Intern in the Faroe Islands
You have been offered a job as an intern in the Faroe Islands.
Questions and answers
Who can be granted a residence permit as an intern?
You can be granted a residence permit as an intern in the Faroe Islands if you meet two conditions:
- You are enrolled in an educational programme in your home country or in a country in where you have been a legal resident, and
- there are specific educational reasons for your internship in the Faroe Islands.
What are the conditions?
You must meet these conditions
You must be at least 18 years old but cannot have turned 35 at the time of application.
The internship has to supplement the educational programme you have started or completed in your home country or in the country where you have been a legal resident. The purpose of the internship cannot be to supplement a Faroese educational programme.
You have to provide documentation of your enrollment into your educational programme with a list of the courses you have completed. An authorised translation of the list must be submitted along with your application. The internship must have substantiel coherence with your educational programme.
If you have completed your education, then this must have happened recently. If you have completed your education more than 18 months ago we will estimate whether there still is coherence between your completed education, your career direction and the proposed internship. Our estimation will include information about your post-educational employment.
If your internship is without pay, you have to provide documentation of your ability to support yourself during the full period of your internship.
You must have an amount at your disposal corresponding to DKK 6.090 (2018 level) a month for each month you will be staying in the Faroe Islands.
Documentation can, for example, be a bank statement or a copy of a scholarship certificate. It is very important that the documentation is in your name. You will not meet the requirement if someone else supports you.
Read more about the self-support requirement here.
Your place of internship must meet these conditions
Your internship host company must be qualified to receive and train interns. If official internship host approvals are not issued within the field in question, your place of internship must submit a description of the course of the internship.
In addition, your host must state who will be supervising you during the internship and state whether the company has experience taking on interns or trainees. As a supplement, SIRI can obtain information from relevant professional organizations.
Your place of internship must submit a description of your tasks and a training programme along with the application.
If your internship is paid, then salary and other terms of employment must correspond to relevant collective agreements for interns.
What are my rights if I am granted a permit?
What are you allowed to do with a residence permit as an intern in the Faroe Islands? – and what are you not allowed to do?
Residence
A residence and work permit allows you to stay in the Faroe Islands for the period of time your permit is valid.
If you are a citizen from a country outside the EU/EEA, the residence permit does not give you the right to reside in the Schengen area.
If you have been legally living in the Faroe Islands for less than two years, you can stay outside the Faroe Islands up to 6 months.
If you need to stay abroad for a longer period of time, you can apply for dispensation to prevent your permit from lapsing. Please note that dispensation is only given under special circumstances e.g. if a close family member is seriously ill.
Work
You can only work in the position and in the place of internship that you have been granted a permit to work in.
If you are offered a new internship, you must apply for a new permit. This also applies if you are offered a new position in the same workplace.
If you need to stay abroad for a longer period of time, you can apply for dispensation to prevent your permit from lapsing.
Public benefits
You must be able to support yourself and your family during your stay. You are not allowed to receive public benefits for self-support.
If you receive such benefits during your stay, your permit can be revoked – and you will lose the right to stay in the Faroe Islands.
How long can I stay in the Faroe Islands?
As an intern in the Faroe Islands, you can be granted a residence and work permit valid for up to 12 months with the possibility of an additional 6 months extension.
Shorter validity because your passport expires
A residence permit can only be valid until 3 months before the expiry date of your passport.
If your passport has a shorter validity than the otherwise possible period of stay, your residence permit will be shortened. This means that the validity of your residence permit will be shorter than it could be. When you have renewed your passport, you can apply for an extension of your residence permit.
What should I do if I lose my internship or change my job?
If you are granted a permit as an intern, your residence permit is linked to the specific internship on the Faroe Islands. Your internship is the basis for your permit.
If you lose your internship or change to a new, you must always inform SIRI.
Your work permit is limited to the internship that your permit is based on. You may not work in other positions than the one stated in your permit. This also applies if you are offered a new position at the same workplace.
If you change your internship or job
If you find a new internship or are offered a job while doing your internship, you must submit a new application for a residence and work permit with information regarding the new internship or job. You are not allowed to begin working before you have received a new permit.
Can my family be granted a residence permit?
You are not allowed to bring your family with you to the Faroe Islands with a residence permit as an intern.
What more to know before I apply?
An application for a residence permit based on an internship is processed by the Danish Agency for International Recruitment and Integration (SIRI).
You must have an internship agreement with a company registered in the Faroe Islands to be able to apply.
You can submit the application under the tab ‘How to apply’ to the right on this page. Here you will also be given access to the relevant application form PR1.
Your internship host must fill in one of two parts of the form.
SIRI will contact you or your host if we need further information to process your case.
How to apply
1. Gather documentation
It is a good idea to gather the necessary documents before you start to complete the application form. You can use the check list below.
If you submit documents not written in English, German, Norwegian, Swedish or Danish, you must also submit certified translations into Danish or English.
If you are submitting a new application because you have changed place of internship you do not have to attach educational documents - unless your educational situation has changed.
You must submit:
- Copy of all pages of your passport – including all empty pages and the passport’s front and back cover.
- Official approval of the internship host company or, if approval is not issued, the internship host companys description of course programme, supervision and their internship experience.
- Copy of signed employment contract (unless if you are an unpaid intern).
- Documentation of educational background including a list of subjects.
- Documentation of relevant work experience.
- Place of internships despription of internship tasks and plan of education.
- Documentation of that you can support yourself (only if your internship is unpaid).
2. Complete the application form
2 persons: You and your place of internship are each required to complete a part of the
In this step you and your place of internship have access to the relevant application forms.
Make sure that you have read all the relevant information on the tab 'Need to know' and gathered documentation according to step 1 before you begin.
All our application forms contain careful instructions on how to complete the form and what kind of documents you must submit along with the form.
Your place of internship must complete the second part of the form. When they have completed their part, you must complete your part. Once parts 1 and 2 have been completed, they must be submitted together – read more in the next step.
You must submit the necessary documents with the application.
The printable application form in Word format can be completed on screen before you print. The application form in PDF format must be printed first and then completed by hand.
Download the printable form AR1 (Word format)
Download the printable form AR1 (PDF format)
3. Submit the application
You are submitting the application abroad
The application can be submitted to a Danish diplomatic mission or an application centre in the country where you are residing.
In certain countries Denmark does not have a diplomatic mission or application centre. In these instances the list will refer you to one of the Norwegian missions with which Denmark has made an agreement or to the nearest Danish diplomatic mission or application centre in the region.
We recommend that you visit the local diplomatic mission’s webpage to get more information before you submit the application. The individual diplomatic mission can have additional requirements regarding payment of additional fees, submission of additional passport photos or additional copies of the application.
You are submitting the application in Denmark
If you are residing legally in Denmark, you are normally able to submit the application in Denmark. This is the case, if you:
- hold a valid visa
- are exempt from the visa requirement or
- already hold a valid residence permit.
You can submit the application in one of SIRI's branch offices.
You can also send the application to SIRI.
You are submitting the application in the Faroe Islands
Generally, you cannot submit the application in the Faroe Islands, except if you have a preceding residence permit.
Only if very special reasons support it, and you have entered the Faroe Islands legally, a first time application can be submitted to the police in the Faroe Islands.
4. Receive an answer
You can see the normal case processing time to the right on this page. When we make a decision in your case, you will receive an answer through the nearest diplomatic missions centre or through your representative, if relevant.
Your internship host will also receive a response by letter or by digital postage.
If SIRI during the case process needs further information, we will contact you or a relevant third party.