
Ask HN: I'm desperate to stay in Denmark. Anyone need a great web/ios dev? - throwawayCPH
Using a throwaway account, although I'm pretty active on HN.<p>I spent 6 years working in Silicon Valley where I worked many years for companies such as Yahoo! and Facebook.<p>My overall experience is probably around 10 years.<p>I specialize in Python/Django as well as pretty good in Obj-C/Cocoa/Cocoa Touch, and I've got many apps in App Store and few Mac OSX apps as well.<p>I know C, C++, and PHP pretty well.  I also know some Perl, and can pickup any technology very quickly.<p>I can do development, server admin, IT work, etc.<p>I freelance and run my own small business specializing in web apps and ios/osx apps.<p>I'm from US, but now find myself in Copenhagen, Denmark where I met a nice girl and want to stay for foreseeable future.<p>My tourist visa is quickly expiring, and I need a work visa to stay longer than 3 months.<p>Anyone interested in hiring me and sponsoring my work visa?  I promise I won't disappoint and can bring my tremendous experience to any tasks you have.<p>Send me an email at desperateincph@gmail.com and we'll talk more.<p>EDIT: Thanks for all the advice and suggestions.  I'm floored at all of the help.  If someone is in CPH, and wants to grab coffee, and talk about tech, travel, or whatever, let me know as well.
======
flexie
Danish attorney (and python noob) here.

Just want to add that if you can't qualify for one of the working visas or a
family based visa, which can be tricky due to the many specific requirements,
you shouldn't lose hope. If your girlfriend is a Danish citizen or a citizen
of another European Union country you can make use of the EU rules regarding
free movement of labor, i.e. live and work in Denmark without a visa and
without financial requirements, without having employment at hand, without
expensive application fees or the other usual obstacles set up to make
immigration hard.

This follows from the Metock ruling from the European Court of Justice:

[http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:...](http://eur-
lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:62008J0127:EN:HTML)

In short, the Metock ruling says that the free movement of labor entitles any
EU citizen to bring a partner/family member, who is a citizen of a third
country such as the US, with her when she moves from one EU country to another
for work.

To make use of this ruling both of you will have to move to another European
Union country to work there for a short period (for example 3 months). You
will probably have trouble getting working visa there but your girlfriend can
work there as an EU citizen. You don't have to go further away than across the
bridge to Malmö. It will probably be necessary to marry, since the requirement
for unmarried is a "durable relationsship", which you may not fulfill in such
short period (as I understand it you met recently).

You need to live in the other EU country, not just stay there at a hotel. To
be well within the requirements your girlfriend should try to work there in
what is at least a half time job. She doesn't have to get any kind of
qualified job.

Though they are reluctant, the Danish immigration authorities are obliged to
explain how you benefit from this EU loop hole if you ask them about it. Be
sure to ask in detail about the requirements.

Good luck, and welcome to Denmark :-)

~~~
throwawayCPH
Is there anyway to contact you? I wanted to ask a simple visa question.

------
kmfrk
You can try contacting your embassy (<http://denmark.usembassy.gov/>) and see
what options you have available. It sounds like you're pretty overqualified to
be in Denmark. :)

You could also try to hit up the Robocat guys (<http://robocatapps.com/>) and
ask if they know someone in the community who have any open positions.

I don't know how well they're doing, but Planely (<http://www.planely.com/>)
offer visas for employees, and I imagine they'd love to have you there.

Airbnb also have a Copenhagen office, and while they don't explicitly have an
open position, I imagine they'd love to make an exception for you:
<http://www.airbnb.com/jobs/locations/copenhagen-denmark>.

I have no idea how getting a cool developer gig in Copenhagen works, but you
could do worse than those suggestions.

EDIT: Oh, right, there is also the newly re-released Django People:
<https://people.djangoproject.com/dk/>. Check out the profiles and see if any
companies and openings show up.

EDIT2: You could also try setting up a profile on <http://angel.co> aimed
specifically at Copenhagen.

EDIT3: You could also check out LinkedIn and Quora. I doubt they'll get you
anywhere, but it doesn't hurt to try.

~~~
franzus
> overqualified to be in Denmark

explain

~~~
seanmcdirmid
Ya, that's weird. From my own anecdotal experience, Denmark has the maybe
highest per capita computer science PhDs in the world.

~~~
aik
Very interesting. What do you think is responsible for this? How did it come
about? My understanding is that the education system in Denmark (and their
core educational values) is different than most places.

~~~
kayoone
All of scandinavia is really good in IT in regards to their tiny population.
They also often have the best gamers/clans in the world :) Most of the year
its very cold, IT infrastructure was very very good 10 years ago already and
the countries are wealthy and have very good educational systems.

~~~
aik
Yeah true. However from my understanding a country like Finland focuses on
different things than Denmark. Look at their rankings on the international
PISA tests for example. Finland scores are great, Denmark not as much (18th I
believe). I remember reading at some point (though now I'm not finding it)
that Denmark focuses a bit more on personal development relatively, while
Finland (and most other places) on the knowledge (math/science).

------
luke10ferrari
I can help, I am an entrepreneur having a web startup in Copenhagen.

Come to Founders House, Gothersgade 8d, 1123 Copenhagen. It's a shared working
space with 15-20 web startups. Ask for Luca from Evertale (me). We don't need
to hire but I am happy to give you an introduction to all the companies and
possibly someone might need your skills! You will find us any working day
9:30-18:00. We'll be on holidays in August, so try to come in the next two
weeks.

Good luck and take care,

Luca

~~~
jcslzr
_We'll be on holidays in August_

You have a national holiday that last a month?

~~~
keevie
There's a reason he's desperate to stay in Denmark...

------
jjoergensen
Hi, try and give me a call if you like +45 31 36 97 05 or write me here
jmj@dagensbedste.dk. I cannot make any promises though.

Today we do development in Barcelona and with some externals, but our main
office is in Denmark and I could use someone locally who can work
independently. We are making a very successful daily deals site in Denmark and
7 other countries.

Best of luck

\- Jonathan

------
prtk
Even before I clicked I knew it was about "girl". ;-)

~~~
pdelgallego
It was that or the weather :)

~~~
oellegaard
No-one would move to Denmark for the weather. Trust me, I'm Danish.

~~~
pdelgallego
I was kidding. I moved to CPH three years ago from Andalusia, Spain. I am
still in shock

~~~
MrJagil
Hey man, the cold and the rain just makes you appreciate the summers :p

~~~
troels
yeah .. which occurs on average every forth year or so ..

------
messyp
If nothing pops up soon, just move to Malmö. Just about everyone here is
shacked up with a Dane and living in exile (Denmark changed their residency
laws so that now even if you're married to a Dane it's still difficult to get
a visa). In Sweden, you'll get at least 6 months on a tourist visa.

------
philipk
We are hiring qualified people for both our office in Malmö and in Copenhagen.
Send me your resume and come by for coffe. Best Phil philip@jayway.com

------
tonfa
Unity has an office in DK: <http://unity3d.com/company/jobs/overview>

------
haasted
Trifork (www.trifork.com) are pretty big in the app space in Denmark. Try
applying there.

Edit: also, tradeshift have their development offices in CPH.

Yet another edit: A Danish blogger recently assembled a list of Danish
startups. Try looking through that for a match.

[http://www.version2.dk/blog/opdateret-liste-over-danske-
ivae...](http://www.version2.dk/blog/opdateret-liste-over-danske-
ivaerksaettere-43340)

~~~
wiredearp
Just to add that Tradeshift also has development offices in San Francisco and
that they might (well) be on the lookout for an experienced iOS developer in
Copenhagen, even though it may not show from <http://tradeshift.com/jobs>

------
xfax
Microsoft has a development center in Copenhagen. I believe they develop the
Dynamics CRM product there. Here's a list of open engineering positions as of
today:

[https://careers.microsoft.com/search.aspx#&&p4=DK...](https://careers.microsoft.com/search.aspx#&&p4=DK&p0=&p5=all&p1=18%2c3%2c20&p2=all&p3=all)

Good luck!

------
hjalle
I'm pretty sure you already thought about it, but you might consider Sweden
(Malmo) as well, since it's really close to CPH and will probably increase
your chances of staying in that area at least, although it's not Denmark.

~~~
throwawayCPH
Yeah, Malmö is also an option, although I'm not sure how big the tech
community is there?

~~~
messyp
tech community here is actually pretty good for a city of its size. Malmö is
kinda the Oakland to Copenhagen's San Francisco... A lot of startups seem to
come out of projects related to Lund University, so you might also look for
things in Lund as well (about 10 minutes N. of Malmö .. actually just search
for anything in Skåne, which will catch anything in Malmö/Lund/Helsingborg )

monster.se and se.indeed.com are pretty good for generic job listings. Also
i've found universities here (i.e. <http://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/about-
lund-university/jobs> , <http://www.mah.se/english> , <http://www.slu.se/en/>
) are a good place to look for Python jobs, as a lot of bioinformatics/science
dept. are looking for developers. I guess you might also try blocket.se and
thelocal.se , as there are some jobs posted there...

Lastly, not too clear about your situation, but another option might be to
enroll in a Pd'D program, as they will give you a visa and a decent wage. This
is true in either Denmark or Sweden.

But, just to be warned, Denmark does have a reputation of having rather harsh
visa requirements. I'm not joking when I say a lot of people in Malmö moved
here because of the somewhat recent Danish crackdown on visas.

------
koevet
Hi, drop me an email (luciano@aestasit.com), I have good connections in
Copenhagen

------
kokey
Good luck. Welcome to being a visa requiring foreigner ;-) I have no idea
about the Danish system, hopefully it's easier than in the UK. In the UK an
employer needs to apply for a sponsorship license first, then they can sponsor
you, it costs money and takes many months, and subjected to a monthly quota.

Seems like Denmark is a lot easier. Their points based system still let you in
without a work permit (but only with certain occupations and if you have a
masters degree or better) or if a Danish employer offers you more than 375k dk
($80k US), you won't need to get a work permit either.

~~~
nhannah
hahaha 375k dkk is about 62k USD right now...I wish it was 80k

------
oellegaard
I know someone that might be hiring in Copenhagen. I linked them here ;)

P.S. We should totally make a Django meetup in Denmark soon!

------
colkassad
Perhaps you qualify for a green card?

[http://www.nyidanmark.dk/en-
us/coming_to_dk/work/greencard-s...](http://www.nyidanmark.dk/en-
us/coming_to_dk/work/greencard-scheme/greencard-scheme.htm)

------
luckystrike
Conferize is looking to hire a Senior Developer with Rails experience based in
Copenhagen. Might be worth a shot:

<http://jobs.hasgeek.com/view/g7588>

------
volpav
Trustpilot is actively hiring. Take a look, mb you'll find something.
<http://www.trustpilot.com/jobs>

~~~
sorenbs
We Are very international and already have english speaking people on the
team. We Are primarily a .Net shop though.

~~~
Spas
Yea. Otherwise it would be cool to have him I think :)

/Søren P

------
jtheory
Another possible avenue: if you can work as a private contractor (or remotely)
for companies OUTSIDE of Denmark, you may be able to base your source of
revenue in the US, pay US taxes only, and get a long-term visitor visa in
Denmark.

Basically, you set up a business presence in the US (an address and a phone
number.. which could be a paid virtual office service and a SkypeIn number...
and stick with US bank accounts, file a D/B/A, etc.), then you simply work
remotely, all the time.

From the Danish perspective -- my experience is in France, but I know other
European countries have variations on the same theme -- basically you prove to
them that you have sufficient money and external income to stay in Denmark,
housing (your gf would sign an affidavit), health insurance, and they give you
a visa for a year, which you can renew each year by proving the same thing
over again.

In France you have to apply from _outside_ the country, so if you have to get
things set up in the US this would be the time to fly back there to get the
process going.

Whatever you do, best of luck; my wife & I have worked our way through
different immigration statuses in various countries, and it's always
frustrating.

~~~
flexie
It probably wouldn't work. Denmark taxes residents on their world wide income,
cf. the Danish Act on Taxation at the Source:
<https://www.retsinformation.dk/forms/r0710.aspx?id=134306> (Sorry, I can't
find a translation)

Another question is whether he would be interested in avoiding Danish
taxation.

If he chooses to incorporate in Denmark, the taxation is a flat 25 percent of
the profits, and - which is just as important as the percentage - most
expenses can be deducted when calculating the profits for tax purposes. I
don't believe American corporate tax is lower.

If he doesn't incorporate, or if incorporates and pays out salary from his
corporation to himself, he is taxed personally. The Danish income taxation is
on a progressive scale, ranging from around 10 percent to around 60 percent
but again with quite good possibilities for deductions. As a rule of thumb,
most people end up paying little more than 40 percent of their total income,
even if it exceeds USD 100,000. I don't think the combined federal tax, state
tax in California and social security is much lower than that.

As an American citizen, the US would tax him on his world wide income although
he is no longer resident in the US. But there are different possibilities for
tax deductions such as the foreign earned income exclusion for the first USD
95,100 made abroad. Also, there is a double taxation treaty between the US and
Denmark which may take care of any taxes exceeding the USD 95,100.

Anyways, he would have to talk to both a Danish and an American CPA about
that. It would be very expensive. In my experience, tax planning is for large
corporations, not for the rest of us.

~~~
jtheory
As I mentioned, I can't say anything about Denmark, but I spent 5 years with
this setup in France.

In France during that time, I wasn't a resident (and not allowed to work for a
French company, or get any benefits of residency); I was a long-stay visitor.
It's a status designed for people who's lives, income, and often main
residences, etc. are based elsewhere who just have a reason to stay in X
country for more than the normal tourist visa (but they'll be going back
someday, probably).

If he gets sponsored by a Danish company, he'll surely need to pay Danish
taxes then. Though it's possible he'd get a discount; I know the Netherlands
gives US immigrants (my brother among them) a significant tax reduction -- to
US-similar rates -- to make immigration there more enticing.

If he does need to pay Danish taxes at some point, quite right, there's a
treaty to avoid double-taxation -- whatever he pays in Danish taxes would be
basically subtracted from what he owes in US taxes.

In France as a long-stay visitor, I was required to submit French tax returns
(where I owed nothing, and it's pretty simple -- the middle-aged ladies in the
tax office are really nice to me) and US tax returns (where I have a US
accountant to help me out; he's not hugely expensive, actually, even though we
have bank accounts in 3 countries and own residences in two; I think we paid
about $1K last year).

Danish taxes are probably closer to the French system (fairly simple) than to
the US system (horrendously complex unless you just have W-4 income), so he
may never need a Danish accountant.

It would be nice if tax planning were just for large corporations, not
individuals; unfortunately, depending on how interesting you make your life,
sometimes it's unavoidable. :)

------
nhannah
It looks like a ton of people have helped you but I still thought I would put
in my 2 cents as I may be the person closest to where you are...I went to DK
on a student visa, met a girl, finished school in the US(where I am from) and
moved back with the need of a visa.

You will have 3 options I would say, one, get a job that pays you enough/is on
the positive list(this is what I did), but you will pay out your ass in tax
and not have the right to stay if you lose the job. Two, get enough points on
the Danish immigration system to stay(unlikely I would guess, but I haven't
looked in a little while). Three, what I would suggest, keep freelancing but
pay tax in the US, spend 3/6 months in DK. You will spend less in plane
tickets by a ton then the difference in tax.

I can't really push this tax bit enough, the difference in cost of living
combined with the high tax will change your lifestyle most likely. Unless you
find someone who will pay you 2X what you make now you will end up with less
in the bank and not be entitled to a lot of what the Danish welfare system
offers. Just a warning. All the best in CPH!

------
danielsju6
If you're kick ass, my start up AppBlade (mobile application distribution,
management, and security) is looking for help, <https://appblade.com>

We have native SDKs (open-source [android, ios, javascript, and blackberry])
and are developed in Ruby on Rails on the back end. Send me a message if you
are interested.

------
Ecco
Google's V8 is being developed in Denmark. Just apply at Google :-)

~~~
dalleng
If he already worked at FB and Yahoo it seems he has the right qualifications.

~~~
cskau
Not necessarily.

The Danish dev team is working almost entirely on V8 and Dart which is
primarily C.

They work on very specific things related to optimization of virtual machines
and programming language design.

------
wingerlang
Read this post, they are looking for some (game devs) and will provide
housing. No pay for 2 months though.

[http://www.gamedev.se/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7030&start=0...](http://www.gamedev.se/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7030&start=0#49038)

------
wasigh
Sitecore is based in Copenhagen. You may have a shot there:
[http://www.sitecore.net/Company/Job-
Opportunities/Denmark.as...](http://www.sitecore.net/Company/Job-
Opportunities/Denmark.aspx)

------
bronc
You'll need to get residency first. They don't use work visas per say, it's
the EU which regulates it all. I'd apply for residency first, even without a
job. You can ask for residency based on you living with your girlfriend (EU
laws are a lot more relaxed). If you were in Sweden I could help out more, but
unfortunately I'm just across the water from CPH.

Denmark also has a central job site (run by the govt), and LinkedIn has a lot
of jobs there as well.

------
stelian
Try starting a company. You'll probably have to have some money to start, but
I'm guessing that's not a problem.

Look for other americans on forums. They should know the drill.

Look for an authorized translator. Born in US. She can probably advise you the
best.

Search for a way to get an extension. Even if that means you have to go back
to US for a couple of months. If the girl is serious she should still be in
Denmark 3 months later.

Bottom line, avoid begging for a job.

------
kirchhoff
Marry the girl?

~~~
kzrdude
Danish immigration law is more complicated than that!

~~~
exim
I remember Danmark had issues with skilled human resource leakage, (partly)
because of high taxes. So maybe they enhanced the immigration laws a bit, for
easy "importing" skilled workforce.

~~~
tomjen3
We care more about scaring away muslism than keeping qualified workers.

~~~
exim
I didn't know cartoon industry had so many lobbyists in Danish government :)

------
INTPenis
Think about the Swedish job market. It's the wrong way to be commuting from
Denmark to Sweden but if you're desperate it might keep you going.

------
Praveens
All the best for and hope something works out for you. And despite what few of
the comments suggest, i don't think your motivation and in turn your
dedication would be any less towards the company hiring you. And based on your
qualifications, you would be a "Catch"<hope i am using it right> for any
company.

------
pallinder
Well, send an email to zendesk, they are based in Copenhagen and are a nice
bunch. They are a rails shop though.

------
exim
Why don't you start a PhD job? e.g. at <http://www.itu.dk/>

------
kmfrk
I'm pretty sure any company who don't have their heads up their asses would
love to have you. This is a great opportunity for anyone who knows someone in
Denmark to do them a nice favour and get them to hire him. They'll be happy
they did.

------
dejv
How about making trip outside of EU and return back which should give you
another 90 days tourist visa?

It is not permanent solution, but it give you some more time to get better
visas.

~~~
throwawayCPH
I would need to stay out 90 days as well before returning for another 90
days...

------
regandersong
This online petition might be a good directory of startups to get in touch
with. Best of luck!

<http://www.westart.dk/>

------
surething
Phase One A/S is looking for a dev; take a look: <http://www.phaseone.com>

------
daniel_iversen
Good luck with everything dude, Denmark is a lovely place (I'm biased, grew up
there). A tweet was all I could lend though ;)

------
troels
Could you be a bit more specific about the kind of work you would like to do?
Web apps? iOs? Game development? HTML+Js?

------
tomjen3
<https://www.workindenmark.dk/> might be worth looking at.

------
throwawayCPH2
Podio is a great place to work in CPH, and not only because we have the best
parties. Get in touch: phil@podio.com

------
achristoffersen
Podio is in Denmark. Send them a line.

------
pdelgallego
This is your best option, apply to everything

<http://it-jobbanken.dk>

------
the1
> want to stay for foreseeable future.

and then

> I need a work visa to stay longer than 3 months.

I don't know about the law, but if a company sponsors you, you probably need
to stay with the company for at least a year. And, I personally wouldn't hire
someone whose primary purpose for staying with the company is a girl. You
didn't have to mention about it at all. But, good luck.

~~~
readme
>I personally wouldn't hire someone who's primary purpose or staying with the
company is a girl.

You've got your head up in the clouds man. You actually think you'll find an
employee who is loyal to your company above all other things in the world,
even his soulmate? I can't help but laugh at this attitude.

Take a look through human history and find me some literature about the epic
struggle of a man to satisfy his boss, above all other things, including his
family and wife.

I think it is a very honorable thing to be committed to a woman (or man, or
robot) and if it were me doing the hiring I'd not discriminate against someone
who's actually being honest about his priorities rather than blowing a plume
of smoke up my arse.

~~~
noob1
>and if it were me doing the hiring

Ie. you are not

This is more about motivation and a financial commitment (for an employer),
than love and honesty.

I'd rather hire someone that have a genuine interest in my company, customers,
products and technology. Not very romantic, I know ;)

~~~
jtheory
It's not a binary decision; he should indeed find a company that honestly
interests him, or he will be unhappy there (regardless of how happy his
private life is; work takes up a large chunk of your waking hours!).

And that doesn't rule out explaining what brings him to the country.

------
r3m6
Broaden your search: If you find work with any company in continental Europe
(=> Schengen area!) the work visa will allow you to live in Denmark. You
could, for example, work remotely for a company in Germany.

For example in Germany, most IT jobs with a salary over 40000 Euro/Year
qualify for a work visa (first three years, then unlimited).

------
Andaith
I'm no help sorry, I just wanted to say: Good luck and I hope you get to stay
there.

------
schierbeck
Write me at dasch@zendesk.com - we're always interested in meeting talented
people.

------
mxttr0
Just so you know, VMware has a dev office in Aarhus. Good luck.

~~~
tonfa
Google does too (V8), not sure if they are hiring though.

------
stewie2
I've dreamed to work for LEGO.

------
johsoe
try out nodes.dk perhaps, dunno if they are still looking for iOS devs

------
tunele
marry her

------
noob1
<http://www.nyidanmark.dk/en-us/coming_to_dk/work/work.htm>

Good luck!

------
adv0r
I forwarded this to a friend ;) Good luck with that!

