Under the Danish Aliens Act, foreign employees (i.e. non-EU nationals) must obtain a work permit for every employment relationship, including any sidelines. The Danish Parliament recently adopted a Bill to make the rules more flexible for some employee groups. The changes came into effect on 12 June 2018.

Foreign employees who work as researchers, including PhD students, will be entitled to carry out activities on the side (e.g. giving lectures) without having to apply for another work permit, provided that the activity has a connection with the main activity covered by the work permit.

Foreign employees with other types of work permit will still not be entitled to have sidelines without first applying for a separate work permit.

However, all foreign employees with a work permit will be entitled to do unpaid voluntary work in not-for-profit organisations.