Denmark: the Pay Limit scheme, the Fast-track certified companies, and the 2026 figure

Denmark asks one question of most foreign workers: does the job pay enough? If it does, any Danish employer can sponsor you, no shortage list, no labour market test. The number is high, the salaries are high to match, and the process is one of the cleanest in Europe.

The Pay Limit scheme: DKK 552,000 in 2026

SIRI, the Danish Agency for International Recruitment and Integration, publishes the pay limit and regulates it every 1 January. For 2026 it is DKK 552,000 a year, about €74,000. The salary must be paid to a Danish bank account and only certain components count: base pay, paid holiday, pension contributions and a few others. Bonuses and benefits in kind generally do not.

The normal processing time SIRI publishes is one month, up to three if they ask for more information. The employer and you fill in the application together online; the fee is paid by whoever submits it.

The supplementary scheme: DKK 446,000 with strings

A lower limit of DKK 446,000 exists under the Supplementary Pay Limit scheme. It comes with conditions: the job must have been advertised on Jobnet and EURES for at least two weeks, the national unemployment rate must be below a set level, and you must not have certain fines on your record. Because those conditions are about the job and the country rather than about you, a salary between the two limits shows on this site as needing a check, not as passing.

The Positive Lists: no pay limit if your job is listed

Denmark keeps two Positive Lists, one for people with a higher education and one for skilled work, of occupations where employers cannot find enough staff. If your job is on a list, there is no pay limit at all; the salary only has to match Danish standards for the role. Nurses, doctors, engineers, IT specialists and many trades appear on them. This site does not yet check the Positive Lists, so a listed-occupation job under DKK 552,000 will show here as pay too low. Read the SIRI Positive List pages before you rule a job out.

Why the Fast-track certified list matters

Around 1,000 Danish companies are certified by SIRI for the Fast-track scheme. Certification lets a company start you working while the application is processed, switch you between the pay limit, researcher, educational and short-term tracks, and generally move faster. It is granted to companies that have shown they can handle foreign hires properly.

That is the list this site reads. A certified company is set up to bring you in. An uncertified company can still sponsor you through the ordinary schemes; it will just take the full month and it may be the first time they have done it.

Language and money

Copenhagen, Aarhus and the big engineering employers in Jutland hire in English every day. Healthcare is the exception: nursing and medical roles require Danish and authorisation from the Danish Patient Safety Authority, which takes time. Danish income tax is high and the cost of living matches it; a DKK 552,000 salary is a comfortable life, not a rich one. The tax scheme for researchers and key employees (forskerskatteordningen) can lower the rate for some high earners; ask the employer.