Canada Joins Hands With United States, India, UK and Australia as Denmark Opens New 2027 Work and Mobility Route for 16 Countries

Canada joins the United States, India, United Kingdom, Australia and 11 other countries in gaining access to Denmark’s new Collective Agreement Scheme, a residence and work permit pathway that will take effect across Denmark on 1 January 2027. The Danish Agency for International Recruitment and Integration, known as SIRI, is introducing the route to allow certified Danish companies to recruit qualifying foreign workers at an annual salary of at least DKK 322,000 at the 2026 level, provided the position is full-time and covered by an approved collective agreement. Employer certification applications are expected to open in early December 2026, although applications will only be processed once the scheme legally enters into force in January.

The new system is significant for international labour mobility because it creates a route with a substantially lower salary threshold than Denmark’s existing high-salary immigration programmes. However, it is not an unrestricted work visa. Eligibility depends on nationality, the employer, the employment agreement, salary, labour-market conditions and certification requirements. For businesses operating in Denmark, the change could widen access to international workers for positions that meet Danish collective bargaining standards but do not reach the higher salary floors attached to existing pay-limit routes.

Canada Among 16 Countries Covered by Denmark’s New Route

The Collective Agreement Scheme is restricted to nationals of a defined group of countries. Official Danish legislative material identifies 16 countries under the current framework. They include major Danish investment and trading partners, countries involved in EU accession negotiations and countries connected to relevant bilateral mobility arrangements.

The country framework means citizens of Canada, the United States, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Montenegro, Serbia, North Macedonia, Albania, Ukraine, Moldova, India, China including Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia and Australia are covered by the current list underpinning the scheme.

No African country appears on the current 16-country framework. This means workers from countries outside the eligible list cannot use this particular programme simply because they have received an employment offer meeting the DKK 322,000 threshold. Other Danish residence and work permit schemes would need to be considered instead. The nationality requirement therefore forms one of the most important distinctions between the new route and Denmark’s broader salary-based work schemes.

DKK 322,000 Salary Floor Opens a Lower-Threshold Route

At the centre of the new system is an annual minimum salary of DKK 322,000 at the 2026 level. That figure is considerably below the salary requirements currently attached to Denmark’s two principal pay-limit routes.

Denmark’s standard Pay Limit Scheme currently requires an annual salary of at least DKK 552,000, while the Supplementary Pay Limit Scheme requires DKK 446,000 at the 2026 level. Both existing thresholds are adjusted periodically under Danish rules.

The Collective Agreement Scheme therefore lowers the salary entry point considerably, but it replaces part of the salary barrier with tighter employment and employer conditions. A worker earning DKK 322,000 will not automatically qualify. The position must satisfy the collective agreement requirements established for the programme, the job must be full-time under the relevant agreement and the employer must have been certified specifically to recruit through the scheme.

Collective Bargaining Coverage Is a Core Condition

The title of the programme reflects one of its most important safeguards. Employment must be covered by one of the collective agreements designated under the Danish framework. The employer must also confirm that the position falls within an eligible agreement and that the employment is full-time according to that agreement.

This differs sharply from a straightforward salary-based immigration route. The system ties international recruitment directly to Denmark’s established labour-market model. Relevant labour organisations will also have a role in monitoring whether participating companies comply with the collective agreements governing the workers they recruit. For workers planning a move to Denmark, this means salary alone should not be treated as proof of eligibility. The status of the employer and the exact employment agreement will be critical.

Danish Employers Must Be Certified Before Workers Can Apply

A major feature of the January 2027 programme is the employer-first certification process. SIRI states that companies must obtain certification before they can recruit foreign employees under the route and before the foreign worker can submit the corresponding residence and work permit application.

SIRI expects companies to be able to submit certification applications from the beginning of December 2026. Processing will begin from 1 January 2027, because that is when the new scheme becomes legally effective. New application pages for both employer certification and employee residence and work permits are expected to be introduced through Denmark’s official New to Denmark portal.

The system therefore creates a two-stage structure:

1. The Danish employer must qualify and obtain SIRI certification.
2. The eligible foreign employee can then pursue the residence and work permit process for a qualifying position.

Workers should consequently verify an employer’s eligibility before treating a job offer as a route to residence and employment under the scheme.

Companies Face Strict Certification Conditions

The certification process is designed to prevent the lower salary threshold from becoming an uncontrolled recruitment channel. Under the adopted legislation, participating companies must meet several important requirements. A company must have at least 10 full-time employees in Denmark. Danish legislation specifies that the company must also have been operating and have filed annual reports or accounts covering the previous two years.

Companies must also allow monitoring of compliance with the relevant collective agreements. The adopted rules include additional safeguards. A company generally cannot have been penalised by Denmark’s Labour Court or industrial arbitration for underpaying foreign workers during the preceding two years. It must submit an exhaustive service certificate issued by the Danish Business Authority without adverse remarks and meet other prescribed compliance conditions.

The framework additionally requires employers to participate in a guidance meeting with SIRI and prevents certification in certain circumstances involving unresolved Danish Working Environment Authority enforcement notices or qualifying breaches of Denmark’s immigration rules. The initial certification under the new route is set to run for three years, while subsequent extensions can be granted for four years at a time, subject to continued compliance.

Ten Full-Time Workers Are Required for Employer Eligibility

The requirement for a minimum of 10 full-time workers is particularly important for smaller Danish businesses. The legislation requires an applicant company to have at least 10 full-time employees in Denmark. In the comparable SIRI certification framework, temporary workers and part-time employees cannot simply be combined to meet the 10-worker requirement.

This means the Collective Agreement Scheme is structured primarily for established employers rather than newly created or very small businesses seeking an immediate international recruitment channel. Combined with the two-year operating history requirement, the measure creates an additional barrier intended to ensure that participating employers have an established presence in the Danish labour market.

Denmark Adds an Unemployment Safeguard to the Scheme

Another significant feature is that the programme is linked to conditions in Denmark’s labour market. Under the adopted law, the scheme can operate when the average seasonally adjusted gross unemployment rate during the three months preceding the application has not exceeded a level established by Denmark’s Minister for Immigration and Integration.

This means the pathway is not based solely on a permanent salary and nationality test. The labour-market safeguard gives Danish authorities a mechanism to limit access to the programme if unemployment moves beyond the prescribed level. For international recruitment specialists and employers, this will make labour-market conditions an additional factor to monitor after the programme becomes operational.

Salary Rules Go Beyond the Headline DKK 322,000 Figure

Applicants should also distinguish between headline remuneration and the salary elements Danish authorities recognise for immigration purposes. Under Danish pay-limit rules, qualifying remuneration generally centres on cash salary and defined employment-related components rather than the total financial value of every benefit attached to a job. For existing pay-limit schemes, SIRI states that benefits such as free accommodation, paid telephone services, internet access, company vehicles and similar non-cash benefits cannot simply be counted towards the qualifying minimum salary.

The Collective Agreement Scheme will additionally operate within the conditions established by the relevant collective agreements. The DKK 322,000 figure is stated at the 2026 level. It should therefore not automatically be assumed to remain numerically unchanged for every future application period. Applicants preparing for the 2027 launch should check the final amount and detailed calculation rules published by SIRI when the dedicated application portal becomes available.

New Route Could Reshape Denmark’s International Labour Mobility

From a travel, relocation and corporate mobility perspective, the programme creates an important new pathway into Denmark. International employees moving for work generate demand across several parts of the travel economy, including air transport, temporary accommodation, relocation services, long-stay housing, insurance, banking and corporate travel management.

The scheme could be particularly relevant for businesses that require international workers but offer salaries below Denmark’s existing DKK 446,000 and DKK 552,000 pay-limit thresholds. However, it does not represent a general relaxation of Denmark’s employment immigration system. Instead, Denmark is pairing a lower DKK 322,000 salary threshold with stricter controls around nationality, collective bargaining, company history, employer size, compliance monitoring and labour-market conditions.

What Workers Should Check Before Applying

Foreign nationals considering the route from January 2027 will need to examine several factors rather than relying on the salary requirement alone:

• The worker must hold citizenship of a country included on the applicable list.
• The Danish company must be certified under the Collective Agreement Scheme.
• The position must fall under a collective agreement covered by the programme.
• Employment must be full-time according to that agreement.
• The annual remuneration must meet at least the applicable salary threshold.
• The relevant Danish labour-market unemployment condition must be satisfied when required.
• The employer must continue meeting its certification and compliance obligations.

The precise application procedure will become clearer when SIRI launches its dedicated pages.

Denmark Prepares for January 2027 Rollout

The next major milestone will come in early December 2026, when SIRI expects to open the certification application process for Danish companies. The authority will then begin processing applications from 1 January 2027, when the Collective Agreement Scheme formally takes effect. For Canada, the United States, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, Brazil, China, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Montenegro, Serbia, North Macedonia, Albania, Ukraine and Moldova, the new framework adds another potential channel into Denmark’s employment market.

Its lower DKK 322,000 salary level makes the scheme notably different from Denmark’s established pay-limit programmes. Yet the wider regulatory framework shows that Denmark is not simply lowering its immigration salary threshold. It is creating a controlled labour-mobility route in which employers, collective agreements and regulatory supervision become central to whether an international worker can qualify. From 1 January 2027, that combination of lower salary requirements and stronger employer controls will form a new component of Denmark’s international recruitment system.