A new route into the Danish labour market
On 30 June 2025 the government opened a collective agreement-based work scheme, aimed at giving Danish companies easier access to qualified staff from a set of non-EU countries, on Danish pay and conditions.
Two objectives sit behind it: improve access to labour, and keep that access from becoming a channel for undercutting Danish terms. Below is what it means in practice for employers and for the people they hire.
What the scheme requires
The core condition is straightforward: a company wanting to use this route must be covered by a collective agreement, the negotiated agreement between employer and employee organisations that fixes pay and conditions in a given field.
What is new is the trade-off. Companies with such an agreement can recruit under a materially lower salary requirement: DKK 300,000 a year in 2025, against DKK 415,000 under the Supplementary Pay Limit Scheme. The route is open to nationals of a defined list of countries outside the EU, including the USA, the United Kingdom, India, Brazil and Ukraine among others.
The collective agreement requirement is what makes the lower threshold acceptable: it guarantees the incoming employee the same pay, hours and working environment as the Danish colleague sitting next to them.
Why it was introduced
1. Easier recruitment without lowering standards
Denmark is short of qualified people in construction, production and technology in particular. This route widens the pool while binding the terms to an existing agreement.
2. Closing off social dumping
Social dumping is what happens when foreign staff work on worse terms than their Danish colleagues. Alongside the scheme sit control measures, among them ID card requirements on larger construction and civil engineering sites, that make conditions easier for the authorities to verify.
3. Reinforcing the Danish model
The Danish labour market runs on collective agreements and on cooperation between employers and unions. Making an agreement the entry ticket reinforces that model and keeps competition between companies fair.
Who can use it
Eligibility is limited to nationals of selected countries outside the EU: the USA, the United Kingdom, Singapore, China, Japan, Australia, Canada, India, Brazil, Malaysia, Montenegro, Serbia, North Macedonia, Albania, Ukraine and Moldova, among others. For candidates from those countries, this route is generally an easier path to a work permit than the alternatives.
On the company side, three conditions apply:
- the company is covered by a collective agreement with the Confederation of Danish Employers and the Danish Trade Union Confederation, or equivalent parties
- the position in question falls within that agreement
- and the pay and conditions in the agreement are actually applied.
What it changes for work permits
The practical effect for anyone applying for a Danish work permit is that a lower salary barrier brings more roles within reach, provided the role is covered by an agreement.
It also makes conditions more predictable for the employee, because pay and hours are set by the agreement rather than negotiated case by case.
What employers get out of it
Companies already operating on proper terms gain a cleaner route to international hires without having to navigate between competing schemes and salary floors. The agreement requirement also gives them a more stable footing when competing for the same candidates.
Before you rely on it
The scheme opens doors, but it adds documentation obligations and brings closer scrutiny of salaries, current ones as well as future ones. Questions about employment terms, permits, agreement coverage and social security get complicated fast.
If you are weighing up whether this route fits your company or your own situation, get in touch and we will go through it with you.
