The number of Filipino citizens living in Greenland has risen from 160 a decade ago to well over 1,300, as businesses turn abroad to fill jobs they cannot staff locally.
DR reported on August 8, 2026 that Greenland is experiencing a sharp increase in arriving workers, primarily from the Philippines and Thailand. The broadcaster describes record numbers of Asian employees in hotels, restaurants and shops across the territory.
According to DR, the number of Filipino citizens has more than octupled in ten years. Counting Thai nationals and workers from other countries in the region, DR puts the total at around 1,900 Asian residents. Greenland has a population of 56,500.
The jobs being filled include hotel work, retail, cleaning and Greenlandic fish factories, DR reports. The broadcaster links the trend to a growing shortage of labor that companies cannot solve by recruiting locally.
At Hotel Hans Egede, the largest hotel in Nuuk, 30 of the 70 employees come from Asia. Hotel director Jørgen Bay-Kastrup told DR that they are good and stable employees. He said he would prefer to hire Greenlanders, but that there are simply too few workers available.
Registered unemployment is only a few percent in Nuuk, per DR, and shortages affect all of Greenland. The gaps cover both trained staff, such as nurses and skilled tradespeople, and unskilled positions.
DR describes the shortage as structural rather than a temporary economic upswing. The population is aging, many are retiring, and the population is expected to fall by 20 percent in the coming decades. The broadcaster adds that too few young people complete education, and that some Greenlanders outside the labor market have never registered as unemployed.
Temporary permits, long stays
Foreign workers arrive on work permits limited to one or two years at a time, according to DR. Many have nonetheless lived and worked in Greenland for years, some bringing spouses and children, others starting families there. Some of those children have attended Greenlandic folkeskole without ever visiting their parents’ home country.
Kristine Juul, lecturer emerita at Roskilde University, has researched the conditions of Asian workers in Greenland. She told DR that dismissal can mean being sent home, and that dependent family members are sent home as well. She described the situation as a very large problem for many.
DR profiles 31-year-old Yasmin Yosores, a chambermaid at Hotel Hans Egede who arrived four years ago. She said three days of work in Greenland pays the same as a month in the Philippines. Her two children returned home to attend school there.
The broadcaster also visited Arctic Sari Sari, an Asian grocery store in Nuuk’s harbor district, where all staff are Filipino. Employee John Yabut, 21, arrived at age 13, learned Greenlandic and graduated from upper secondary school in 2025. Bay-Kastrup told DR he does not expect the recruitment arrangement to end.
