Denmark Start-up Visa

There is no investment threshold, but there is a numeric self-support threshold, and it is calculated by who accompanies the applicant rather than as a single figure.

The applicant must document sufficient funds to cover their first year in Denmark, at four levels the authority prints outright, at 2025 rates: DKK 153,240 if travelling alone; DKK 306,480 if a spouse accompanies;

DKK 356,904 if a spouse and one or more children accompany; and DKK 203,664 where children accompany but not a spouse.

Setting the four figures side by side shows something worth working out before deciding who travels: the second person doubles the requirement, while children add roughly a third — the cost of documenting funds jumps at the first accompanying person rather than rising evenly with numbers.

Alongside the money sits a condition about the type of company that many applicants discover only after a refusal: a permit is granted only for an active company from which business is genuinely conducted and in which there are real activities, so a pure holding company does not qualify.

And the applicant’s own position is limited in the same direction: someone standing merely as a shareholder cannot be granted a permit under this scheme.

What is granted is a residence and work permit to establish and run an innovative growth company in Denmark. The scheme can also be used to continue running an existing business, or to conduct business through a Danish branch of a foreign self-employed business.

An application may come from an individual or from a team of up to three people sharing one business plan. The substantive condition is that the business brings innovative ideas and development potential to the Danish business community, contributing to economic growth and new jobs.

The permit allows a stay in the Schengen area of up to 90 days within the latest 180 days, but it does not allow work in other Schengen countries. The right to work is valid on Danish territory only.

The status also carries a duty of self-support. The holder may not receive benefits under the Active Social Policy Act; doing so can lead to revocation of the permit and loss of the right to stay. Where an authority disburses benefits to a foreign national, SIRI is notified.

Normal processing time is two months, rising to four months where further information is needed.

The permit is granted for up to two years and may be extended for up to three years at a time; where the extension application is filed before the permit expires, the holder may stay in Denmark and keep running the business even while the permit is lapsing.

A residence permit can only be valid until three months before the passport expiry date, so a short-dated passport shortens the permit accordingly; once the passport is renewed, an extension can be applied for at the earliest three months before the permit expires.

And there is a hard quota: a maximum of 75 foreign nationals may be granted a permit under the scheme per year, from 1 January to 31 December

The holder must not give up their Danish address and must not stay abroad for more than six successive months; a breach causes the permit to lapse and the right to stay with it, unless a dispensation was applied for beforehand.

The right to work is confined to the very business on which the permit rests; a sideline job requires a separate permit, while starting a new business or taking a salaried job requires a fresh application.

A Danish permit does not allow work in other Schengen countries, although it allows travel in the Schengen area for up to 90 days in any 180.

The holder must support themselves and may not receive benefits under the Active Social Policy Act; receiving them can lead to revocation, and where a municipality disburses such benefits SIRI is notified

A residence and work permit under the Start-up Denmark scheme allows the family to come to Denmark. A permit can be granted to a spouse, a registered or cohabiting partner, and children under 18 living at home.

The self-support requirement depends on who is accompanying rather than being a single flat figure. The 2025 level is DKK 153,240 for an applicant alone, and DKK 306,480 if a spouse comes along.

With a spouse and one or more children, the level is DKK 356,904. With one or more children but no spouse, it is DKK 203,664.

The money must cover the first year in Denmark. It can be evidenced by a bank statement in the applicant's name, showing the currency, the date of issue and the account holder's name.

Because the level rises by family composition rather than per head, a second child does not raise the amount to be shown.

The status this programme grants, whether a visa or a residence permit, does not replace the holder's passport. The holder still travels on the passport of their own country, so the figure below belongs to the Denmark passport and becomes the holder's only once they are issued a Denmark passport.

According to the Passport Index of Prosperous Intelligence, on data dated 30 September 2026, the Denmark passport reaches 202 destinations without applying for a consular visa in advance. The figure combines three forms of entry and does not count an e-Visa that must be obtained beforehand:

It is therefore a measure of how easily the holder travels, not a count of visa-free countries in the narrow sense.

For comparison, on the same source and the same method of counting, the Vietnamese passport reaches 44 destinations. The two lists of destinations do not nest inside one another, so the difference is an indication rather than a list of places newly opened.

Prosperous Intelligence dates its data and advises checking with the destination’s official authorities before travelling.

Denmark has no tax regime attached to this programme. The only preferential regime for newly arrived foreign nationals is the researcher tax scheme under sections 48 E and 48 F of the Withholding Tax Act.

The notable point is that a person granted a permit under this programme is excluded from that scheme by the very status the permit requires.

The scheme works as follows. A qualifying person is taxed at 32.84% of gross earned income, being an 8% labour market contribution plus 27% A-tax, for a maximum of seven years.

Two groups qualify: researchers holding a research qualification at least at doctoral level and approved under the rules, and highly paid key employees with a guaranteed monthly salary of at least DKK 65,400 at the 2026 level.

One threshold condition already excludes a group: the person must be employed by a Danish enterprise or research institution, so the scheme is not open to the self-employed.

The next condition is the real bar: section 48 E(3)(2) provides that the employee must not have, directly or indirectly, any part in the management of, control over or significant influence on the enterprise that employs them, and that condition applies for the five years preceding the employment and throughout the period on the scheme.

Where the employer is a company, the quantified limits are these: the scheme is unavailable where the employee owns, or within the last five years has owned, 25% or more of the share capital, or holds or has held more than 50% of the voting rights.

Shares held by close family are aggregated, following the controlling-shareholder test in section 4(2) of the Capital Gains Tax Act. Where the employer is a sole proprietorship, the limit is ownership of 25% or more of the equity, or having or having had decisive influence.

Because the programme requires the permit holder to establish and personally run their own business in Denmark, that status engages precisely this provision. One boundary must be kept so as not to overstate it: job title is not the test.

The legal guidance states that a person within the ownership limits may use the scheme whether or not they are, for example, a director or board member.

It cites TfS 1994, 715 TSS and SKM2018.499.SR, in which the Tax Council confirmed that a person was not regarded as having management, control or significant influence despite being registered as chief executive, because they were not a controlling shareholder.

Other conditions: the ten-year rule, under which having been taxable in Denmark within the last ten years outside this scheme forfeits access; Danish income from real property, dividends or royalties does not forfeit it, but having a dwelling in Denmark and moving into it creates full tax liability and does forfeit it.

The scheme is a registration, not an approval — being registered does not mean automatic approval; the tax agency reviews periodically, and where the conditions are not met the tax is recovered under the ordinary rules for the whole period.

Both employee and employer are obliged to notify when the conditions cease to be met, and failing to notify costs the remainder of the period. A person on the scheme may deduct nothing from A-income except documented compulsory foreign social security contributions.

The scheme may be used once in a lifetime, with the seven years divisible into several spells.

Read this cell within its scope: the source describes the researcher tax scheme, says nothing about Start-up Denmark, nothing about ordinary Danish personal income tax, nothing about corporate tax, and nothing about the tax obligations of the business the founder sets up.

The conclusion drawn here is only that the founder cannot pass through the gate of section 48 E; it is not a statement about their overall tax burden

The case processing fee is DKK 3,060, and a case order id must be created and the fee paid before the application is submitted.

The procedure runs through two consecutive gates rather than parallel ones: the business idea must first be approved by the panel of experts appointed by the Danish Business Authority, and only then may the application for a residence and work permit be filed with SIRI.

The file must carry the receipt for the fee, a copy of all pages of the passport including blank pages and the front and back covers, the approval by the panel of experts, documentation of ability to self-support, and documentation of company ownership.

A permit holder is entitled to free Danish lessons, but those on work-based permits must pay a deposit before starting, and can lose that deposit by not passing the modules within the set timeframe