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I am an EU citizen
Whether you are allowed to work in Belgium and which conditions apply depends on your nationality and right to reside in Belgium.
Are you an EU citizen and do you want to work for more than three months in Belgium?
If you want to work for more than three months in Belgium, you need to take the following steps:
- You should register with the municipality within three months of arriving in Belgium.
- You must prove that you are Swiss, an EU or EEA citizen (the best way is with a passport or identity card).
- The municipality is obliged to issue you with an ‘Annex 19 Declaration of Registration’ the same day and to register you in the waiting register at the address you provide.
- The municipality will tick the reason for your residence on the Annex 19: for example, as an employee (only if you have a signed contract with your employer), as self-employed (only if you already have the necessary documents to prove self-employed activity), as a job seeker, a student, an economically non-active citizen with their own means of livelihood…
Important: once your Annex 19 has been issued, the municipality will ask the community police officer to verify you live at the address you have provided. Only once the community police officer has confirmed that you live at the address, will you be registered in the foreign national register. In order to make the community police officer’s job easier and to ensure quick registration, it is important that you display your full name clearly under your doorbell and on your letterbox.
Important: from the moment your ‘Annex 19 – Declaration of Registration’ has been issued, you have three months to provide the supporting documents. Which supporting documents you must provide depends on the reason cited for your stay in Belgium. If you already have the supporting documents, please hand these over at the same time as you apply for an Annex 19.
Which supporting documents do you need to provide?
An employment contract. This contract must be for a minimum of 12 hours a week and must be a contract which shows that you will work for this employer for longer than three months (this may be indicated by an employer’s declaration – Annexe 19bis) If the employment period is less than 3 months, the municipality will not issue you with a residence card but they will give you an Annexe 3ter. This gives you the right to remain in Belgium for 3 months. You cannot renew an Annexe 3ter If you work with temporary contracts, you will only be issued with a residence card E if you can provide three months’ worth of payslips and if the payslips show that you have worked at least 12 hours a week. For the duration of those three months, you will only have the Annexe 19.
Registration with the VDAB (Flanders), Actiris (Brussels) or Forem (Wallonia) or copies of application letters and proof you have a realistic chance of finding work (a CV listing your skills and education, for example, copies of diplomas, certificates obtained, language lessons etc.).
You can register as a job seeker with employment services (VDAB, Actiris, Forem) even without an Annexe 19. However, if you want them to actively help you, they may first ask you to have an Annexe 19.
Registration with the Kruispuntbank (Central Database for Enterprises) with an enterprise identification number and membership of a social insurance fund for self-employed persons. Depending on the status in which you work as a self-employed person, additional documentary evidence may be requested. Ask your municipality about this.
The Immigration Authority will assess each case on its merits. Since there is no amount specified in law this is not allowed under European regulations. You must prove that you will not be a financial burden to the Belgian government. Take as an indication the living wage: if your income is higher than this, you will not be eligible for social assistance. However, if your income is lower than the living wage, your application may still not be automatically refused. The Immigration Authority needs to examine your personal situation and take all your income into account, such as: a disability allowance, early pension, compensation for help for the elderly, accident at work or occupational illness allowances, etc. The latter must always be accompanied by proof of health insurance.
Registration with an organised, certified or subsidised education institute and health insurance and a sworn declaration that you have sufficient financial means to cover your livelihood.If you are an EU, EER or Swiss student, you may also work: there are no regulations about the maximum number of hours a week. However, your main occupation must be that of a student. If you work too many hours, you will assume the status of employee, This is a more favourable status.
What happens if after three months you still cannot provide the necessary documents?
If you have not handed over the supporting documents, the municipality will issue you with an ‘Annex 20 – Decision to refuse residency for longer than three months. This document gives you an extra month in which to collect all the supporting documents. In practice, this means you have four months to prove that you meet the conditions for residence.
If you do not succeed in this, you will be issued once more with an Annex 20, but this time with an instruction to leave the territory. You will then have to leave Belgium, however you can always return and start this procedure anew. You can also appeal the decision, in which case you will not have to leave the country. During your appeals procedure, you will be issued with an Annex 35. If you hand in your supporting documents just after the four months have passed, the municipality may issue you with an Annex 19, which means you will not have to leave the country.
What happens if you have the necessary supporting documents within the four months?
If you do provide the municipality with the necessary documents on time (within the first four months of your Annex 19 being issued), and if those documents are checked and approved, the municipality will issue you with an ‘Annex 8 – Declaration of Registration‘or an electronic E-card. Both documents give you the same rights. You will receive the Annex 8 or electronic E-card no later than six months after the date you handed in the supporting documents mentioned on your Annex 19. The E-card is valid for five years and will be renewed through a simple application. You now have everything you need.
Are you an EU citizen and do you want to work for fewer than three months in Belgium?
If you want to work for fewer than three months in Belgium, you need to take the following steps:
- Apply to the municipality for a ‘Declaration of Arrival’ within ten days of arriving in Belgium.
- You must prove that you are Swiss, an EU or EEA citizen (the best way is with a passport or identity card).
- Take a passport photo and your Belgian address.
- The municipality will issue you with an ‘Annex 3ter Declaration of Presence’. Your address during your stay will also be mentioned on this document.
- There will be no address check by the community police officer.
- You will not be registered in the National Register.
You must take these steps every time you return to Belgium to work for a maximum of three months.
If you are staying in accommodation that by law must register you as a traveller, you do not have to do this in person. (Accommodation might include a hotel, a guesthouse etc.) You are also not obliged to do this if you are staying in a hospital or a prison.
If you do not register withing the ten working days, you are liable for a fine of 200 euros. This has not occurred in practice so far.
Can an employer recruit me even if my residence has not yet been sorted out?
Yes.
In order to register your employment contract, your employer must register you with Social Security. Normally, this is done with your BIS number. If your residence has not yet been sorted out, you will not yet have a BIS number. Your employer can apply for a BIS number from belgianIDpro. Once your employer has received this number, he can register you with Social Security and you can start work.
Important!: this does not mean that your residence has been sorted out so you must still register with the municipality as described above. Your employer has done what is required and cannot be penalised if you do not sort out your residence. However, you can be penalised even though at present, this is not being strictly monitored.
If I stop working, can my residence card be taken away?
Yes, during the first five year, your E residence card can be cancelled if you no longer meet the conditions of residence. That’s to say if you no longer work or are no longer self-employed.
If you stay for fewer than five years in Belgium with an E residence card and you claim benefits from the OCMW or other social support for longer than three months you are costing the Social Security money. In that case, the Immigration Service can decide to cancel your residence right.
If you lose your job and have to claim benefits from the OCMW in order to make ends meet, you can do that without any problems for a maximum of three months.
However, if you do continue to claim OCMW support for more than three months, the Immigration Service will be notified and they may decide to cancel your residence right but that is not automatic. If the Immigration Service decides to investigate whether or not you still meet the conditions for residence, you will be notified of that and given the chance to defend yourself.
You briefly had OCMW support but you have found a new job. In that case, you can decide to pay back the support, or part of it, that you received. Doing so would avoid any problems occurring when you renew your residence right. However, this is not obligatory.
Did you lose your residence right but you have found new work? In that case, you can request a residence card again for more than three months, as described above.
Important: in some situations, you can actually keep your residence right.
If you are temporarily unfit for work due to illness or accident
OR
- if you worked for more than one year and after that were made redundant. You do however have to register with an employment service (VDAB, Actiris, Forem).
- If you worked for less than one year (temporary contract or made redundant), you will keep your employee statuse for six months. You do however have to register with an employment service (VDAB, Actiris, Forem).
- If you start a vocational training course (no connection with the previous work activities is required unless the unemployment was voluntary)
Can I work as a frontier worker?
Yes
A frontier worker is someone who lives in one of Belgium’s neighbouring countries (the Netherlands, France, Germand and the Duchy of Luxembourg) but who comes to work in Belgium for a Belgian employer.
You do not need an employment card or a residence permit. Naturally, you will have to be able to present or obtain a valid residence permit from one of the neighbouring countries.
You must inform the Belgian municipality in which you are going to work of your presence in Belgium. You do this by going to the municipality in which you are going to work, taking with you a passport photo, your identity documents and your employment contract which states that you are coming to work in Belgium as a frontier worker. The municipality will issue you immediately with the necessary document (an Annex 15).
If you live in one of Belgium’s neighbouring countries but you work in Belgium and decide to move to Belgium, you must follow the procedure described above under the header ‘Are you an EU citizen and do you want to work for more than three months in Belgium?’ You will have to register with the Belgian municipality in which you are going to live. When registering, in addition to the other documents, you will also have to show your employment contract.
You can find more information about frontier work here for the Netherlands, Germany and the Duchy of Luxembourg.
