Question

Hello,

I’m a CH/DK citizen, 28 years old, electrical engineer, always lived in Switzerland (apart from 2.5 Years in France) and I’m considering looking for a job in Denmark.

However, now it seems to have been a change regarding unemployment benefits (residence requirement). I have heard of Danes returning to Denmark who are not covered.

Practically speaking, what shall I do in case of unemployment?

I shall have been a member of an “a-kasse” in Denmark for at least 1 year, and how many years residence in Switzerland/EU? In the past I worked for an International Organization so during those 3 Years I didn't contribute to the unemployement kasse. It is only in the latest ~2.5 years where I worked in Switzerland that I had these social contributions.

I will appreciate your reply in order to looking for a job in Denmark or not.

Thank you for your kindness and best regards

Answer 1

1

Hi,

you will be able to include the period you have lived in Switzerland (and France/Denmark) in meeting the residence requirement. So this part should not give problems for you.

You are right that it requires 1 year membership of an Danish A-kasse, to be eligible for unemployment benefits. However as an EU-citizen you have the possibility to transfer aquired rights from another EU-country to the Danish A-kasse/unemployment Insurance, when moving to Denmark.

However as we describe in our article about that, Denmark has a special rule saying that you need to have worked in Denmark at least 296 hours within 3 months, before you can transfer aquired rights.

Before moving from Switzerland remember to get an PD U1 document from the unemployment Insurance in Switzerland. This documents tells the danish A-kasse for how long you have contributed in Switzerland.

If you only want to come to Denmark for looking for job (not plan to stay here permanently in first place) then you may also have the option to get unemployment benefits paid from the swiss Unemployment Insurance for up to 3 months, while looking for job in Denmark. Its an right that all EU-citizens have according to EU-law.

We have written a danish article (danish citizens looking for job in another EU-country), however the principles should be the same.

Best regards,

Anders Weber, www.a-kasser.dk