Danish steel, engineering and shipbuilding employers have most of the metal trades they need on the Positive List — steel construction workers, ship builders, sheet-metal workers, metal workers and tool makers, industrial technicians and CNC operators, ship's fitters — but not the title 'welder' itself: 721200 is not on the list in force from 1 July 2026. A Filipino welding-fabrication profile is therefore filed under the listed title that matches its duties, or on the Pay Limit schemes. What then decides the case is the pay benchmark — SIRI's statistics for the code and the experience band — and a complete file. This page covers the codes, the money, and how we test the people.
Welders as such (721200) are not on the Positive List for Skilled Work in force — the list of 1 July 2026 (SIRI, updated 2 September 2026) carries the metal trades around them: steel construction work and ship builders (721400), sheet-metal workers and vehicle body technicians (721300), blacksmiths (722100), metal workers, locksmiths and tool makers (722200), industrial technicians and CNC operators (722300), ship's fitters, industrial mechanics and ship's mechanics (723300). A Filipino welding-fabrication profile is therefore filed under the listed title that matches what the person will actually do — a structural welder-fitter as steel construction work (721400), a thin-plate welder as sheet-metal worker (721300), a fabricator-fitter as metal worker (722200), a machine-and-weld technician as industrial technician (722300) — and SIRI assesses the duties and the pay against that code; a pure welding job that fits none of them runs on the Pay Limit schemes instead. For each listed code SIRI publishes wage statistics by experience band — lower quartile, median and average monthly pay for people with a vocational qualification — and assesses the offer against them; the Industriens Overenskomst minimum hourly rate of DKK 143.40 from 1 March 2026 is the agreement's floor, not SIRI's benchmark. Pension and holiday allowance count; housing and allowances do not. We take the statistics for your code and band and set the offer and the Manila briefing on them.
The Positive List for Skilled Work is Denmark's route for vocational occupations in shortage: updated on 1 January and 1 July, 63 job titles since 1 July 2026, no labour-market test. Four conditions decide the case. The job must be on the list under its DISCO-08 code. Pay and terms must correspond to Danish standards — SIRI assesses the salary against Statistics Denmark wage statistics for the occupation and experience level, counting only cash salary, labour-market pension and holiday allowance, and a collective agreement does not by itself prove the point. The salary must be paid into a Danish bank account in the worker's name within 180 days of the permit. And the employer must have met its apprentice-training obligations under Læreplads-AUB. The fee is DKK 6,810, biometrics are recorded within 14 days of submission (in Manila through VFS, with the Embassy's separate fee of DKK 1,725), the standard processing time is three months, the permit follows the contract up to four years and is tied to the job and the employer, and nobody starts work before it is granted.
Welders weld coupons to your welding procedure at Prime Search's Makati workshop — MAG plate, TIG root and MMA fill on pipe where you need it — bend or macro tested, with drawing reading and measuring; steel construction workers fit up and tack a sub-assembly to drawing; industrial technicians and tool makers machine, fit and measure to a drawing; ship's fitters and mechanics are assessed on outfitting and mechanical tasks. The test is built around the duties of the DISCO title the role will be filed under, so that the file and the person match. Your production manager watches live and interviews the same day. Formal coding to EN ISO 9606-1 is done in Denmark on the same parameters; TESDA and Gulf certificates are evidence of training, not transferable qualifications.
Filipino welders and fitters come from the shipyards of Subic and Cebu, the fabrication shops of the export zones and the Gulf's steel and oil-and-gas plants, with TESDA SMAW, GMAW and GTAW NC II and years on heavy plate; industrial technicians and tool makers from two- and three-year mechanical technology programmes and plant maintenance. English is the working language; Danish courses are arranged by employers who want them.
Recruitment runs through our own DMW-licensed agency, Prime Search Manpower Agency Inc. in Makati (licence DMW-027-LB-11182024): your company is accredited at the Migrant Workers Office in London, which has jurisdiction for the Nordic countries, the job order is registered with the DMW, and every worker leaves Manila with a verified contract, medical clearance, pre-departure orientation and an Overseas Employment Certificate. Recruitment follows the employer-pays principle: no applicant pays for an interview, a trade test or a place on a shortlist. Your company is the employer from day one; we never employ or lease the workers.
Everything here is subject to the Danish Aliens Act and SIRI's practice in force, the Positive Lists as updated on 1 January and 1 July, Danish collective agreements and wage statistics, and Philippine DMW rules.
Not under their own title: welders and gas cutters (721200) are not on the list in force from 1 July 2026 (SIRI, updated 2 September 2026). Steel construction work and ship builders (721400), sheet-metal workers (721300), metal workers and tool makers (722200), industrial technicians and CNC operators (722300) and ship's fitters (723300) are, and a welding-fabrication role is filed under the title that matches its duties; otherwise the Pay Limit schemes apply. The list changes each January and July — we read it row by row on the day of filing and never carry a code forward from an earlier edition.
Pay that SIRI's wage statistics recognise as Danish for the code and experience band — in practice well above the Industriens Overenskomst minimum. We give you the published figures for your case before you make the offer.
Pre-tested to your WPS in Makati; EN ISO 9606 coding is completed in Denmark. We select so that the coding is a formality.
Industrial technicians (722300) and tool makers (722200) are listed and cover much machining work; we classify the role by its duties against the DISCO code before filing.
General information for employers, not legal or migration advice. Rules change; we re-verify before each hire.