Hiring a Japanese Chef in Denmark: Positive List and Pay Limit

Denmark lists cooks on its Positive List for Skilled Work, which gives a Japanese restaurant a defined route to hire a cook from Japan. The catch is a condition that has nothing to do with the cook. Your business must be meeting its obligations to train apprentices. This guide explains the Danish schemes that fit a Japanese kitchen, using the Danish Agency for International Recruitment and Integration (SIRI) pages as of September 2026.

1. The short version

Both work schemes carry a SIRI processing fee of DKK 6,810.

2. Cooks are on the Positive List for Skilled Work

Denmark keeps two positive lists: one for jobs requiring higher education, and one for skilled work at least at vocational level. The Positive List for Skilled Work is updated twice a year, on 1 January and 1 July. On the version on SIRI's page (last updated 2 September 2026), under service work, the list includes:

• 512000: Kok (cook), classified under the DISCO-08 occupational code.

If you offer a job as a cook, the candidate can apply for a residence and work permit under this list. According to SIRI:

• Processing normally takes 3 months, up to 4 months if more information is needed.
• The employer fills in its part of the online application first (form AR1), and the cook is then emailed a link to complete theirs. If the cook gives the employer power of attorney, the employer can use form AR6 and complete it alone.
• For employment of less than four years, the permit normally runs for the length of the contract. For four years or more, it is normally issued for four years.
• The permit covers only the job and employer it was granted for. A new job, even in the same company, needs a new application, but the cook may start the new job from the day that application is submitted.
• A cook applying from abroad can receive a permit valid from one month before the start date, to settle in, if they declare they can support themselves in that time.

3. The condition most restaurants miss: apprentice obligations

A permit under the Positive List for Skilled Work can only be granted if the employer is covered by, and meets, its obligations to train pupils and apprentices under the employers' education contribution scheme (Læreplads-AUB). In practice, SIRI requires that at the time of application the employer:

• met its target for the number of pupils and apprentices for the latest calculated contribution year (currently 2025), and was not required to pay an additional contribution for missing it; or
• met that target in two of the last three calculated years (currently 2023, 2024 and 2025), without being required to pay the additional contribution in those years.

SIRI states that this condition cannot be waived, even if the employer partly meets it. An employer that only expects to meet its obligations from 2026 onwards, and did not meet them in 2023 and 2024, does not qualify.

For a small Japanese restaurant, this is the step to check before anything else. Look up your annual statement with AUB. If your business is not covered by Læreplads-AUB at all, the Positive List route is closed until it is, and you should look at the Pay Limit Scheme instead or talk to an adviser about your options.

4. Usual pay, and what counts as salary

Pay and conditions must be "usual by Danish standards": salary, holidays and notice periods must be no worse than normal in the field. SIRI uses its own salary statistic for the Positive List for Skilled Work, based on Statistics Denmark's pay register and covering employees with a vocational qualification in the same job. The current statistic applies from 1 August 2026. Stating that the job follows a collective agreement is not, on its own, accepted as proof that pay is usual.

For the salary assessment, SIRI counts cash pay, pension contributions and holiday pay actually paid by the current employer. It does not count board and lodging, allowances, a free car, phone, internet, benefits in kind or subscriptions. Housing you provide to the cook is welcome, but it will not lift a low salary over the line. Salary must be paid into a Danish bank account in the cook's name.

5. The Pay Limit Scheme for senior chefs

For a head chef or executive chef on a high salary, the Pay Limit Scheme is simpler: SIRI's page for it sets no positive list and no apprentice condition. The requirement is an annual salary of at least DKK 552,000 (2026 level, adjusted every 1 January). Only cash salary, including guaranteed fixed supplements, counts; canteen, car, phone, internet and paid housing do not. SIRI says processing can take up to three months if more information is needed.

It is a high bar for a restaurant, but for a group bringing in a senior Japanese chef to lead a kitchen or open a site, it avoids the apprentice question entirely.

6. Copenhagen and the local pool

• Statistics Denmark counted 731 Japanese citizens living in Copenhagen municipality on 1 July 2026, and 1,883 in Denmark as a whole.
• Japan's foreign ministry, using its own survey, counted 2,129 Japanese nationals in Denmark on 1 October 2025.

Either way, the local pool is small. A Copenhagen restaurant may find a Japanese speaker for the floor locally, but experienced Japanese cooks will usually have to come from abroad.

Denmark and Japan have had a working holiday programme since 2007, and Japan's foreign ministry lists no annual cap on the Danish side. It is a sensible way to meet a young cook before committing to a permit. See our overview of working holiday options in Europe.

7. A Danish hiring plan

1. Check your Læreplads-AUB status before anything else.
2. If you meet it, confirm "Kok" is still on the current Positive List for Skilled Work.
3. Set pay in line with SIRI's salary statistic for the job, counting only cash, pension and paid holiday pay.
4. Create the case ID, pay the DKK 6,810 fee and complete the employer's part of the application first.
5. For a senior role above DKK 552,000 a year, consider the Pay Limit Scheme instead.
6. Allow three to four months for processing, and help the cook open a Danish bank account.

For neighbouring Germany, see our Germany guide. To reach Japanese cooks already in Europe, you can post a job on WashokuJob.

General information gathered from official sources in September 2026, not legal or immigration advice. Danish lists and amounts change every January and July; confirm with SIRI or a qualified adviser before acting.