Newly arrived refugees

Together with your asylum centre, we will arrange when you will arrive at Holte Station. A municipal employee will meet you there, transport you to your temporary accommodation and help you settle in. Your luggage will be shipped from the asylum centre to your temporary accommodation, which will be furnished with beds, tables, chairs, closets and cupboards. Please remember to bring the starter pack you were given at the asylum centre.

We help you with practical tasks

An employee will help you to open a bank account and to get temporary cash benefit during your first period of residence in the municipality. We will also help you to apply for the standard integration benefit.

For a limited period, you can have the support of a mentor for tasks such as applying for jobs, the standard Danish course programme and other employment-related activities.

Examples of the tasks with which a mentor can help include:

• reading, understanding and replying to letters from public authorities;
• help in interacting with the Job Centre, the social security (cash benefit) teams of the Rudersdal Service Centres or other service teams in the municipality;
• help in applying for jobs and using www.Jobnet.dk and Joblog, at which you must register your job applications;
• help in completing forms for work experience placements, applying for educational programmes, applying for the Danish student grant etc.;
• help in contacting or planning a visit to your general practitioner, a hospital, etc.; and
• help in notifying a language school, work experience placement site, Job Centre etc. about illness.

A case worker is a Job Centre employee who will strive to support you and clarify your situation in discussions on employment, education, language schools and housing.

A Rudersdal Service Centre will assign you a specific general practitioner whom you can contact if you are ill and need medical care.

You will attend an obligatory joint information meeting for refugees. The meeting will provide information on such topics as Danish course programmes, employment-related activities, the opportunities to obtain permanent housing, health, various voluntary organizations and your rights and obligations.

You start the standard Danish course programme at a language school and must attend it 3–5 days per week.

You must become employed or start an educational programme as quickly as possible so that you can become self-supporting. If you do not find a job on your own, you will be offered an internship or paid work experience with public wage subsidies, and you must participate in this if you are receiving integration benefit.

The usual situation is that you will start a employment-oriented programme within 2–4 weeks of arriving in Rudersdal.

If you have a diploma certifying an academic degree

If you have a diploma certifying an academic degree from your home country, you may be able to get some of this diploma recognized in Denmark. Contact the Danish Agency for Higher Education and Science; your mentor can also help.

Danish Agency for Higher Education and Science (Ministry of Higher Education and Science)

If you have arrived in Denmark as a refugee or based on family reunification and are 18 years or older, you must participate in an integration programme: a plan for you to become employed or start an educational programme.

An integration programme comprises:

• one of the three standard Danish courses (Danish 1, 2 or 3); and
• employment-oriented programmes: guidance and improvement of qualifications, paid work experience placement or paid employment with public wage subsidies.

An integration contract describing the programme content will be signed by you and the Job Centre.

The integration programme lasts a maximum of three years and fills 37 hours per week. The standard Danish course programme can last up to five years and therefore may extend beyond the three-year limit of the integration programme.

You are obligated to participate actively in all aspects of the integration programme. This means that you will lose all or part of the public financial benefit if you do not participate.

If you have young children, having childcare is important so that you can start work when you find employment or start an educational programme.

Help getting childcare

An employee from the Rudersdal Department of Children’s Services will find a place for your child in a childcare institution. Following an introductory meeting, the employee will provide support to smooth your child’s transition into the childcare institution. The employee has specialized insight into the needs of children and their families with cultural backgrounds differing from those of most people in Denmark.

Help to get children enrolled in school

If you have schoolchildren, you will be invited to a meeting at which you and a specialist in bilingual education from the Rudersdal Department of Schools and Families and organize a reception programme for your children at either Trørødskolen or Søholmskolen. The lessons will be tailored to an individual child’s skill level and ability, and each child will be attached to a normal class either at that school or at the student’s district school. In due course, as the child becomes able to keep up with all lessons, he or she will be placed in the normal class all the time.

What happens if you cannot find employment?

Until you find employment, you must participate in internships or paid employment with public wage subsidies.

What if you are younger than 30 years and do not have an educational qualification?

People younger than 30 years without any educational qualification that provides opportunities for employment must start an educational programme.