Unemployment insurance in Denmark after living in Germany

Hello,

I have a question regarding to unemployment rights in Denmark as a Turkish (Non-EU) citizen.

I lived in Germany for 7 years (2012-2019) with a working permit for 4 years (2015-2019). I recently moved to Denmark to work as a researcher in a university. I have two questions:

1) I  heard that as an non-EU citizen, it is not possible to transfer my unemployment savings to Denmark. Is it correct? Could you please confirm this?
2) If I start my unemployment fund membership in Denmark now, is it possible to get the unemployment rights (e.g. unemployment salary) after living and working in Denmark for 1 year? Is the time period I lived  in Germany (7 years) considered for my unemployment benefits in Denmark?

Thanks so much for your answer and all the best,

Burak Avci
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1 Answer

1

Hi,

1) Yes I can confirm that it is not possible for an non-EU citizen to transfer rights from other countries to the danish A-kasse system. Read more here: https://www.a-kasser.dk/transfering-periods-of-work-and-insurance-from-another-eea-country/

2) No, you need to meet the residence requirement. As an non-EU citizen you can only count the years you have stayed in Denmark. Only EU-citizens have right to (according to the EU-law principles) count stays in other EU-countries also.

So if you apply for benefits in 2019 you must have stayed in Denmark for at least 5 out of the last 12 years before being eligible for Unemployment benefits ("dagpenge"). This requirement will be 6 out of the last 12 years in 2020, and 7 out of the last 12 years from 2021.

So I would recommend NOT jo become member of an A-kasse now...it will be waist of money. Wait until you have stayed here around 6 years.

Best regards,

Anders Weber, www.a-kasser.dk

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