Working in Denmark
Regulation
Irish nationals holding a valid Irish passport may take up employment in Denmark in accordance with EU regulation. Irish nationals, who wish to seek employment in Denmark, may stay there without a visa or residence permit for a period not exceeding 3 months from the date of entry.
A detailed guide on the Danish labour market published by the Danish Ministry of Employment can be downloaded here.
Health Insurance/Registration
Prior going to Denmark to look for employment you should contact your local Health Board to obtain form E128 or the Blue European Health Card. This entitles you to emergency medical treatment, until such a time that you are covered by Danish health insurance, e.g. when you start working/paying tax.
Danish social/health insurance is administered by 'Social- og Sundhedsforvaltningen' (equivalent to the Irish local Health Board) in each municipality.
Your tax matters are dealt with by the local tax office (Skatteforvaltningen). It is important to know that you only qualify for one year's tax free allowance if you stay in Denmark for an entire year. If you stay for a shorter time than a year, you will qualify for only a proportion of a year's tax free allowance. Information about tax rates and more can be found at the homepage of the Danish Ministry of Taxation.
After arriving in Denmark you must register with the local National Register (Folkeregistret). Here you will be allocated a personal identity number (personnummer). This number will be used in all tax/social-welfare matters etc.
Finding employment
In spite of a strong economy, Denmark does not go unaffected by the financial crisis and its negative effects on the employment situation. Unemployment is currently at 5,8% (2013) but increasing within a range of job categories; although seen from an international perspective it happens from a very low baseline.
The general labour shortage that has characterised the Danish labour market during the mid-2000s has been replaced by a situation with fewer vacant jobs. The need to recruit labour from outside Denmark has therefore also decreased. However, there are still areas where Denmark will need labour from abroad – especially highly skilled labourers within the health and IT sectors.
In order to keep updated on the current development in the job sector in Denmark it is recommended to seek additional information on the subject on the Work in Denmark website.
Looking into the future, the demographic development of Denmark combined with the expectation of the market taking a positive turn, it is likely that Denmark will once again witness a rising demand for labour from abroad.
Remember that Irish citizens are allowed to stay in Denmark for 3 months without working. If you intend to stay more than 3 months you need to contact the Danish 'Statsamt' to get a residence permit. Being an EU-citizen allows you to go look for a job without having a residence permit, but it does not automatically entitle you to live in Denmark.
The website Work in Denmark is aimed to connect international job seekers with Danish companies and offers you the opportunity to place your CV online plus looking for a job in the job database.
Work can be found by contacting the local jobcenter. The jobcentres are the local public employment service centres. Be aware however that these website are in Danish.
There are several private employment service centres, which can be found on the local yellow pages. Note that the website is only in Danish.
Work may also be found through FÁS's EURES or any local FÁS Employment Services Offices. Contact information on the FÁS' head office in Dublin:
FÁS
European Employment Services (EURES) Section
27-33 Upper Baggot Street
Dublin 4
Tel.: +353 (0) 1 607 0500
Website: www.fas.ie
Further useful addresses
Embassy of Ireland
Østbanegade 21
2100 Copenhagen Ø
Denmark
Tel. +45 3542 3233
Fax +45 3543 1858
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.embassyofireland.dk
The Danish Irish Society
Spaniensgade 2, 2.
2300 Copenhagen
Denmark
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.danskirsk.dk