UK Employee working in Denmark for 1 week - needs Visa?

[HRSamD]

Hello

Hoping someone on these boards may be able to point me in the right direction of where I can find a reliable answer to my query.

We are a UK employer. An employee (permanent/full time) is going to be travelling to Denmark for 8 days to deliver a project on our behalf. They will be overseeing a corporate event set up/de-rig, overseeing local contractors onsite etc

The end client - who organises hundreds of attendees from across the world and speakers including researchers - has sent us what looks like a standard document that appears to insist that our UK employee needs a work visa, will need to be 'hired' by a company in Denmark, and will require their salary to be paid into a personal account in Denmark?

We have never come across this before so we're a bit puzzled. From what I can see their role wouldn't fall into any of the categories requring this visa/pay arrangement.

Can anyone help point me in the right direction? I have looked on here www.nyidanmark.dk/en-GB/Contact-us/Cont ... /Call-SIRI but I don't even know what number to call given their role doesnt fall into any of the categories listed on here either.

Very grateful for any help

[alterhase58]

What nationality is the employee?

[HRSamD]

Hello, they are British

[alterhase58]

OK, British citizens don't need a visa to visit.

Note this from UK government advice (https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advic ... quirements):
"Visa requirements
You can travel without a visa to the Schengen area, which includes Denmark, for up to 90 days in any 180-day period.
This applies if you travel:
as a tourist
to visit family or friends
to attend business meetings, cultural or sports events
for short-term studies or training"

Traveller could still be asked purpose of visit, but shouldn't be an issue - this is not employment in DK!

[HRSamD]

Thank you, and thank you for backing up the info I found - I'm very baffled by this, especially as I'm now looking at various documents supplied by some payroll company in Denmark asking for all sorts of info to process their work visa

When the employee queried this with their contact they were told their work isn't covered. I saw this https://www.gov.uk/guidance/travel-to-denmark-for-work where it says "If you’re travelling for business for up to 90 days in a 180-day period, you may be able to do some business-related activities without needing a visa or permit, such as attend business meetings."

So I suspect they believe this employees work isn't covered under the "MAY BE ABLE....." part (as they arent just attending a meeting, they are managing it from a 'production' aspect, so the audio/lighting etc)

I just cant find any helpful info that confirms (or not) if this is true. When the employee called a helpline from this website https://www.nyidanmark.dk/en-GB/Contact ... /Call-SIRI they were just told to get in touch with this payroll company. Now here we are

Think I'll have to call them myself

[alterhase58]

Note this info from Danish Immigration on short term business visits:
https://www.nyidanmark.dk/en-GB/Applyin ... ess%20visa
"If you wish to visit Denmark for a short period of time and you are a citizen of a country with a visa requirement, you must have a visa."
Employee is not a visa national so I don't see an issue. Employee is a rep of your company, whether he lifts a laptop or a lighting stand, that's part of visiting, he's not taking away a job from a Danish worker ....

[Vadrar]

British technicians in the entertainment industry are able to work under the 90 day visa waiver under certain conditions in Denmark, perhaps they cover your colleague, depending on the nature of the event:

https://www.ism.org/visa-guide-europe/vwp-denmark/

This following link is for Spain, but perhaps you can use it as a research jumping off point: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/travel-to-s ... ss%20media

[Vadrar]

I've been digging around to see what information is available to define what constitutes 'attending a meeting', 'business activities', or a 'business visit' and what is excluded. And for the sake of interest, Germany (ie meant as indicative in Schengen in general, not Danish policy specifically) has published this:

'Posting of persons for temporary activities in connection with machines, trade fairs and exports' which might be most relevant for your colleague's activities, appears to allow audio technician work up to 90 days in 365 (not 90 in 180 like the visa waiver itself):
https://uk.diplo.de/uk-en/02/visa/profe ... 66-7-panel

It seems that the work exemptions are country specific across the Schengen. And I wasn't aware of the 90 in 365 restriction (though I guess this is 90 in 365 for a specific country, not Schengen in total), as compared to the 90 in 180 Schengen visa waiver allowance.

It also seems clear that unless there is a specific exemption, any activity beyond talking in a meeting/negotiating contracts/listening to speakers and very similar isn't generally allowed under the 90 day waiver.

For instance, even volunteering typically needs a visa: https://uk.diplo.de/uk-en/02/visa/-/244 ... eer%20work.
https://immigration-portal.ec.europa.eu ... lunteer_en

The questions of what people tend to declare as they enter the Schengen, how these rules are enforced in reality, anecdotes about what people have got away with undetected, or what punters think should be the case are entirely different of course. I'm only referring to the legal situation.

[HRSamD]

Thank you so much everyone who has replied and those who have helped research this for me, its really appreciated.

I'm getting the feeling theres now a question of whether we want to push this even if we can provide proof its not required, and potentially annoy the various parties involved. in the meantime a colleague is chatting to someone outside the company who might be able to shed light on it all.

I will update and let people know what the outcome is as I imagine it can be a bit frustrating when you all go to the effort of helping and not knowing what happened, and in case it helps anyone else thank you again!