Denmark
Updated procedure for assessing salary offers
On 27 September 2024, the Danish Agency for International Recruitment and Integration (SIRI) published an updated version of the practice note that is used to assess whether an offered salary in certain work cases corresponds to Danish standards.
In March 2022, SIRI published a note concerning SIRI’s practices concerning the assessment of Danish standards for salary. Since then, the note has been the basis for SIRI’s assessment of questions concerning the Danish standards for salary, in terms of certain work schemes.
The practice note has been updated, among other things, because the Supplementary Pay Limit Scheme and the Fast-track Scheme’s supplementary pay limit track have been added to the work schemes since the last practice note.
The updated version of the practice note covers cases under the Pay Limit Scheme as well as the Supplementary Pay Limit Scheme, the five tracks of the Fast-track Scheme, the Researcher Scheme, the Positive List for People with a Higher Education and Work permits for accompanying family members.
As the practice note states, SIRI will generally not assess whether an offered salary corresponds to Danish standards within cases where the employment is covered by a collective agreement. Within the cases where the employer is a member of an Employer’s organisation, SIRI will assess whether an offered salary corresponds to Danish standards up until the level just above the regular pay limit. Within additional cases, SIRI will generally always assess whether an offered salary corresponds to Danish standards.
In cases where SIRI assesses whether the salary corresponds to Danish standards, they will also assess whether the other material terms of employment corresponds to Danish standards.
The practice note applies from 27 September 2024, and also applies to the processing of applications already submitted.
For the work schemes that are not covered by the practice note, the assessment of whether an offered salary corresponds to Danish standards can be found on newtodenmark.com under the individual schemes.
Finland
Longer period of residence required for citizenship
Effective 1 October 2024, the Citizenship Act has been amended such that the period of residence required for Finnish citizenship is now eight years.
In some cases, the required period of residence is shorter than eight years. For applicants who meet the language skills requirement, for example, the required period of residence will be five years.
The rules regarding residence abroad during the required period of residence have also changed. A total of 365 days abroad is now accepted as part of the required period of residence. Up to 90 of these days may be from one year immediately preceding the citizenship decision. For applicants who spend more time abroad, the exceeding days will not be counted towards their period of residence.
The processing of citizenship applications from beneficiaries of international protection and stateless applicants are now processed as urgent: a decision will be made within one year of the day when the application was submitted.
For applicants who have been granted international protection, the period of residence will no longer be calculated from the day when the asylum application was submitted. Instead, the period of residence will be counted from the day when the applicant was granted a first continuous residence permit (an A permit).
Applications submitted before 1 October 2024 will be decided in accordance with the old version of the Citizenship Act. Applications submitted on or after 1 October 2024 will be decided in accordance with the new period of residence requirement.
Currently, there is backlog in the processing of citizenship applications. Approximately 28,000 citizenship applications are waiting for processing. There is a long waiting time because the number of incoming applications has been exceptionally high in recent years.
Another reason for longer processing times in citizenship applications is that many applications do not meet the requirements.
The Finnish Immigration Service aims to clear the backlog of citizenship applications gradually by 2027.
Those applying online may be able to avoid a visit to a service point of the Finnish Immigration Service if:
- they are at least 18 years old and apply for citizenship for themselves;
- they submit the application via the Enter Finland online service ;
- they use strong electronic identification, such as Finnish online banking credentials, to log in to the online service and;
- they pay for the application before submitting it.
