Workforce Mobility & Immigration in Denmark

Establishment Card, Pay Limit Scheme, Fast-Track and EU Blue Card applications, salary threshold compliance, and researcher tax scheme coordination.

Denmark Reviewed September 2026

Currency

DKK (Danish krone)

EU/EEA/Swiss nationals

No visa or work permit required

Main non-EU route

The Pay Limit Scheme

Registration deadline

Typically within 1–2 weeks of arrival

Housing — single employee

~€1,400–1,900/month (1-bed, central)

Housing — family of four

~€2,300–3,200/month (3-bed)

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Moving workforce into Denmark

Denmark applies a flat 22% corporate tax rate uniformly across most company sizes and sectors, with no reduced rate for small businesses and no municipal or regional surcharge layered on top — one of the more straightforward corporate tax structures in Europe. The ApS, Denmark's standard private limited company, requires DKK 20,000 in share capital and can be formed with 100% foreign ownership and no requirement for directors or shareholders to be Danish tax residents.

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Freedom of movement, and the route for everyone else

Nationals of EU and EEA member states, and Switzerland, have full freedom of movement into Denmark: no visa and no work permit are required, though address and tax registration is still expected shortly after arrival.

For third-country nationals, The Pay Limit Scheme, Fast-Track Scheme, and EU Blue Card are the main routes for non-EU hires, each with its own salary threshold

Confirm the right route for a hire

What sits with the company

Once the right to work is confirmed, payroll registration follows — see our Payroll & Workforce Management in Denmark guide for the employer registration steps that come next.

Set up a relocation process

What it costs to house a relocating employee

Figures below are indicative for Copenhagen, Denmark's primary market for relocating employees — a company relocating multiple staff should budget by destination city, not a single national number.

Item	Single employee	Family of four
Typical apartment	1-bedroom	3-bedroom
Rent (Copenhagen)	~€1,400–1,900/month (1-bed, central)	~€2,300–3,200/month (3-bed)
Security deposit	Up to 3 months' rent plus up to 3 months' prepaid rent, common in practice	Up to 3 months' rent plus up to 3 months' prepaid rent, common in practice

Get a city-specific relocation estimate

Frequently asked questions

Why are Danish employer social contributions a fixed amount rather than a percentage?

Denmark's employer-side social contributions are primarily the ATP pension contribution and mandatory workplace accident insurance, both calculated as fixed annual amounts per full-time employee rather than as a percentage of salary — totalling approximately DKK 16,000 per year. This means employer cost does not scale with salary the way it does in percentage-based systems, making Denmark comparatively favourable for higher-salary roles.

What is the researcher and key employee tax scheme?

Qualifying foreign researchers and highly paid key employees can opt for a flat 27% tax rate on cash remuneration (effectively 32.84% combined with the labour market contribution) for up to seven years, instead of Denmark's standard progressive income tax. As of January 2026, the minimum qualifying monthly salary was reduced to DKK 65,400, down from DKK 78,000, making the scheme accessible to a wider range of foreign specialists.

What is the new "top-top tax" introduced in 2026?

Effective 1 January 2026, Denmark introduced an additional 5% tax bracket on personal income exceeding DKK 2,592,700 annually (after labour market contribution), bringing the maximum marginal rate for the highest earners to approximately 60.5% when combined with state and municipal tax.

What is the difference between an ApS and an A/S?

An ApS requires DKK 20,000 in share capital and suits the vast majority of foreign company formations, with no requirement for Danish-resident directors or shareholders. An A/S requires DKK 400,000 and a more formal governance structure, typically used for larger enterprises planning to raise capital publicly.

Talk to a Denmark mobility expert

The fixed, per-employee nature of Danish employer social contributions is frequently misunderstood by companies importing payroll cost assumptions from percentage-based systems elsewhere in Europe. At higher salary levels, Denmark's employer cost can be materially lower in relative terms than markets with uncapped percentage contributions — a structural advantage that is easy to miss when budgeting from a generic European cost template.

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