COPENHAGEN – The government of Denmark has announced a series of fresh regulations concerning foreign labor within the healthcare sector.
The changes have been confirmed by the portal Newtodenmark.dk which is managed jointly by the Immigration Service and the Agency for International Recruitment and Integration (SIRI).
Commencing on July 1, social and healthcare professionals will be included in the Positive List for Skilled Workers, affording access to 1,000 residence and work permits.
It is to be clarified that if there is a deficit of social and healthcare workers by July 1, 2024, it will be possible to grant social and healthcare workers a residence and work permit according to the Positive List for Skilled Work.
As part of the changes, the updated regulations entail an expansion of the authorization scheme, facilitating healthcare practitioners to secure a residence permit for attaining Danish authorization.
In this regard, applicants must undergo evaluation by the Patient Safety Authority through an authorization procedure specifically tailored for healthcare professionals.
Moreover, effective July 1, holders of residence permits under the authorization program will no longer require separate work permits, streamlining their ability to work in Denmark during their authorized tenure.
The government has highlighted that the rules also apply to individuals with an already valid residence permit according to the authorization scheme, even if this does not appear on the residence permit.
In the future, authorities will also grant a six-month extension for job searching in the extension of the authorization stay; this period can be used to seek employment in Denmark after the authorization process ends.
The changes are comprehensive in the sense that the applicants with existing residence permits under the authorization scheme must independently apply for a job search residence permit. Moreover, the job change rule will be extended to be implemented if you have a residence permit under the authorization scheme.
Another initiative aimed at retaining international talent within the country is that the foreign students specializing in professions facing shortages will enjoy extended stays in Denmark, Schengenvisainfo reported.
As far as the sectors in which the shortage of professionals is concerned, the 2023 EURES Report gives a glimpse of the situation; the report mentions home-based personal care workers, Child care workers, dental assistants and therapists, pharmaceutical technicians and assistants, medical imaging and therapeutic equipment technicians, midwifery professionals, nursing professionals, specialist medical practitioners, and generalist medical practitioners as the professions in which there is still a shortage.
