When You Have Used All Your Unemployment Benefits
Your eligibility for unemployment benefits will run out when:
- as an employee or recent graduate before 1 May 2023, you have received the two years of unemployment benefits, or
- as a recent graduate, you have received one year of unemployment benefits before 1 May 2023, or
three years have passed since you became entitled to unemployment benefits.
You get a letter from us three months before your eligibility for unemployment benefits runs out. In this letter, you can read about your options for extending your unemployment benefit period or earning a new two-year period.
Feel free to contact us if you have any questions. You can also send us a message when you are logged into Mit AKA.
When you have no more unemployment benefits
After receiving your last unemployment benefit payment, you can contact your municipality and apply for cash benefits or social assistance (kontanthjælp).
Your municipality decides whether you are eligible for benefits and, if so, which ones. Please note that you can only receive social assistance or other benefits from the time of application at the earliest.
This means that you cannot apply for social assistance or other benefits retroactively.
You can extend your unemployment benefit period
You have the option to extend your unemployment benefit period if you have had paid work. One hour of work can be converted into two hours of unemployment benefits. We can extend your unemployment benefits for a maximum of one year.
Example
If you have worked 148 hours (equivalent to four weeks) while registered as unemployed, you can extend your unemployment benefit period by 296 hours (equivalent to eight weeks).
To earn the right to a new two-year period of unemployment benefits, you must either have worked for 1,924 hours or have had an income of at least DKK 273,504 (2025) within three years. You can include a maximum of DKK 22,792 (2025) per month.
In some cases, you can choose to be insured part-time. Then you only need to work 1,258 hours to regain eligibility for unemployment benefits.
Exemption from membership fees (kontingentfritagelse)
You can apply to be exempt from paying membership fees to Akademikernes A-kasse if you are unemployed, registered with the job centre as a ”job seeker without benefits” and do not otherwise receive cash benefits, social assistance or other public benefits.
To apply for an exemption from membership fees, you must fill out the application form (AK040). You can find the form when you are logged in to our self-service. You can also attach it there in a message to us.
The earliest you can be exempt from paying membership fees is from the date we receive your application.
Please note that you can only apply to be exempt from the state contribution’s share of the membership fee. You will still have to pay the administration fee.
Application for exemption from membership fees (AK040)
Learn more about membership fees and exemption from membership fees
You can appeal the decision
If you want to appeal the decision as to when your eligibility for unemployment benefitsruns out, you must send your appeal to Akademikernes A-kasse. We will then send your appeal to the Danish Agency for Labour Market and Recruitment (Styrelsen for Arbejdsmarked og Rekruttering) unless we change the decision ourselves after a new assessment.
The decision will be made on the basis of sections 53 and 55 of the Danish Unemployment Insurance Act.