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LIVING IN DENMARK

KEY POINTS: What changes about life in Denmark in November 2021

Here's what changes in Denmark in November and how it could affect you.

Published: 29 October 2021 21:02 CEST
Updated: 1 November 2021 08:56 CET

A truck with Tuborg Julebryg and people wearing blue elf costumes in Copenhagen's Carlsberg district in 2014. The Christmas beer is traditionally launched on the first Friday in November. Photo: Linda Kastrup/Ritzau Scanpix

Municipal and regional elections

November 16th sees elections to municipal and regional governing bodies across the country. Many foreign residents are eligible to vote in the elections, for which postal voting has already begun.

We’ll be covering the elections over the next two weeks — look out for guides on how to vote and information on the parties and how their policies affect foreign residents in Denmark.

Rapid Covid-19 testing returns

Antigen testing for Covid-19, commonly referred to in Denmark as lyntest or rapid testing, returns from Saturday October 30th in high-incidence municipalities Glostrup, Albertslund, Brøndby and Ishøj and will be rolled out to the rest of the country in the following week.

The government made the decision to bring back rapid testing with a capacity of up to 100,000 tests per day in response to escalating coronavirus infection numbers in late October.

Rapid test centres were closed on October 9th, but a stand-by agreement was left in place with private contractors enabling the service to be reinstated at short notice.

The capacity for PCR testing will also be higher in November at 150,000 daily. In October it was 100,000 per day.

Higher Covid-19 case numbers expected

It’s not a change anyone would hope for, but an increase in the incidence of Covid-19 cases in November need not come as a surprise, nor, indeed a cause for panic.

An expert group working under national infectious disease agency State Serum Institute estimates more cases of the virus as colder weather tightens its grip.

According to the expert group’s estimate, released on October 22nd, the daily infection number will be between 600 and 3,200 by the middle of November, with 25-110 new hospital admissions daily.

This does not mean the number of people in hospital with Covid-19 will increase by this amount daily, because the figure does not take into account discharges from hospital.

Fully vaccinated can travel to United States

Fully vaccinated travellers from Europe will be able to travel to the United States from November 8th if they undergo Covid-19 testing and contact tracing.

US nationals living in Europe and their close family members were able to travel home across the Atlantic despite the outgoing ban, but the strict rules caused difficulty for many.

Brits in Denmark born after 1989 should apply for permanent residency

The Danish Agency for International Recruitment and Integration has advised Brits living in Denmark who were born from 1990 onwards to send in their applications for post-Brexit permanent residency status during October.

The agency said in an open letter published in December that it wanted to stagger the applications to avoid a surge which would overwhelm its staff. However, the dates given were only a request and British residents who have applied ahead of the recommended time have had their applications handled as normal.

You apply for residency at the New in Denmark page.

Lower speed limits could take effect in some areas

If you have memorised local speed limits in your part of Denmark, it’s worth double checking they are still what you think they are.

The ministry of transport in September offered 15 municipalities the option of reducing some local speed limits to 40 kilometres per hour, rather than the regular 50 kilometres per hour.

Municipalities were asked to apply in September to the Danish Road Directorate for participation in the trial, with any approved changes coming into effect in November.

J-day: the unofficial start to the festive season

The first Friday of November is customarily a busy one for bars as Christmas beers or juleøl are launched, not least by brewing giant Tuborg, which releases its iconic julebryg (Christmas brew): hence the term J-dag, J-day.

The event normally results in packed bars with large numbers of patrons ordering the sweet tasting Christmas beer with its characteristic dark-blue-and-snowflake label, even though many Danes are likely to tell you they don’t actually like the taste.

Here’s our explainer of the popular annual tradition, from the archives in 2015.

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KEY POINTS: What changes about life in Denmark in July 2024?

Summer holidays begin!

Most schools in Denmark break up for the summer on June 28th, making July 1st the first day of the summer holidays.

Of the five standard weeks or (normally 25 days) of paid vacation covered by the Holiday Act, the “main holiday period” begins on May 1st and ends on September 30th. During this time, three weeks’ consecutive vacation may be taken out of the five weeks.

For those in full or part-time employment who are covered by the Danish Holiday Act (Ferieloven), most will take three weeks off in July, starting on July 1st, July 8th, or July 15th.

Many taking three weeks off in a row, sometimes coinciding with the school holidays (although others break it up).

This is why you may hear Danish colleagues who work full time wishing each other a “good summer holiday” on June 28th as if it’s the end of the school term.

New law making spousal reunion easier

From July 1st, those bringing a foreign spouse to Denmark will have the amount they need to deposit in a bank account accessible by their local municipality halved from 114,000 kroner to 57,000 kroner (both 2024 level), as part of a package of measures on family reunification.

The new lower requirement will require for all residency permit decisions made for foreign spouses after July 1st, and will apply at the time of decision rather than the time of application.

The new law will also change the Danish language requirement for the partner with an existing right to live in Denmark (normally because they are Danish citizens), so that the requirement will be “considered fulfilled” if the resident has spent five years or more in full-time employment or been self-employed in a job that has “significantly involved communication in Danish”.

Finally, the bill will bring in a new opholdsordning or “residence scheme” which will allow returning Danes to bring their families with them based on the same rules which are currently applied to foreign nationals granted work permits in Denmark.

The Danish Agency for International Recruitment and Integration (Styrelsen for International Rekruttering og Integration, SIRI) told The Local that in May that it intended to launch a new application page and application form for returning Danes, with details published on the nyidanmark.dk website at the end of June.

New law on recording working hours

From July 1st, all Danish employers are required to introduce a working hours registration system that makes it possible to measure the daily working hours of each individual employee.

The requirement implements a 2019 judgement of the EU Court, with Denmark’s version built on an agreement reached on June 30th last year between the Confederation of Danish Employers, the Danish Trade Union Confederation, and Denmark’s white collar union, the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations.

Under the new law, workers will only need to register deviations from agreed or scheduled working hours, but will have to open the app or web page if they, say, pop out to the dentist or stay late to finish a presentation.

Under the law, employers are required to keep these records for five years.

Employees empowered to set their own schedule — so called self-organisers — are exempt from the law, but as the law states that such people should be able to reorganise their own working time “in its entirety” and that this power should be enshrined in their contracts. This is only expected to apply to the most senior tier of executives.

End to compulsory bank account work permit rule

Foreign workers who receive a work permit under the “researcher” scheme and four so-called “fast track” schemes will no longer be obliged to open and receive payment in a Danish bank account, ending one of the most irrititating bureaucratic hurdles for foreigners coming to work in Denmark.

The exemption will apply to those granted work permits under the “researcher” scheme and also to the “pay limit”, “education”, “researcher” and “short-term” tracks of the fast-track scheme.

To be eligible for a fast-track permit, foreigners need to hired by a so-called “certified” company, typically a mid-sized and large company that hires internationally quite regularly.

For employees still covered by the bank account requirement, the government has meanwhile extended the time limit for setting up a Danish bank account from 90 days to 180 days.

Update to Positive List

The Positive List is a list of professions for which immigration authorities can issue work permits because Denmark is experiencing a shortage of qualified professionals in those fields.

People who are offered a job included in the Positive List can apply for a Danish residence and work permit based on the Positive List Scheme. An educational background in the relevant field is required.

The Positive List Scheme is one of a number of business schemes used to grant work permits for non-EU and EEA nationals who are unable to move to Denmark under the EU’s right to free movement.

The list is updated twice a year, on January 1st and July 1st.

The updated lists can be viewed on the website of the Danish Agency for International Recruitment and Integration (SIRI).

Tax declaration deadlines for businesses and self-employed people

If you are a business owner in Denmark you must register your results for 2023 by June 30th, with self-employed people having until July 1st. Find more details on the Tax Agency’s website here.

Custody hearing for Pole who assaulted Danish PM

The custody of the 39-year-old Polish man suspected of punching Frederiksen on June 7th as she walked in central Copenhagen runs out on July 4th, meaning it needs to be extended in a new court hearing.

The man, who was arrested immediately after the incident, has denied responsibility and says he has no recollection of what happened.

New Copenhagen Metro lines open

Officially opened by King Frederik X on June 22nd, five new stations have extended Copenhagen’s M4 Metro line and can now be used by passengers.

The new stations — Havneholmen, Enghave Brygge, Sluseholmen, Mozarts Plads and Copenhagen South — link Copenhagen Central Station to southern suburb Valby.

The new line will allow people to travel from Copenhagen South in Valby to the Rådhuspladsen in central Copenhagen in anout 10 minutes and to get from Copenhagen South to Frederiksberg at the other end of the M4 line in about 17 minutes.

The total metro network now consists of 44 stations spread over 43 kilometres of track.

Vig Festival

The Vig music festival will be held between July 10th and July 13th in the northwestern part of Zealand, with Infernal, Gobs, Zar Paulo, Mads Christian, ISSE, Gabriel Jacobsen, and Rasmus Seebach all on the bill.

Tickets: A one-day ticket costs between 925 kroner and 1,025 kroner depending on the day you attend. Children up to the age of 11 can enter for free, as long as they are accompanied by a paying adult.

A full festival three-day ticket costs between 1,375 kroner and 1,825 kroner, depending how early/late you buy. A full festival family ticket for one adult (18+) plus a child aged 12-15, costs 2,125 kroner.

Copenhagen Jazz Festival (and Aarhus and Aero)

The streets of Copenhagen will hum with the groovy sound of summer jazz as the latest edition of the Copenhagen Jazz Festival begins on July 5th and continues for ten days until July 15th.

The annual festival is unique in that it does not have a specific location, but is played out in parks, on squares and in bars (and, of course, jazz clubs) across the capital. The size of the venues ranges equally from intimate and spontaneous to major concert halls.

Over 1,200 concerts are scheduled to take place across 120 venues and you can check out the programme on the event’s website.

For those of you who really cannot get enough jazz, there’s also the International Jazz Festival in Aarhus from July 13th to july 20th and the Ærø Jazz Festival on one of the idyllic islands south of Funen from July 31st to August 3rd.

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