Job search permit after submitting your PhD thesis—six months
Below, please find information on how to apply for a residence permit lasting six months to cover the period between the time you submit your PhD thesis and the date on which you are called to defend it.
These guidelines only apply to individuals who originate from outside the EU/EEA and the Nordic region and only to PhD employees who do not have a work and residence permit that includes 6 months of job search period (typically, PhD employment letters from 2012-2014):
If you apply for a job search period, you should be aware of that if you are offered a position in Denmark in continuation of your current PhD employment and you have a permit as an employed PhD student issued before 1 January 2015, you may begin your new job before you have received your new permit, provided that you submit your application for a work permit no later than the day you start your new job.
If you switch to a permit under the new rules (permit issued after 1 January 2015) and you are offered a position in Denmark, you will need to apply for a new permit. Please note that the new permit must be issued before you will be allowed to start working in the new position. The same rule also applies if you apply for and receive the job search period.
Decisions concerning applications for job search permits are made at the Danish Agency for International Recruitment and Integration (SIRI).
Guidelines, according to SIRI, on how to apply:
- Create a case order ID
Choose the category "PhD"
Please also find a guide for how to create a case order ID in the fact box to the right
- Pay the fee to SIRI
- Fill in the PHD1 application form – at the top of the application form, please write “Job search period”
- Enclose the confirmation that the PhD thesis has been submitted to DTU (can be obtained from DTU's PhD Office)
- Enclose documentation showing that you can support yourself with your own means during the extension of the residence permit. You must document that you have at your disposal an amount equivalent to Danish student grants (SU) for the period of time your residence permit is to cover, with 12 months being the maximum requirement. You can see the financial requirement here.
Documentation can be a bank statement in your name. Currency and date of issuance must be clearly stated. The statement must be no more than 30 days old at the time the application is submitted.
You also need to attach documentation that you can support your accompanying family members.
- Applications for the job search permit must be submitted to the Citizen Center at the Danish Agency for International Recruitment and Integration/SIRI no sooner than 3 months before your current PhD permit expires and at the latest the day before your current permit expires - otherwise you will have to apply from your home country.
- To apply for the job search permit you need to appear in person to have your biometric features (digital facial image and fingerprints) recorded in connection with the application being submitted.
In Denmark, you can have your biometric features recorded at SIRI’s Citizen Centre in Copenhagenor at a local police station.
Please note that it is mandatory to book appointments in the Citizen Centre. Read more about how to book an appointment in SIRI’s Citizen Centre
If SIRI accepts your application for processing, you may normally stay in Denmark while your application is being processed.
The job search permit:
- Will be granted from SIRI approximately 1 month after they receive a fully completed application. A new pink residence card will be sent to your Danish address approximately 14 days after SIRI issues the permit
- Is a residence permit and limited work permit which allow you to work maximum 20 hours per week anywhere in Denmark
- Allows you to travel outside of Denmark during the duration of permit.