% of your pay before contributions and tax, paid out when you take your holiday; salaried, with pay maintained on Sundays, public holidays and sick days and at least 1 month's notice (ferie med løn), you keep your normal pay during your holiday and also receive a holiday supplement (ferietillæg) of 1% of your salary for the year (the rate may differ in a collective agreement).
• Probationary period: 6 months at most (2023 act). For an office, shop or technical employee (funktionær, more than 8 hours per week), a probationary period of at most 3 months lets the employer dismiss you with 14 days' notice.
• Employer's notice (funktionærloven): 1 month during the first 6 months, then 3 months, + 1 month for every 3 years of service, up to 6 months. Employee's notice: 1 month, to the end of a month.
• Outside the funktionærloven (manual workers, for example): notice set by the collective agreement or the contract.

Common pitfalls

• Believing a "low" salary is necessarily illegal… or necessarily legal. Without a collective agreement, nothing imposes a minimum: compare with the salary statistics published by the unions before negotiating.
• Confusing union and a-kasse. You can join one without the other; only the a-kasse insures you against unemployment.
• Receiving your holiday pay twice… or never. If you have no collective agreement providing for a holiday fund, your feriepenge go through FerieKonto: you claim them online, at the earliest 1 month before your first day of holiday. If you left a job during the period when holiday can be taken (1 September to 31 December of the following year), you can have the untaken holiday paid out without taking it, from mid-January of the year following that period until 30 September; certain public benefits received (for example dagpenge) can prevent this.
• Carrying over holiday: only holiday earned beyond 4 weeks can be carried over to the next period (up to 1 week according to borger.dk), by written agreement with the employer.
• Lifeindenmark is not up to date on one point: the "Employment contracts" page still quotes the old thresholds (employment of at least 1 month and more than 8 hours per week). Since the 2023 act, the written information obligation applies from more than 3 hours per week on average over 4 weeks.
• Faroe Islands and Greenland: the laws on funktionærer and ansættelsesbeviser do not apply there; working in Greenland requires a permit for an EU citizen (see DK-SEJOUR-TOUS-001).

What changes by country of origin

• EU and EEA citizens and Swiss citizens: no work permit; EU residence document from SIRI (see DK-SEJOUR-TOUS-001).
• Nordic citizens: no residence document, direct registration for the CPR.
• British citizens (Scots included): third country since Brexit: you need a residence and work permit before starting.
• European qualifications: for regulated professions, recognition is the responsibility of the competent Danish authority, shown in the ufsn.dk list (the European directive on professional qualifications applies: this authority tells you which documents to provide).

Steps

1. Choose an a-kasse as soon as you arrive (official list on star.dk). Some are reserved for specific trades, others open to all; self-employed people can also join.
2. Choose your option: full-time (higher contribution, higher benefits) or part-time.
3. If you were insured against unemployment in another EU or EEA country, in Switzerland or in the United Kingdom, have those periods counted: within 8 weeks after the end of your insurance abroad, settle in Denmark and join an a-kasse; if you have not been a member of a Danish a-kasse in the last 5 years, you must also start working in Denmark. You then need to work at least 296 paid hours in 12 weeks (148 hours part-time).
4. Request form PD U1 (or SED document) from the last country where you worked: your a-kasse needs it to add up your periods. You can also request it yourself in that country.
5. If you lose your job, register as a jobseeker with your municipality via Jobnet from your first day of availability, and upload a complete CV on Jobnet within 2 weeks.
6. Stay available: you must be able to take a job at one day's notice.
7. If you find a full-time job for at least 14 days, deregister on Jobnet.

Documents

• CPR number and MitID.
• Form PD U1 (or SED) from the country or countries where you were insured, for aggregation.
• Form PD U2 if you come to look for a job in Denmark with your country's benefits.
• Payslips and employment certificates.

Costs and timelines

2026 scale (Styrelsen for Arbejdsmarked og Rekruttering, via Lifeindenmark):

• Membership conditions: at least 18 years old (or vocational training of at least 18 months), more than 2 years before retirement age, and resident in Denmark (or covered by Danish social security while living in another EU or EEA country).
• Income condition: at least DKK 286,632 over the last 3 years (full-time) or DKK 191,088 (part-time).
• Amount: up to 90% of salary, calculated on the best 12 months of the last 24; maximum DKK 22,041 per month full-time, DKK 14,694 part-time. Higher rate possible (DKK 26,198 per month full-time) for members for at least 4 years without interruption, under conditions, and for a limited number of hours.
• Recent graduates: entitlement to benefits 1 month after the end of studies, provided you passed the Danish exam "Prøve i Dansk 2" (grade of at least 02) or have at least 600 paid hours (400 part-time) over 12 months within the last 24 months; reduced rates (from DKK 15,759 to DKK 18,074 per month full-time depending on family situation), rights for 1 year out of 2 years; membership no later than 2 weeks after the end of studies.
• Duration: 3,848 hours (2 years) over 3 years; each hour worked extends the entitlement by 2 hours.
• Illness: benefits possible during the first 14 days of illness if you were already registered as a jobseeker.
• Appeals: 4 weeks to contest a decision with your a-kasse, which then forwards it to the complaints centre (CKA) if it maintains its decision.

Common pitfalls

• Waiting until you are dismissed to join. You need 1 year of membership: join as soon as you are hired, or have your European periods counted right away.
• Missing the 8-week deadline to resume your rights from another EU country: after that deadline, your foreign periods may no longer count.
• Arriving with a PD U2 and registering too late. If you come to look for a job in Denmark with your country's benefits, register as a jobseeker with your municipality (Borgerservice or ICS centre) within 7 days of the date shown on the PD U2, and create your CV on Jobnet.
• Going to look for a job elsewhere in Europe with Danish dagpenge: possible for up to 3 months with a PD U2, if you were registered as a full-time unemployed person for at least 4 weeks; you must come back and register in Denmark before the end of the period, otherwise you lose your rights.
• United Kingdom: since 1 January 2021, looking for a job in the United Kingdom with dagpenge is only possible if you had a right of residence there on 31 December 2020.
• Faroe Islands and Greenland: their own schemes; this sheet applies to mainland Denmark.

What changes by country of origin

• EU and EEA citizens, Swiss citizens (and refugees or stateless persons residing in Denmark): aggregation of insurance periods from the EU, the EEA, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, and export of dagpenge for 3 months with a PD U2.
• Third-country nationals: only periods completed in the Nordic countries (Faroe Islands, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Finland) can be added together, and export of dagpenge is not possible.
• British citizens (Scots included): according to Lifeindenmark, a British citizen living in Denmark can aggregate their British and Danish periods, even if they arrived after 1 January 2021 (EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement). If they did not have a right of residence in Denmark before 1 January 2021, they cannot aggregate the periods of another EU or EEA country, only those of the Nordic countries. To look for a job in Denmark with a British benefit, Lifeindenmark refers you to the United Kingdom authorities; for your specific case, ask your a-kasse.