Denmark’s government has revealed a new agreement to facilitate increased migration for individuals seeking employment in the country’s social care sector.
This agreement is in collaboration with a parliamentary majority in Denmark. The deal, announced by the Ministry of Education and Research, expands the positive list scheme, enabling foreign workers, particularly care workers or “sosu-hjælpere” in Danish, to obtain permits.
Nairametrics learnt that this initiative aims to address a projected shortage of 15,000 workers in the social care sector by 2035, with the agreement setting a quota to fill 1,000 positions with foreign staff through work permits granted via the positive list.
This agreement could be the initial step in Denmark’s efforts to address its labor shortage in the sector by considering foreign workers.
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Maintaining immigration policy
The immigration minister emphasized the significance of the agreement in addressing recruitment challenges, stating it is “an important step” in this direction.
Despite the governing Social Democrats’ past skepticism about attracting additional foreign labor to Denmark, the immigration minister clarified that he does not perceive the agreement as a relaxation of immigration policy.
- “It is important that we separate immigration policy from foreign labour. We give tens of thousands of residence permits to workers every year and I don’t consider these things to belong together,” he said.
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Denmark to ease application process for foreign nationals
Earlier, the Health and Interior Minister Sophie Løhde admitted to the country needing more foreign talent and indicated the importance of having easier rules to the authorization process. She noted that many skilled foreign nurses and doctors face hurdles due to existing regulations, preventing them from contributing effectively.
- We are in severe need of qualified labour in our health system
- “But we unfortunately also seeing that very many skilled foreign nurses and doctors are finding that existing rules are tripping them up so they can’t get out there and contribute,” she said.
In order to facilitate the speedy recruitment of foreign medical professionals, such as doctors and nurses from non-EU countries to join the Danish workforce, there are proposed changes to the authorization process.
The proposed changes includes a shortcut authorization process to expedite the approval of foreign medical credentials.
The proposed shortcut will streamline the application process by allowing step 5, which involves working at two hospitals for evaluation over one year, to run concurrently with other steps, reducing the overall authorization time.
