Old news, but just found it.
Copenhagen tries special Paris trick to lure Trump critics
The Municipality of Copenhagen is ready with a major recruitment campaign to lure disappointed Americans to the Danish capital.
In Copenhagen, the doors are now open to Americans who no longer want to live in a country with a president named Donald Trump.
The City of Copenhagen and Copenhagen Capacity are now ready to develop a targeted effort to attract Americans who are ready for a career and a new life outside the US.
This is according to Jens-Kristian Lütken (V), Mayor for Employment and Integration, to TV 2 Kosmopol.
- “There are so many Americans who have good ideas, want to start a business and have good educations. We need them here in Copenhagen and in the metropolitan area. And many of them are tired of Donald Trump becoming president, so we want to attract them to Copenhagen,” says Jens-Kristian Lütken.
The education and skills that the mayor is looking for are particularly in tech, green transition and life science. That’s why the City of Copenhagen and Copenhagen Capacity will now seek out exactly those professional groups and entice them with what the mayor believes Copenhagen has to offer.
- First of all, Copenhagen is a great place to raise a family. Far, far better than the US. We have good daycare centers and we have good schools. We also have a much more open and liberal society than what Trump is proposing,” says Jens-Kristian Lütken.
Inspiration from Paris
The mayor explains that it was during a meeting between the Employment and Integration Administration and Copenhagen Capacity that the idea came up.
- “We talked about how we could be better at recruiting talent from abroad, and then we talked about what we could do if Trump wanted to win. Nothing was done in 2016, and not much was done after Brexit,” says Jens-Kristian Lütken.
But they did in Paris, the mayor explains.
- “They were good at luring many English people across the Channel. They had a targeted strategy to attract companies and people from the financial sector. So it’s with inspiration from there that we now need to be open to the Americans,” says Jens-Kristian Lütken.
And perhaps there is a chance that some will take up the offer. At least if you ask American Nancy Gerth, who TV 2 Kosmopol met on Strøget on Friday.
She is not happy about the election result and is actually not at all sure if she wants to stay in the US.
- “We’re going to suffer four more years with Trump.
- We’ll see how it goes, but if it continues this way, I might consider moving to another country, she says to TV 2 Kosmopol.
Wages can get in the way
At the Confederation of Danish Employers, Erik E. Simonsen, Deputy Director of Employment and Labor, welcomes the Americans.
- “It’s always a good idea if there are skilled employees from other countries who are interested in coming to Denmark.
But as you know, it can be difficult to get a residence permit in Denmark. This can affect Americans who are unable to earn a high salary in Denmark.
- If you can’t get a job where you can earn 400,000 [55,000 usd], it’s virtually impossible to get a permit to work in Denmark and stay in Denmark, says Erik E. Simonsen.
Jens-Kristian Lütken, isn’t this something you need to solve before you entice them to come here?
- Some of the solutions already exist. You can be allowed to apply for work in Denmark for a certain period and then subsequently get a residence permit. So some things are in place, but there are also some things that could be easier than they are today, says Jens-Kristian Lütken to TV 2 Kosmopol.
Yes, what a city needs is more “ideas guys” and the best ideas guys will be american financebros with enough money to leave their country on a whim.
anti-american rant
I cannot fathom why anyone would want more amerikkkans. In the time I lived in Copenhagen yankees were the absolute worst. Moving to the city because of their distaste for conditions in the US and then trying to make Copenhagen more like the US/Being mad conditions were different. Yeah parking is expensive, remember how you moved here for a walkable city? Oh waiters aren’t super cheery? Remember how you disliked tipping culture? Oh people are more reserved when it comes to dating and don’t just approach you on the street? Remember how happy you were to not be catcalled constantly? The taxes are high? Yeah but education and healthcare is free.
Why move here when you don’t like it here? (Specifically talking about rich “expats” and not refugees and the like. There is so much to critique about danish immigration law and the system around it.)
This isn’t just for Denmark though. I am privileged to have family that lives all over the world, so moving and living across borders has been easier for me than most. Almost everywhere I’ve lived it’s been enshittified by americans.
Anyway it’s laughable to say Denmark would in any way be better on immigration, it’s one of the harshest places to emmigrate to. Here’s a reddit thread discussing just that https://www.reddit.com/r/NewToDenmark/comments/1gny0up/americans_copenhagen_wants_you/
If you can’t get a job where you can earn 400,000, then it is virtually impossible to get a permit to work in Denmark and reside in Denmark, says Erik E. Simonsen.
Send me your proud, your strong, and your well compensated.
To be fair it’s 55k usd which is more than I make but not like crazy money. Very middle of the road.
i know it’s a little more complicated than a clean comparison on the exchange rate for a variety of reasons including collective negotiation but a quick and dirty search puts it at just over what you could expect to make in general service/labor positions so still targeting primarily professionals. it’s not golden parachute money but it’s definitely targeted at what capitalist economies call “skilled” labor
For europe though it’s strongly upper , the median is like 25k i think for eu, 35k for nordics
Good to know. In the US that would be most office / professional jobs and even the higher earning service positions.
Ah, I see.
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The 400k is in DKK. But yeah the vibe about immigration is still wack
Are there
factors at work, though?Kind of. Denmark has racist immigrant policies, but the UN has made it so they can’t discriminate. Poor Denmark
Or at least that’s what I’ve been told. It’s been a while since I’ve been there.
eeeeh.
Denmark — under Social Democrat Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and her center-right predecessor Lars Løkke Rasmussen — has pursued some of the toughest immigration policies in Europe over recent years. Denmark’s policies were initially seen as extreme in countries such as the United Kingdom, Sweden and Germany but over recent years lawmakers in those states appear to have moved closer to Copenhagen’s line, and to some extent, followed its example.
In the last decade, Denmark has integrated an increasingly harsh stance on immigration. In 2023, Denmark revoked residency permits for Syria refugees, declaring some parts of the war-torn country safe for return, before backtracking after international backlash. In 2021, the country passed a law that could allow refugees arriving in Denmark to be moved to asylum centers in partner countries, such as Rwanda, a proposal which the European Commission criticized. It also looked hard at detaining asylum seekers on a remote island.
this is just a quick google, i’m sure there’s more
shit if you look.No I’m not saying they’re not
I’m saying they have to be for all. That’s immigration, not refugees though. I’m sure there’s some lawyer talk about that. And I’m sure they have carveouts anyway.hah, yeah, that tracks :D they’re europeans after all :)
Anecdotally, I met a black person who was really fed up with the racism in the US and his dream was to move to Denmark. He said he never felt so free to express himself when in Copenhagen compared to US.
Yeah Copenhagen is, anecdotally, not bad. It’s the countryside that’s full of terrible racists. And the bouncers to all the night clubs. But they’re weird.
Good luck getting in if you “look middle eastern” but black people? As long as you’re not Somali you’re, from what I know from my friend circle, pretty well set. There’s exoticism still, but the really shitty stuff will not hit you. Especially if you’re African American, then you’re really well set. You’ll be treated like a white guy in Cancun during the off-season
Denmark is so cooked lmao, imagine unironically making an effort to attract american talent and you end up with a bunch of crypto and finance bros.
the only yankees copenhagen deserves is texan chew enthusiasts who think copenhagen manufactures that brand of chew
Please no, the place is already filthy with snus. When I lived there teenagers would just leave the packets everywhere. Nasty. Going to a bar, sitting down at a table, looking at the bench and realising you just touched someones mouth nicotine… Ugh.
the most persecuted
demographic, well compensated professionalsThat looks pretty enticing tbh (research on COPEnhagen pending), I have nothing else going on in my life in the US, if I can bring my mom with me would be nice.
I’d love to have my brain drained instead of soaked for once.
Are they actually offering jobs, or are they looking for “”“entrepreneurs”“”? I’m confused about that.
Yeah I’ve got no clue what they’re actually after either. It’s also ridiculous because Copenhagen can’t really do anything about danish immigration law, so you’d still have to deal with that.
I’d wager a guess that what Copenhagen means is they’re gonna take some of the brunt for the bureaucratic shit both employer-side to help them jump the hoops, possibly also for the people or hand out needed certifications rather more liberally. I mean what are tech, life science or green stuff employees but researchers at private institutions, how hard can it be for any of them to be SIRI certified?
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“I’m looking for a man in finance” type vibes
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