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I am not an EU citizen
Don’t have a residence permit in either Belgium or another EU country, and want to apply for a single permit?
Can I get a work permit?
Work authorisations (work permits or single permits) must always be requested by the employer. Applications will only be approved if the worker in question is still in their country of origin or in a country where they have right of residence. If you are already in Belgium and still fall under one of the examples below, you will never be granted a single permit.
You cannot apply for a work permit:
If you do not have right of residence in Belgium, you will be classified as ‘undocumented’ and it is therefore not possible to apply for or obtain a work permit or single permit in Belgium. You will always be required to return to a country where you have right of residence or citizenship to apply. Regularisation through employment is not possible in Belgium.
Unfortunately, it is not possible to apply for or obtain a work permit or a single permit in Belgium if you are seeking international protection and hold an orange card/registration certificate. This type of residence permit is excluded from the procedure, even if you already have a job in Belgium while seeking international protection.
If your application for international protection is rejected, the single permit is also not an option for obtaining a new residence status.
Your employer has no choice but to terminate your employment, and they will not be required to offer any pay in lieu of notice, as this would constitute termination of contract due to force majeure.
Is your employer offering to let you continue working on an undeclared basis, while promising to get you a work permit? CAUTION: That is not an option. Either your employer is very misinformed, or they are being dishonest, and you are at risk of being exploited.
Four months after starting the application process for international protection, you will receive a registration certificate (orange card) granting you unrestricted access to employment. You can start working from that point onwards. However, it is not possible to apply for or obtain a work permit or single permit in Belgium while applying for international protection, even if you already have an employer and a stable job.
Your registration certificate must always be valid. Without this, your employer may terminate or suspend your employment contract until you have renewed your card.
If your application for international protection is unsuccessful, it will also not be possible to obtain a residence permit via the single permit from within Belgium. You will always be required to return to a country where you have right of residence or citizenship to apply.
Your employer has no choice but to terminate your employment, and they will not be required to offer any pay in lieu of notice, as this would constitute termination of contract due to force majeure.
Is your employer offering to let you continue working on an undeclared basis, while promising to get you a work permit? CAUTION: That is not an option. Either your employer is very misinformed, or they are being dishonest, and you are at risk of being exploited.
Regularisation through employment is not possible in Belgium
Which permit do I need?
Depending on how long you will be working in Belgium, you must either apply for a work permit or a single permit.
Your employer has to obtain a work permit on your behalf. The conditions and procedures are different for each region in Belgium, there being four competent regions:
Your employer must apply for a single permit on your behalf. The conditions and procedures are different for each region in Belgium, there being four competent regions:
If you are coming to work for less than three months in Belgium or if you are a cross-border worker or an au pair, then you will need a work permit.
The work permit is therefore for people who do not usually reside in Belgium and only come there occasionally to work or as an au pair. If you want to come and settle and work in Belgium for a long period, another procedure applies. You will find more information on this subject above.
How do I apply for a work permit?
The application must be made to the regional authority of the region where your employer is located (or the host family if you are an au pair).
It is your employer (or the host family if you are an au pair) who must make the application.
Depending on the work you will perform, you will need to submit a list of documents to the region and fill out the specific form for a work permit application. You can find it by following this link for each region: Flanders, Brussels, Wallonia, and for the German-speaking Community.
Once the application is approved, you can start working for the period mentioned on the work permit.
Warning: a work permit is only valid if your residence status is in order. This means you have a visa for the intended period or you are exempt from this visa requirement.
Are work permits always required?
In a few very specific situations, workers from third countries do not need a work permit if they meet certain criteria for specific types of work (often short-term or in any case lasting less than 90 days). These exceptions are listed by region: Flemish Region, Brussels-Capital Region, Walloon Region and for the German-speaking Community.
If you have questions about your rights as an au pair or the obligations of the host family, you can find answers here.
What is a single permit?
A single permit is a document that gives you the right to both reside and work in Belgium.
There are two types of single permits.
- Fixed-term single permit.
- Indefinite-term single permit.
The law uses the terms ‘fixed-term’ and ‘indefinite-term’, which we believe is misleading. The difference between the two permits has nothing to do with duration, but rather with the level of access to the labour market. This is either ‘limited’ – you can only work for a specific employer under a specific job title; or ‘unlimited’ – you can work for any employer under any job title. It would perhaps have been better to use ‘limited single permit’ and ‘unlimited single permit’.
The fixed-term single permit:
- only gives you permission to work for an employer who applied on your behalf;
- only gives you permission to work under the job title stated in the application;
- must be renewed every year by the employer.
If you want to change employers, your new employer must submit an application for a new single permit. If your job title changes, your employer must also apply for a new single permit.
The document you will be issued with is an electronic A card with the words ‘Access to the employment market: Limited’. This document is your fixed-term single permit.
Important! Your stay is dependent on this card. If your employer is too late in requesting a renewal or fails to fill in the application correctly, you may lose your right of residence in Belgium. Once you have lost your right of residence, it is very difficult to re-establish it from within Belgium. Remind your employer that they must apply to renew your permit. You should also check with the relevant department yourself to make sure this has been done.
The procedure to renew your single permit can take up to 120 days to complete. To avoid receiving a late response which may result in you not being able to work for a period of time, it’s best to submit the renewal application four and a half months before your fixed-term single permit expires.
The unlimited single permit:
- allows you to work for any employer;
- allows you to work under any job title;
- must be applied for by the employee;
- is renewed every year if you have worked sufficient days.
This permit gives you unlimited access to the Belgian employment market. You can only apply for this card once you have worked with a work permit for a certain number of years in the period leading up to the date you submit your application. The period used to calculate the required number of years worked ranges from 5 to 10 years, depending on the competent region. You must still have a right of residence at the time of application.
Employees who obtained a fixed-term single permit through the ‘long-term EU resident’ procedure may apply for an unlimited single permit if they worked 12 of the 13 months preceding the application whilst holding this permit.
The document you will be issued with is an electronic A card with the words ‘Access to the employment market: Unlimited’. This document is your unlimited single permit.
Don’t forget that you must renew this card yourself ahead of time.
How do I get a single permit?
The general rule is that your employer applies for a single permit on your behalf if you are still abroad in a country where you have right of residence (valid residence permit, nationality). Therefore, the first step is to find a Belgian employer who wants to hire you.
Your employer must apply for the single permit whilst you are outside of Belgium, in a country where you have right of residence. Once you have this single permit, you can obtain a visa to travel to Belgium. This procedure is required even if you are a national of a country that does not have visa requirements for tourist travel to Belgium.
The application can also be made from Belgium during a legal short or long-term stay, but only under certain very strict conditions:
you are exempt from labour market testing. For example, for highly skilled workers, executives, moderately skilled workers in areas of labour market shortage, etc. Applications in the ‘Other’ category can therefore only be made when the worker is outside of Belgium.
More information on situations where you are exempt from labour market testing:
OR if you are a long-term resident in another EU country and are coming to work in Belgium, Belgium is your second country of residence within the EU – i.e. ‘second Member State’. In this instance, applications may be submitted for any category.
There are certain categories of workers who are exempt from the single permit requirement. However, as a general rule, you must either already be residing in Belgium and hold a specific document, or meet very specific criteria that have to be verified at both federal and regional level.
Read more:
Can I apply for an unlimited single permit ?
To obtain an unlimited single permit, you must first check if you meet the requirements.
The main requirement is that you must have worked for a minimum duration on a fixed-term single permit. This is usually up to 4 years. However, this period may be shorter depending on certain criteria (nationality, family situation, etc.).
The first thing to check is your place of residence. Each region has its own conditions, and it is your region of residence that determines how you can apply.
Next, you will need to check:
If you also have a Belgian single permit, which is mandatory to work in Belgium, and you work in a shortage occupation (as defined by your region’s authorities), you can obtain an indefinite-term authorization if you meet the following conditions:
Can I lose my unlimited single permit?
You must renew your unlimited single permit yourself. It is only valid for 1 year, so you must apply to renew it every year, making sure to start the process ideally 45 to 30 days before the permit expires.
Each year, when renewing your permit, the authorities will check whether you have been working. If it turns out that you have been unemployed for a very long period and/or have received support from the CPAS (Public Centre for Social Welfare) or unemployment benefit for a long period, it is possible that your residence permit will not be extended. If you have been unable to work due to an accident at work, occupational illness or temporary unemployment due to force majeure, you will not be at risk.
This residence permit does not provide long-term EU resident status. Therefore, if you also have a residence permit in another EU Member State, it is important to make sure that you do not lose your right of residence in that other EU Member State, and that you find out about the possibility of gaining citizenship there, for example.
After residing legally in Belgium for a period of 5 years, you can apply for an unlimited residence permit from the Office des Étrangers (Immigration Office). It is important to note that this residence permit is separate from the unlimited single permit. One is a residence permit for work purposes (single permit). The other is a full residence permit (usually a B card).
PLEASE NOTE: not all years of residence are counted in the same way. For example, a student residence only counts for 50%, so 2 years as a student count as 1 year when calculating the total length of stay. Another example: if you work as a worker on secondment, social security contributions are paid abroad, and these years of work are not taken into account for the total length of residence.