The government has confirmed its plans to reduce the minimum wage threshold on a key work permit scheme, potentially opening the labour market to a large number of foreign workers from 16 non-EU countries.
That will see the salary threshold on the Pay Limit work permit scheme reduced from 514,000 kroner to 300,000 kroner annually for 16 specific non-EU countries.
The move is expected to make it easier for Danish employers to hire from the 16 countries which will be eligible for the lower limit, because it opens the programme to lower-paying jobs and sectors.
The Pay Limit Scheme (beløbsgrænse in Danish) – the work permit programme which is subject to the proposal – grants applicants a Danish work permit if they can present a job offer from a Danish company which meets a set minimum salary threshold.
The agreement will reduce this threshold from 514,000 kroner per year in salary to 300,000 kroner per year for 16 specific countries.
The 16 non-EU countries which will be eligible are the USA, the United Kingdom, Singapore, China, Japan, Australia, Canada, India, Brazil, Malaysia, Montenegro, Serbia, North Macedonia, Albania, Ukraine, and Moldova.
In addition to cutting the threshold salary, a number of other conditions will apply to the updated Pay Limit Scheme.
Companies will be obliged to be part of a collective bargaining agreement with a trade union (if they are not already) to qualify for the scheme. This measure is designed to guard against the practice of social dumping, by which foreign workers are brought in on working conditions inferior to those offered to Danish workers.
More specifically, the collective agreement must come under the umbrella of the major confederation for employer associations, Dansk Arbejdsgiverforening (DA), and the trade union confederation Fagbevægelsens Hovedorganisation (FH).
Any company covered by such an agreement will qualify for work permit applications which use the Pay Limit Scheme, with the reduced salary threshold of 300,000 kroner.
EXPLAINER: How do you apply for a Danish work permit using the Pay Limit scheme?
There is no limit to how many times a company can use the scheme but it will be suspended if unemployment rises.
This mechanism is designed to prevent foreign workers from keeping Danes out of the labour market in a situation where unemployment is rising.
Unemployment has been consistently low in Denmark in recent years and has been a major factor in the push for more foreign labour from businesses and pro-business political parties like the Liberal (Venstre) party and the Moderates, which are both members of the coalition government.
Suspension of the programme will kick in if unemployment reaches 3.75 percent for three consecutive months. The percentage is corrected for fluctuations caused by seasonal work. Unemployment is currently 2.9 percent (as of May 2025) according to Statistics Denmark.
Applicants using the Pay Limit Scheme must not have committed certain criminal offences within the two years prior to application.
People granted work permits under the revised scheme may be required to carry an ID. This will apply at construction sites and other major projects with operating costs of over 100 million kroner, meaning there will likely be a large number of workers. The government says this measure will also help to guard against social dumping.
The proposal also includes an agreement between DA and FH to allow inspections at workplaces to ensure compliance with the rules.
The plan must be approved in parliament but this is expected to be a formality, with the government holding a majority.
The full text of the agreement can be found (in Danish) on the Employment Ministry website.
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