Denmark Pay Limit Scheme: which parts of your salary package count, and the 1 January reset

An offer can show a salary above the limit and still fail, because the agency counts only guaranteed pay, pension contributions from you and the employer, and, for monthly-paid staff, the holiday supplement. A company car, phone, internet, canteen or housing add nothing, and the limit itself is reset every 1 January.

Packages built around benefits are where applications fail. SIRI, the agency that decides, sets those benefits aside. What remains is cash pay, including supplements that are fixed and so guaranteed, plus pension payments into a labour-market scheme, and the holiday supplement of monthly-paid staff. The holiday pay of hourly-paid workers, and holiday pay paid out the following year, do not count; SIRI counts supplements only when they are fixed, so a bonus that is not guaranteed adds nothing.

The pension point works in your favour. SIRI counts the contributions paid by the employer and the ones deducted from your own pay.

When the limit moves

The amount shown above is the 2026 level. It is adjusted every 1 January, and a first application is measured against the level in force on the day it is filed. An offer agreed in December and filed in January must meet the new year's figure, which had not been published when this page was checked.

When you extend, SIRI says you may stay on the limit that applied when you first applied.

Other conditions apply too, among them a working week of at least 30 hours and pay and terms that are usual for Denmark, so clearing the limit is not the whole test. The salary must also reach a Danish bank account in your own name: SIRI sets a 180-day window, counted from the grant or from your entry into Denmark.

The lower limit

A supplementary limit, also shown above, applies only to a full-time job, usually 37 to 40 hours a week, advertised on Jobnet and the EURES portal for at least two weeks and no more than six months before you apply, and only while Danish unemployment has averaged 3.75% or less over the three months before you apply.

What the state charges, and what a firm adds

When a relocation firm or an adviser handles the paperwork, its charges sit apart from the state's.

To the Danish state:

• The processing fee for the work permit, shown above as the government fee.
• A separate processing fee for each accompanying family member.

To a firm:

• Its relocation or application service, priced apart from the agency's fees.

Questions for the employer or the firm:

1. Which lines of the package does the salary figure include, and do the guaranteed parts alone reach the limit?
2. Is the employee's own pension contribution shown, so it can be counted?
3. Will the application be filed before or after 1 January, and which year's limit does that mean?
4. Who pays the processing fee, and is it refunded if the permit is refused?

If a relocation firm has quoted for the permit or sent a service agreement, the box can take it: choose yes first, and the firm's lines are compared with SIRI's published rules. It does not read a job offer or an employment contract; with one of those, choose no, enter the guaranteed pay plus the pension contributions, and say whether that figure is monthly or yearly. The check compares a document or a figure with the published rules, and does not look at your application or advise on it; for advice on your own case, speak to a qualified immigration lawyer.

General information, not legal advice.