Benefits in Denmark and Abroad

It is important that you are insured in the right country. If not, it may have consequences for your right to receive unemployment benefits, depending on the length of the insurance period.

Worst case, you may not be able to obtain unemployment benefits. In order to be eligible for benefits you need to fulfill an income criteria. This means that you have to have been a member for 1 year and you have to have earned a minumum of DKK 273.504 (2025) within a year. You can only get a maximum of DKK 222.792 per month (2025) in a membership period. This applies whether or not you have retained your membership with us. You can also lose your right to Danish early retirement benefits (efterløn). If you are in doubt, always consult Akademikernes A-kasse.

As an employed person under EEA rules, you can transfer both insurance and employment periods between EEA countries. This means that you need not start from scratch regarding unemployment insurance, when moving to another EEA country. It also means that you will be covered by that country’s unemployment insurance system. This transfer is also possible if you are self-employed.

PD U1 is a form which confirms your periods of employment and membership of an unemployment insurance fund (a-kasse) in Denmark.

If you need a PD U1 form as documentation in the country you are travelling to, you apply via our self-service portal.

Find the PD U1 form via Mit AKA

If you are travelling to a country outside the EEA, you will rarely be covered by unemployment insurance. In this case, you can keep your membership with Akademikernes A-kasse. If you lose your job in the other country, you can return to Denmark and receive unemployment benefits if you are eligible.

The Faroe Islands and your insurance

If you obtain work in the Faroe Islands, you must also be insured there. However, this does not apply if you expect your work stay to last for a maximum of 6 months. In this case, you should make an agreement with the Faroe Islands’ unemployment insurance authority regarding your continued membership of Akademikernes A-kasse.

If you cannot be insured in the Faroe Islands due to their regulations, you cannot continue being a member of Akademikernes A-kasse, even beyond the 6 month period.

Greenland, other countries and your insurance

You can continue being an member of Akademikernes A-kasse, if you work for a Danish employer in Greenland or elsewhere abroad.

If you are not already a member of a Danish unemployment insurance fund, you can gain a membership based on employment in Greenland or other countries. In this case, you must meet the following criteria:

• You must have been posted abroad by a Danish employer
• Your work in Greenland/elsewhere abroad must be temporary and for a few years only (in practice max. 6 years)
• You must apply for a membership of Akademikernes A-kasse within one year of moving to Greenland/other countries abroad
• You must have resided in Denmark prior to commencing employment in Greenland/elsewhere abroad.

If you are employed in one EEA country, but live in another EEA country and you return home at least once a week, you are a frontier worker. As a frontier worker, you must be insured in the EEA country where you work.

If you become partially unemployed, you will receive benefits from the country in which you work. If you become fully unemployed, you receive benefits from the country you reside in. If you do not return home at least once a week when working in another EEA country, you are “a worker other than a frontier worker”. As such, you can opt to make yourself available for the labour market in the country of employment and to have unemployment benefits paid there.

Additionally, as an unemployed frontier worker or “a worker other than a frontier worker”, you can opt to make yourself available for the labour market in both your country of residence and your last country of employment. However, you must comply with the rules of availability in the country from which you receive unemployment benefits.

If you are employed in public administration – either at central or local government level – you are covered by the Danish social security legislation while stationed in another EEA country. You can therefore retain your membership at Akademikernes A-kasse.

This also applies if you are stationed abroad by the Danish state and employed in an international organisation, such as EU, NATO and OECD.

Paid Ph.D. students stationed abroad by the Danish Research Academy (Forskerakademiet) or Universities Denmark (Rektorkollegiet) are also covered by Danish social security legislation.

When sent to another EEA country, you can opt to be covered by Danish social security legislation. You can also stay a member of Akademikernes A-kasse.

In order to be covered by Danish legislation while working abroad, you or your employer must seek permission from “Udbetaling Danmark”.

Read more at lifeindenmark.borger.dk

Call Udbetaling Danmark if you have any questions regarding postings abroad.

It is possible to be posted for up to 3 years.

If you know in advance that you will be stationed abroad for more than 2 years, you can only be covered by Danish legislation for up to 3 years, if a special agreement is made between “Udbetaling Danmark” and the country in which you are stationed. If such an agreement is established, your membership at Akademikernes A-kasse can be retained.

For more details, contact Udbetaling Danmark.

If you are not a citizen in an EEA country, you can only accept a job in Denmark if you can obtain a residence permit with an unlimited work permit. If you obtain a residence permit under the establishment scheme, it is a condition that you do not receive benefits from a Danish Unemployment Insurance Fund under the rules for new graduates.

See the list of EEA countries

Ph.D.s are considered employees

If you are a Ph.D. student, you will become a member of an unemployment insurance fund under the rules applying to ordinary wage earners. This means you can obtain the right to unemployment benefits under the rules applying to wage earners. In this a case, you can obtain a work and residence permit, even if you are getting unemployment benefits from an unemployment insurance fund.

However, it requires that you have been a paying member of the Unemployment Insurance Fund for a minimum of one year, before you complete your Ph.D. and are able to fulfill an income criterion of a minimum of DKK 273,504 (2025) within a year. You can only include a maximum of DKK 22.792 (2025) per month in a membership period. 

In general, the calculation of the unemployment benefit rate is based on the 12 months with the highest income within the last 2 years. You will receive 90 percent of the average salary income, minus labour market contribution (8 percent before taxes).

Your unemployment benefit rate can never surpass 90 % of your calculated daily salary, and it can never amount to more than the maximum unemployment benefit rate. There is no minimum rate, which means that if your income is low, your unemployment benefit rate will be low as well.

See the current rates

Your rate will be calculated every time you get a new 2-year right to unemployment benefits.

We will also calculate a new rate for you if your membership is converted from a full-time membership to a part-time membership, or the other way around.

If you are a new graduate you will have the opportunity to get a new unemployment benefit rate calculated 6 months after the day you got your right to unemployment benefits, if you have received salary for at least 3 months.

You can normally get unemployment benefits from your first day of unemployment. However, your employer often has to pay your unemployment benefits for the first days - the so-called G-days. After this, Akademikernes A-kasse will pay your unemployment benefits.

If you are under a notice period, during which you can claim salary from your employer, you become unemployed after the notice period expires. This is also the case if you are not working during the notice period.

If you have terminated your employment yourself or if you are somehow responsible for losing your job, you will normally get your unemployment benefits after a 111-hours quarantine (equal to 3 weeks of full-time employment).

However, it is important that you register with the job center or at jobnet.dk on the first day after the notice period expires.

The quarantine is effective during the weeks where you would have earned the right to unemployment benefits. Therefore, it is important that you make yourself available for work with the job center.

If you decide to end your self-employment altogether, you will earn the right to receive benefits, after one year as a member, given that you have worked on a full-time basis for a period of at least 12 months to fulfill the income criteria, which is minimum DKK 273.504 (2025) within one year of having a membership.

We ask you to fill out a special form Erklæring om omfang af arbejde i selvstændig virksomhed (AK030) to see if your work as self-employed can fulfill the income criteria.