Folketing approves a collective-agreement route for overseas hires

Folketing has approved a new residence-permit route for recruitment by certified employers into jobs covered by specified collective agreementsRetsinformationRetsinformation. The text adopted at third reading on 3 September 2026 sets annual remuneration of at least DKK 322,000Retsinformation and specifies commencement on 1 January 2027Retsinformation.

The route has conditions beyond salary. The job must be covered by a collective agreement designated by the responsible ministerRetsinformation, and the worker must be a citizen of a country on a published ministerial list. At the time of application, average seasonally adjusted gross unemployment over the preceding three months must not exceed the prescribed level. The employer must declare that the job is covered by an eligible agreement, is full-time under that agreement and allows continuing checks of compliance.

Certification requires at least ten full-time employees in Denmark. Among the other conditions are payment of the certification fee, attendance at a prior guidance meeting with Styrelsen for International Rekruttering og Integration, and an unqualified service certificate issued by Erhvervsstyrelsen within the preceding three months. The business must have operated and filed an annual report or annual accounts within the preceding two years. Conditions also address lawful industrial disputes, uncomplied-with immediate health-and-safety orders and specified penalties.

Employers must allow access for checks of collective-agreement compliance. Where no control agreement between the relevant collective-agreement parties exists, the text sets minimum access to information, including pay information, and to meetings with recruited employees. For workplaces without an elected shop steward, the relevant union must have access to meet employees twice annually and the employer twice annually.

Certification is initially granted for three years and renewed for four years at a time. The text also protects renewal of an individual’s permit in the same employment relationship where the unemployment threshold has subsequently been exceeded or the worker’s country is no longer on the published list.

The legislative basis is adopted bill L 16, third reading on 3 September 2026, amending udlændingeloven section 9 a and related provisions, with commencement in section 2.Retsinformation