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Pathway

Denmark Startup Founder Visa

Denmark Residency
Pathway overview

At a glance

Start-up Denmark is for founders actively developing an accepted innovative business. The project must have growth potential and satisfy the program's assessment; ordinary business ownership is insufficient.

Founder’s role
An owner actively running an innovative business with growth potential; passive investment alone does not qualify
Business review
An expert panel must approve the business plan before the residence application
Personal support funds
DKK 153,240 for a founder alone, with higher amounts for family; no fixed business investment minimum

Summary

If you will actively run an innovative business with growth potential, Start-up Denmark may let you live and work there. It can cover a new Danish company, an eligible business started under another Danish status, or an eligible Danish branch of your foreign business.

The process has two separate decisions. First, an expert panel appointed by the Danish Business Authority must approve the business idea. Only then can the founder apply to the Danish Agency for International Recruitment and Integration (SIRI) for the immigration permit. Expert-panel approval is necessary but does not guarantee SIRI approval.

This is a selective and capped route. SIRI states that no more than 75 foreign nationals may receive permits under it in a calendar year. One person may apply, or a team of up to three people may use a shared business plan, but each founder needs their own permit and must personally meet the immigration conditions.

Business approval comes before the residence-and-work application
  1. Prepare the innovative growth-business case Show founder ownership, active roles, and why the business belongs in Denmark.
  2. Obtain expert-panel approval Submit the business idea for the Danish Business Authority’s assessment.
  3. Apply to SIRI for the immigration permission Document the applicant’s requirements and any separate family applications.

Panel approval is not a residence permit. A passive shareholding or capital transfer alone does not qualify.

Could this pathway work for you?

Eligibility

The business must bring innovation and development potential to the Danish business community, with specific Danish business interests supporting its establishment. The official guidance says conventional businesses without innovative potential—such as restaurants, retail shops, small trading, and ordinary import/export businesses—normally do not qualify.

The founder must also satisfy these requirements:

The live SIRI page and its self-support guidance still label the applicable Start-up Denmark figures as 2025 levels: DKK 153,240 for the founder alone; DKK 306,480 with a spouse; DKK 356,904 with a spouse and one or more children; or DKK 203,664 with one or more children but no spouse. Because SIRI has not relabeled those particular amounts to 2026, use the live page when filing rather than projecting an inflation update yourself. A bank statement must identify the owner, date, amount, and currency; cryptocurrency is not accepted unless converted to ordinary currency.

What This Route Allows

The permit allows residence in Denmark and active work in the specific approved business. SIRI normally grants up to two years initially and may extend for up to three years at a time when the business continues to qualify. Passport validity may shorten a permit.

Short visits elsewhere in the Schengen Area are normally allowed for up to 90 days in a 180-day period, but the Danish permit does not authorize work in another Schengen country.

A spouse, registered partner, cohabiting partner, and children under 18 living at home may be eligible for accompanying-family permits. They apply separately, and their presence increases the founder's self-support requirement.

SIRI's job-change rule can allow a person who files a new qualifying application to begin the new activity while it is pending. However, starting a different business, changing the approved business substantially, or accepting work as an employee is not automatically covered by the original permit.

What This Route Is Not

This is not a passive investor visa. Capital alone is insufficient, and a shareholder whose presence is not necessary cannot use the scheme. It is not an ordinary self-employment category for any viable local business; innovation and growth potential are core conditions.

The permit is not an open work permit. Work is restricted to the approved business. A salaried job, side job, or new business requires the permission appropriate to that activity. Unpaid voluntary work is allowed within SIRI's published rules, but it does not broaden the commercial work authorization.

Expert-panel approval is not a residence permit, does not reserve one of the annual immigration places indefinitely, and does not waive the ownership, active-management, support, or immigration entry requirements tests. The status is also not permanent residence or citizenship. Giving up the Danish address, staying abroad more than six consecutive months without a dispensation, receiving prohibited public assistance, or no longer running the approved enterprise can put the permit at risk.

Next Steps

  1. Confirm that the proposal is an innovative growth business with a concrete reason to operate in Denmark, rather than a conventional local business or passive holding structure.
  2. Define founder ownership, operational roles, and why each applying founder's presence in Denmark is necessary. A team may include no more than three applicants on the shared plan.
  3. Prepare and submit the expert-panel business plan through the official Start-up Denmark portal, addressing product, innovation, market, competition, Danish value, scaling, team, finance, and execution.
  4. After approval, use SIRI's live self-support page to calculate the amount for the family composition on the filing date. Obtain a recent bank statement in the applicant's own name.
  5. Create a SIRI case-order ID and pay the current processing fee, shown as DKK 3,060 on the 2026 page.
  6. File the SD1 application with all passport pages, panel approval, proof of support, ownership records, and any additional evidence SIRI requests.
  7. Record biometrics within the stated deadline, normally 14 days after filing, at a Danish mission, application center, or SIRI office as appropriate.
  8. Prepare separate accompanying-family applications and evidence if a partner or children will move with you.
  9. After approval, operate the business consistently with the approved plan, preserve ownership and activity records, remain self-supporting, and apply before expiry if an extension is needed.

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