Denmark · Work authorisation

Positive List for People with a Higher Education

Issued by The Danish Agency for International Recruitment and Integration (SIRI). It is checked against conditions rather than scored, so the question is whether you meet each one, not how many points you gather.

Basis
Checklist
Steps
4
Possible outcomes
2
Last checked
2026-08-09

Conditions

What this permit
asks of you.

Which desk decides

The authority, exactly

One of two positive lists SIRI maintains — the other covers shortage occupations that do not require a higher education and is out of scope for this route. SIRI updates the Positive List for People with a Higher Education twice a year, on 1 January and 1 July; the update effective 1 July 2026 carried 164 job titles, organised into fields that include natural science and engineering, healthcare, teaching, economics and administration, information and communication technology, and law and social science.

Qualification

What it wants from your degree

A job offer for a role that is on the current Positive List, with documentation of your education relevant to that job. Each list entry sets its own required level — SIRI states some entries require at least three years' education at bachelor level, others a Professional Bachelor's or Master's degree, and some require Danish authorisation on top where the role itself is separately regulated.

The procedure

4 steps,
in the order they happen.

Prepare your documents

  1. Check whether the job you have been offered appears on the current Positive List for People with a Higher Education, and confirm your education meets the level that specific entry requires.The list changes twice a year, on 1 January and 1 July. Confirm your job title is on the version in force on the date you apply.
  2. Gather documentation of your education relevant to the job offered, arranging translation where SIRI requires it.

Get your qualification assessed

  1. Confirm the salary offered is not lower than normal within the field, and apply online, paying the processing fee.SIRI applies the same qualifying salary components as the Pay Limit Scheme — liquid salary, labour market pension contributions, and paid holiday allowance — but does not publish a fixed floor in DKK for this route.

Register and start working

  1. Work full-time, normally 37 hours a week, and arrange for your salary to be paid into a Danish bank account in your own name.

Cost and time

What it costs,
and how long the authority says it takes.

Fees

Application fee
DKK 6,810

Timeframes

Processing
Normally 1 month, up to 3 months if SIRI needs more information

Published processing times, not a prediction about your case.

Both halves together

Guides that use this permit.

Each one takes a profession into Denmark and runs the recognition branch and the authorisation branch side by side, including what your country of qualification adds.

Evidence

Every claim on this page, and where it came from.

2 official pages, each with the jurisdiction it speaks for and the date a human last opened it. The oldest is 2026-08-09, and that is the date this page is only as fresh as.

Is this the right permit for you?

That depends on where you qualified.

The planner compares every route Denmark opens to your country of qualification, and adds the recognition branch when your profession has one.

Check my path →All Denmark permits