Guest researcher
Residency route facts
Identity
| Official name (local) | Gæsteforsker as of 2026-08-22[2] Heading of the Danish-language edition of this route's own page on nyidanmark.dk, transcribed as published. The Aliens Act enumerates the grounds by section number and gives the permits no names of their own, so the authority's published Danish heading is the local name. |
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| Official name (English) | Guest researcher as of 2026-06-26[2] |
| Legal basis | Udlaendingeloven (Aliens Act), LBK nr 1183 of 25 September 2025, section 9 a(2)(5); own-means condition section 9 a(4) as of 2026-06-26[2][5] SIRI's scheme page cites no statutory section anywhere in its text. The identification is made from the consolidated Aliens Act's own wording: section 9 a(2) enumerates the employment and self-employment grounds as numbered items, and item 5 is an alien who has completed an educational programme at candidate or master's level and is invited to conduct research at a public or private research institution without being employed there and without being enrolled – which is this scheme's distinguishing condition as SIRI states it. Both sources are Tier-1 and describe the same rule; nothing is inferred from silence. Section 9 a(4) separately requires a guest researcher's support to be secured through their own means, which is why this scheme carries an own-means figure and the employed-researcher scheme does not. |
| Instrument type | residence permit as of 2026-06-26[2] |
Permit terms
| Initial duration | up to 3 years as of 2026-06-26[2][4] Maximum 3 years. Where the invitation is shorter the permit expires 14 days after the invitation does. |
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| Renewable | Yes as of 2026-06-26[2] Extension is possible but cannot take the total beyond 3 years. SIRI's scheme-overview table states the point more bluntly – '3 years/until project is finished. Cannot be extended' – and the two statements are recorded together rather than reconciled. |
| Maximum total duration | up to 3 years as of 2026-06-26[2] The 3-year ceiling is on the total, not on the first grant. |
| Work rights | own activity only as of 2026-06-26[2][4] Only as guest researcher at the host named in the permit. Sideline employment is exempt from the work-permit requirement, as for employed researchers, and external-examiner work is allowed. Part-time is permitted. Unpaid voluntary work is allowed. |
Permanent residence and citizenship
| Counts toward permanent residence | Yes as of 2026-07-07[2][5][6] Permanent residence requires eight years' uninterrupted legal residence held throughout on a permit under Aliens Act sections 7-9 f, 9 i-9 n, 9 p or 9 q (1) or (2), which the Immigration Service enumerates on its permanent-residence page. This route's permit is granted under section 9 a, which falls inside that range, so time on it counts. Whether the holder also meets the separate employment and supplementary conditions is a question about the individual, not about the route. |
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Requirements
| Job offer required | No as of 2026-06-26[2] There is no job and no employer. A Danish research institution or company invites the applicant and puts research facilities at their disposal; the applicant is neither employed nor enrolled. |
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| Labour-market test | No as of 2026-06-26[2][5] None; there is no employment. |
| Qualification requirement | degree as of 2026-06-26[2] A completed educational programme at the level of a master's degree. |
| Employer sponsorship | No as of 2026-06-26[2] A host institution is required, but it does not employ or pay the applicant. |
| Own means requirement | DKK 12,770 per month as of 2026-06-26[2][5] Documented for the entire period applied for. SIRI's tiers: DKK 12,770 alone, DKK 25,540 with a spouse, DKK 29,742 with spouse and one or more children, DKK 16,972 with children and no spouse. Every figure is labelled '(2025 level)' on a page last updated 26 June 2026 – see dk-LL-1. Statutory basis for the requirement itself: Aliens Act section 9 a(4), which requires a guest researcher's support to be secured through own means. |
| Paid in-country | No as of 2026-06-26[2] The guest researcher receives no Danish salary. This is what the field exists for: professional work performed in-country while expressly not paid in-country. |
| Job-search route | No as of 2026-06-26[2][3] Not a job-search route, and it carries no job-seeking entitlement – SIRI's overview table records 'No' in that column for this scheme. |
Physical presence
| maximum consecutive absence | 6 months · to keep the permit as of 2026-06-26[2][4] SIRI states the standard Danish lapse rule for this permit: the holder must not give up their Danish address or stay abroad for more than 6 successive months, and a breach makes the permit lapse. A dispensation can be applied for in advance. The scheme-overview table records this scheme as 'Covered' by the lapse rules – the point of contrast with employed researchers, who are exempt. |
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Family inclusion
| Family members may be included | Yes as of 2026-07-23[1][2] |
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| Eligible relations | spouse, registered partner, unmarried partner, minor child as of 2026-07-23[1][2] Spouse, registered or cohabiting partner, and children under 18 living at home. SIRI's accompanying-family page adds the conditions the scheme page does not state: the family member must live at the same address as the sponsor, a cohabiting partner needs 1.5-2 years of documented cohabitation, and one case order ID, one fee and one application form are required per family member. |
| Family members' work rights | full as of 2026-07-23[1] |
| Additional means per family member |
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Your next step
Read the requirements above considering your own situation: the income multiple, the absence limits, who you can bring. Check the country record for the reference figure those amounts are calculated from, and for anything that has changed recently.
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Verification
| Sources cited | 6 |
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| of which official (tier 1) | 6 |
| Oldest as-of date | 2026-06-26 |
| Newest as-of date | 2026-08-22 |
| Reviewed on | 2026-08-22 |
| Schema version | 1.1 |
Sources
- [1] Accompanying family member to an employee
Danish Agency for International Recruitment and Integration (SIRI) · official portal · Tier 1 · Published 2026-07-23 · Accessed 2026-08-20 · Archived copy - [2] Guest researcher
Danish Agency for International Recruitment and Integration (SIRI) · official portal · Tier 1 · Published 2026-06-26 · Accessed 2026-08-20 - [3] Job seeking permit
Danish Agency for International Recruitment and Integration (SIRI) · official guidance · Tier 1 · Published 2026-06-18 · Accessed 2026-08-20 - [4] Work schemes in SIRI – an overview
Danish Agency for International Recruitment and Integration (SIRI) · official guidance · Tier 1 · Published 2026-01-06 · Accessed 2026-08-20 - [5] Bekendtgoerelse af udlaendingeloven (Aliens Act, consolidated), LBK nr 1183 af 25/09/2025
Udlaendinge- og Integrationsministeriet / Retsinformation · statute · Tier 1 · Published 2025-09-25 · Accessed 2026-08-22 - [6] Apply for a permanent residence permit
The Danish Immigration Service · official portal · Tier 1 · Published 2026-07-07 · Accessed 2026-08-19