If you have already changed your membership status from student member to graduate, you can skip this part.

If you have not yet changed your membership status, here is some important information:

No later than 14 days after you have received your last grade, you have to fill in the form Skift medlemsstatus fra nyuddannet til studerende (you will find the form when you log on to Mit AKA). This will ensure your right to unemployment benefits.

If you have not been a student member, the same 14-day rule applies to ensure your eligibility for unemployment benefits. In this case you must have applied for membership no later than 14 days after receiving your last grade

You can fill out the benefit card 1 week before the last day of the month. If you do this, the benefits will be in your account on the last banking day of the month. 

You need to fill out your benefit card – at the latest – 1 month and 10 days after the last day of the month in question, i.e. the deadline for sending in the benefit card for the month of July would be September 10. 

Once every 4 months, while being unemployed, there is a so-called waiting day (karensdag). This is a day for which you do not receive benefits. You can avoid the waiting day, if you work more than 148 hours within that 4-month period. 

At Mit AKA under Dagpengetællere, you can see how many hours of work you still need in order to avoid the waiting day.

The concept of availability is central to your eligibility for unemployment benefits, which means that: 

• From your first day of unemployment, you are required to apply for jobs – both inside and outside your profession. This could include applying for posted jobs, submitting unsolicited applications and using your network to find job openings.
• You are obliged to accept jobs referred by Akademikernes A-kasse or your job centre at a day’s notice. It is, therefore, important that you check your e-mail daily and that you live and remain in Denmark.
• As a full-time insured member, you have to be willing and able to work 37 hours a week on normal pay and employment conditions. Part-time members must be available for up to 30 hours of work a week.
• You have to be prepared to apply for and accept work entailing up to a total of 4 hours of travel per day by public transport.
• If you work reduced hours and receive supplementary unemployment benefits, you still have to apply for full-time jobs.
• You need childcare for your children. If you do not have access to childcare outside the opening hours of the daycare, you have to inform us. If you have been unemployed for more than 3 months, you have to inform your job centre instead. If you fail to do so, the job centre can refer you to a job or a work activity outside the opening hours of the daycare. If you reject a job or an offer of activation due to childcare issues, and you have not previously informed the job centre about this, you risk 3 weeks of quarantine. 

In addition to the above, you are required to attend meetings, as described above. There are other requirements relating to your job search - read about these in the following section. 

When you get a job, please notify us 6 weeks prior to starting your new job, we can reduce the requirements for your job search. We will then register you as having found a job, and as such, you no longer have to: 

• attend meetings 
• apply for jobs 

However, you are required to take on possible relevant jobs that the job centre considers you able to hold in the period up until you start your new job. 

It is important that you deregister as unemployed on jobnet.dk from the first day of your employment and not from the day, you sign your contract of employment. You can deregister as unemployed 30 days before you begin your new job. 

At Mit AKA you will find the button Jeg har fået job where you can let us know if you have a job on hand. 

The first 14 days of a period of illness, you will receive benefits from us. It is important that you report illness at jobnet.dk on the first day, you are ill. 

When you have done so, you do not need to attend meetings with the job centre or us. Please register at jobnet.dk on the first day you are well. 

If you are ill for more than 14 days, you will receive illness benefits from your local municipality. We automatically notify the municipality about this. 

If you are planning a holiday, you have to register your holiday at jobnet.dk 14 days in advance. This is also the case if you are attending any form of activation. 

If you register your holiday within the 14-day deadline, the job centre and we will not call you in for meetings during your holiday.

If you have earned holiday benefits (feriedagpenge) from us, you can apply for them at Mit AKA. 

If you work reduced hours, you can receive supplementary unemployment benefits for 30 weeks. You have to fill out a form about your job, so that we can assess whether your part-time job will affect your unemployment benefits. You can find the form at Mit AKA under Blanketter -> Ledighed ->  Arbejde på nedsat tid. 

If you are permanently employed (fastansat) with a notice period, you have to get a release certificate (frigørelsesattest) from your employer in order to be eligible for supplementary unemployment benefits. The release certificate ensures that you can stop working with 1 day’s notice if you find work with longer working hours. 

We need to receive your release certificate no later than 5 weeks after you were hired. It is the date on your contract that counts – not the date you start working. 

If you wish to apply for work in the European Economic Area (EEA), you can receive your unemployment benefits abroad for up to 3 months. Contact us for further details. 

Employment interviews abroad 
If you need to go abroad for an interview, you can receive unemployment benefits for 5 days. You have to notify us regarding the period you are going abroad. After 3 months of unemployment you have to notify your job centre instead. 

You can attend certain types of education and courses while you receive unemployment benefits. It is required that you or the job centre pay for the education and that you can get an approval from us to attend the course. Always make sure to get and approval from us, before you start any type of education or course. 

The course should be a maximum of 19 hours per week. The course cannot be part of a full-time education that gives you the right to apply for SU (The Danish students' Grants and Loans Scheme). 

Your job centre or we can inform you about the possibilities for courses and education. 

If you have a business and are self-employed, you can –  as a rule – receive supplementary unemployment benefits for 30 weeks. You can apply for a permit to have secondary activity by filling out a form at Mit AKA under Blanketter -> Selvstændig -> Selvstændig bibeskæftigelse. 

You can work as a volunteer for up to 44 hours per month in social and humanitarian organisations, without any deductions to your unemployment benefits. 

If you wish to work as a volunteer or if you already do volunteer work, you have to get an official permission from us. You can apply for this by filling out the form Oplysninger om frivilligt ulønnet arbejde at Mit AKA under Ledighed -> Øvrige blanketter.