MPs allow more foreign students to stay on and work

The five-party majority in the Danish parliament on Wednesday introduced an amendment to expand the legislation allowing foreign students to stay in the country for two years after graduation to find a job.

The measure was proposed in an amendment to the Danish Aliens legislation for newly educated foreign citizens concerning the Establishment Card Scheme or ECS.

Currently ECS is reserved for foreign citizens taking a masters or PhD degree, but the amendment allows this arrangement to be extended to bachelor degree holders. It also increases the application period for finding work from six months to one year when the proposed law would come into force.

The proposed change also provides for a one-year extension of the Establishment Card or etableringskort for foreign citizens who are employed in a position related to the degree taken. After the period of holding the residence permit within the ECS, the graduate can apply for a residence permit in Denmark on the same grounds as experts who apply from abroad.

The amendment has to be examined by the parliamentary education committee and survive two further readings in parliament before it can be enacted, with a proposed implementation date of 15 April.

“It is a great gain for Denmark when people are coming here and pay for their education themselves and then remain in Denmark to work. But too few are staying behind [today],” Minister for Immigration and Integration Mattias Tesfaye said. “With this legal proposition, several of the regulations in the Establishment Card Scheme will be changed.”

The Danish Agency for International Recruitment and Integration (SIRI) reported in 2019 that 1,194 such ECS permits were issued between 2015 and 2018, with citizens from China, the United States and India benefiting most.

“I dare not estimate how many will use this arrangement after the extension. But we hope more foreigners will be attracted to working in Denmark,” Tesfaye said.

Means requirement

On 27 February 2020 Tesfaye was asked in parliament whether he had followed up a request by Copenhagen University for SIRI to make it clearer how individuals can live up to the requirement to be self-supporting with regard to income before getting a job.

In a letter to SIRI commenting on the legislation changes, Copenhagen University (KU) said in their experience with the Establishment Card Scheme, the target group has difficulties in fulfilling that requirement, which involves depositing a fixed amount in a bank account if they do not have a work offer or are not in a job.

“KU is of the opinion that if the requirement to have the means to self-support is lowered, the proposed new legislation will become more attractive for the target group.”

But the ministry says this is not an issue addressed by the agreement reached between the five parties.