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I am not an EU citizen
If you are not an EU citizen, you must obtain a combined permit in order to be allowed to work in Belgium.
What is a combined permit?
A combined permit is a single document which entitles you to both stay and work in Belgium.
There are two kinds of combined permit.
A combined permit for a fixed period.
A combined permit for an indefinite period.
The law uses the terms ‘fixed duration’ and ‘indefinite duration’ and we believe this causes confusion. The difference between the two permits has nothing to do with duration, but with the access to the employment market. This can be ‘limited’: you work only for one specific employer or in one specific job’ or ‘unlimited’: you work for any employer and in any job’. It would have been better to call the permits ‘Limited combined permit’ and ‘Unlimited combined permit’.
The combined permit for a fixed period:
- only gives you permission to work for an employer who applied on your behalf.
- only gives you permission to work on the job stated in the application.
- must be renewed every year by the employer.
So if you want to change employers, your new employer will have to apply for a new combined permit. If you want to change jobs, your current employer will need to apply for a new combined permit.
The document you will be issued with as your combined permit for a fixed period is an electronic A card which states ‘Access to the employment market: Limited’.
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 residence rights for Belgium. Once you have lost your right to reside, it is impossible to reestablish it once more by working in Belgium. Promptly remind your employer that they must request a renewal and check with the authorities that it has been successfully completed.
The procedure to renew your combined permit can take up to 120 days to complete. To avoid receiving a late answer 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 combined permit for a fixed period expires.
The combined permit for an indefinite period:
- allows you to work for any employer
- allows you to work in any job
- 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 if you have worked with legal residence in the 5 to 10 years before submitting an application (depending on the region) and still have legal residence in Belgium now.
Employees who obtained a combined permit for a fixed period through the ‘Long-term resident’ procedure may apply for the combined permit for an indefinite period if they worked 12 of the 13 months before applying for the permit for a fixed period.
The document you receive as your combined permit for an indefinite period is an electronic A card which states ‘Admission to the employment market: Unlimited’.
Don’t forget that you must renew this card yourself, on time.
How can I obtain a combined permit for a fixed period?
The information below applies to employees coming to work for longer than three months in Belgium. If you’re coming to work for fewer than three months in Belgium, you will find more information here.
There are a number of general conditions attached to obtaining this permit if you are coming to work for more than three months.
- You can never apply yourself. You must have an employer who is willing to apply on your behalf. The employer must submit an application at ‘Working in Belgium‘. This will allow you to submit an application for all regions. The application must meet the conditions of the region you will be working in. You’ll find a list of these conditions shortly.
- The application must be submitted while you are in a country where you have a legal residence. This is either your country of origin or a country in which you hold a valid residence card.
It’s therefore best to travel to Belgium only after you have already received permission to work in Belgium. That means that you may not come to Belgium as a tourist and then work here. If an employer asks you to travel to Belgium before you have received a positive response, it would be better not to do so. The employer may not be able to keep their promise of sorting everything out for you once you arrive in Belgium. There is a real risk of problems after you arrive in Belgium and not being allowed to work.
There are just a few cases in which you may submit your application in Belgium, while you are only entitled to stay in Belgium for three months. You will find a list of these situations here.
We strongly advise against coming to Belgium before you have received a positive response. The procedure can take a long time and you may even lose your right to residence before you get a response, and this will cause you problems in Belgium. Only travel to Belgium once you have all your documents in order.
What is the procedure you must follow in order to come to Belgium as an employee?
This depends on where your employer is located and what kind of work you will be doing. There are three main possibilities:
- Either you work as a highly educated employee and will earn more than EUR 43,000 gross per year at your employer. (This amount differs between regions and is indexed each year.)
- Or your employer wants to recruit you for a specific bottleneck profession. This is only possible in Flanders and Wallonia. The list of bottleneck professions differs from one region to another: there are 22 such professions in Flanders and 42 in Wallonia .
- Or your employer is able to demonstrate that they are unable to find anyone in the Belgian and European employment markets who is able to perform this job.
Access to the Belgian employment market is therefore strictly delineated. There is a good chance that it will be impossible for you to come and work in Belgium.
Multi-step procedure.
Every region in Belgium has its own procedure, so the region in which you have to submit the application depends on where you will be working. The first step is to find an employer. After all, it’s the employer who has to submit the application for a combined permit. If, for example, your employer is located in Flanders or you will mostly be carrying out your work in Flanders, you should submit your application in Flanders.
Please see the overview below for each region, however this information is also available on the regions’ own websites. For Brussels, Flanders, Wallonia and the German-speaking Community.
You’ve found an employer in Brussels who wants to employ you. The second step is to check whether you meet the conditions for submitting an application.
In order to submit an application in Brussels:
- it must be impossible to find an employee in Belgium (or the EU or EER) who could fill this position. For example, if you want to come and work as a cleaner, there will be a check to see if there is no unemployed person in Belgium who could do the job.
- you must have signed an employment contract with your employer that complies with Belgian legislation.
- you must have undergone a medical examination in the country you’re staying in and the doctor must have completed the specific document.
- you may not already reside in Belgium. You must still be in your country of origin or a country you have residence in.
There are, however, a number of exceptions to each of the conditions.
If you fall in the category of special employees for example: highly educated, …
If you have residence as a student or researcher
If you have residence as a long-term EU resident in another EU country.
You will find more information about these exceptions here.
The third step is to collect all the necessary documentation for the application:
- The application form
- A passport valid for 12 months
- An extract from the judicial record
- Proof of payment of the fee
- An employment contract
- A medical certificate
- Health insurance or an employer who offers it
- All other documents specifically connected to your application: diploma…
The fourth step is to submit your application.
The employer is the one who must submit the application. So you must ask them to keep you informed every step of the way.
If you’re not sure whether or not your employer has submitted your application, get in touch with the authorised department in the region.
How long will you have to wait for a decision? It can take between 2 and 5 months. If the decision is positive, you will receive an annex 46.
The fifth step – as soon as the application is approved – is obtaining the visa for long-term residence from the Belgian diplomatic post in your region and planning your journey to Belgium. You will also be able to collect the annex 46 at the diplomatic post. It will also be sent by email to the employee.
The sixth step is obtaining the document which will allow you to start work.
Once you arrive in Belgium, you must report to the municipality in which you will be living. There, you request an annex 49, which is a temporary work permit to see you through until your definite residence card is ready. Once you have received the annex 49, you may start work. The municipality will get in touch with you later to have you come and collect your residence card for the rest of your stay. This residence card is your combined permit for a fixed period.
Important! Even with your visa for long-term residence and a copy of the positive decision, annex 46, you may not yet start work!
As mentioned above, you must first obtain your Annex 49.
You’ve found an employer in Flanders who wants to employ you. The second step is to check whether you meet the conditions for submitting an application.
In order to submit an application in Flanders:
- it must be impossible to find an employee in Belgium (or the EU or EER) who could fill this position. For example, if you want to come and work as a cleaner, there will be a check to see if there is no unemployed person in Belgium who could do the job. There will be no check if you are coming to work in one of the shortage professions listed here.
- you must have signed an employment contract with your employer that complies with Belgian legislation.
- you must have undergone a medical examination in the country you’re staying in and the doctor must have completed the specific document.
- you may not already reside in Belgium. You must still be in your country of origin or a country you have residence in.
There are, however, a number of exceptions to each of the conditions.
If you fall in the category of special employees for example: highly educated, …
If you have residence as a student or researcher
If you have residence as a long-term EU resident in another EU country.
You will find more information about these exceptions here.
The third step is to collect all the necessary documentation for the application:
- The application form
- A passport valid for 12 months
- An extract from the judicial record
- Proof of payment of the fee
- An employment contract
- A medical certificate
- Health insurance or an employer who offers it
- All other documents specifically connected to your application: diploma…
The fourth step is to submit your application.
The employer is the one who must submit the application. So you must ask them to keep you informed every step of the way.
If you’re not sure whether or not your employer has submitted your application, get in touch with the authorised department in the region.
How long will you have to wait for a decision? It can take between 2 and 5 months. If the decision is positive, you will receive an annex 46.
The fifth step – as soon as the application is approved – is obtaining the visa for long-term residence from the Belgian diplomatic post in your region and planning your journey to Belgium. You will also be able to collect the annex 46 at the diplomatic post. It will be sent by email to the employee too.
The sixth step is obtaining the document which will allow you to start work.
Once you arrive in Belgium, you must report to the municipality in which you will be living. There, you request an annex 49, which is a temporary work permit to see you through until your definite residence card is ready. Once you have received the annex 49, you may start work. The municipality will get in touch with you later to have you come and collect your residence card for the rest of your stay. This residence card is your combined permit for a fixed period.
Important! Even with your visa for long-term residence and a copy of the positive decision, annex 46, you may not yet start work!
As mentioned above, you must first obtain your Annex 49.
You’ve found an employer in Wallonia who wants to employ you. The second step is to check whether you meet the conditions for submitting an application.
To be able to submit an application in Wallonia, you must either belong to the category of special employees or be coming to work in a profession that appears in this list of profession shortages. If you do not belong in one of these two groups, it is impossible to come and work in Wallonia.
If you do belong in one of these two groups, you must:
- you must have signed an employment contract with your employer that complies with Belgian legislation.
- you must have undergone a medical examination in the country you’re staying in and the doctor must have completed the specific document.
- not yet be residing in Belgium. You must still be in your country of origin or a country in which you have legal residence.
There are, however, a number of exceptions to each of the conditions.
If you fall in the category of special employees for example: highly educated, …
If you have residence as a student or researcher
If you have residence as a long-term EU resident in another EU country.
You will find more information about these exceptions here.
The third step is to collect all the necessary documentation for the application:
- The application form
- A passport valid for 12 months
- An extract from the judicial record
- Proof of payment of the fee
- An employment contract
- A medical certificate
- Health insurance or an employer who offers it
- All other documents specifically connected to your application: diploma…
The fourth step is to submit your application.
The employer is the one who must submit the application. So you must ask them to keep you informed every step of the way.
If you’re not sure whether or not your employer has submitted your application, get in touch with the authorised department in the region.
How long will you have to wait for a decision? It can take between 2 and 5 months. If the decision is positive, you will receive an annex 46.
The fifth step – as soon as the application is approved – is obtaining the visa for long-term residence from the Belgian diplomatic post in your region and planning your journey to Belgium. You will also be able to collect the annex 46 at the diplomatic post. It will be sent by email to the employee too.
The sixth step is obtaining the document which will allow you to start work.
Once you arrive in Belgium, you must report to the municipality in which you will be living. There, you request an annex 49, which is a temporary work permit to see you through until your definite residence card is ready. Once you have received the annex 49, you may start work. The municipality will get in touch with you later to have you come and collect your residence card for the rest of your stay. This residence card is your combined permit for a fixed period.
Important! Even with your visa for long-term residence and a copy of the positive decision, annex 46, you may not yet start work!
As mentioned above, you must first obtain your Annex 49.
You’ve found an employer in the German-Speaking Community who wants to employ you. The second step is to check whether you meet the conditions for submitting an application.
To submit an application in the German-Speaking Community:
- it must be impossible to find an employee in Belgium (or the EU or EER) who could fill this position. For example, if you want to come and work as a cleaner, there will be a check to see if there is no unemployed person in Belgium who could do the job. There will be no check if you are coming to work in one of the shortage professions listed here.
- As an employee, you must hold a country’s nationality with which Belgium has entered into a bilateral agreement. These countries are: Algeria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Northern Macedonia, Morocco, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Tunisia and Turkiye.
- you must have signed an employment contract with your employer that complies with Belgian legislation.
- you must have undergone a medical examination in the country you’re staying in and the doctor must have completed the specific document.
- you may not already reside in Belgium. You must still be in your country of origin or a country you have residence in.
There are, however, a number of exceptions to each of the conditions.
If you fall in the category of special employees for example: highly educated, …
If you have residence as a student or researcher
If you have residence as a long-term EU resident in another EU country.
You will find more information about these exceptions here.
The third step is to collect all the necessary documentation for the application:
- The application form
- A passport valid for 12 months
- An extract from the judicial record
- Proof of payment of the fee
- An employment contract
- A medical certificate
- Health insurance or an employer who offers it
- All other documents specifically connected to your application: diploma…
The fourth step is to submit your application.
The employer is the one who must submit the application. So you must ask them to keep you informed every step of the way.
If you’re not sure whether or not your employer has submitted your application, get in touch with the authorised department in the region.
How long will you have to wait for a decision? It can take between 2 and 5 months. If the decision is positive, you will receive an annex 46.
The fifth step – as soon as the application is approved – is obtaining the visa for long-term residence from the Belgian diplomatic post in your region and planning your journey to Belgium. You will also be able to collect the annex 46 at the diplomatic post. It will be sent by email to the employee too.
The sixth step is obtaining the document which will allow you to start work.
Once you arrive in Belgium, you must report to the municipality in which you will be living. There, you request an annex 49, which is a temporary work permit to see you through until your definite residence card is ready. Once you have received the annex 49, you may start work. The municipality will get in touch with you later to have you come and collect your residence card for the rest of your stay. This residence card is your combined permit for a fixed period.
Important! Even with your visa for long-term residence and a copy of the positive decision, annex 46, you may not yet start work!
As mentioned above, you must first obtain your Annex 49.
Your employer is obliged to notify the region where they are located that your contract has been terminated.
You do not have to do anything.
The region will then get in touch with Immigration Services to inform them that you no longer have a job. Immigration Services will get in touch with the municipality in which you live. The municipality will then get in touch with you to notify you how much longer you are allowed to stay in Belgium.
Once you stop working, you are allowed to stay in Belgium for 90 days. During this period, you can:
- look for a new employer who will submit an application for a combined permit on your behalf
- prepare for your departure from Belgium
- may not work during this period. Your combined permit entitled you to work only for the employer who applied for it on your behalf. Since you no longer work for that employer, you may no longer work.
- If you were dismissed but had worked for a long period of time in Belgium, you are entitled to 60 days unemployment benefit. Do not hesitate to claim this from the RVA.
You might find yourself in one of two situations:
- Your residence card is still valid for the next 90 days. The municipality might notify you that you must leave Belgium on 1 April 2022, for example. But your residence card is valid until 1 June 2022.
- You have to hand in your residence card to the municipality before 1 April and inform them you are leaving
- OR you find a new employer who applies for a new combined permit on your behalf. In this case, you can approach the municipality before 1 April and request a temporary residence card until a decision has been taken about your new application for a combined permit. The municipality will issue you with an Annex 49. It will state: ‘Access to the employment market: No’. This document does not permit you to work.
- If the municipality approves your application, you can get a new Annex 49 from them. This annex will state ‘Access to the employment market: Limited’. This document allows you to work. However, this is only for the employer who applied for a new combined permit on your behalf. You may start working again after the region approves the application and you do not have to wait for the decision from Immigration Services.
- If Immigration Services also approves your application, you will receive an email with an Annex 46, which will allow you to request a new A residence card.
- Your residence card is not valid up to the date you have to leave Belgium. The municipality might inform you for example, that you must leave Belgium no later than 15 June 2022, but your residence card is only valid until 15 April 2022. In this case, you must obtain a temporary residence document, Annex 51 from the municipality before 15 April. This document will be valid until 15 June 2022. After that, you must:
- inform the municipality of your departure before 15 June.
- OR find a new employer who will apply for a new combined permit on your behalf. You must then go to the municipality before 15 June to request a temporary residence card until your new application for a combined permit has been approved. The municipality will issue you with an Annex 49. It will state: ‘Access to the employment market: No’. This document does not permit you to work.
- If the region approves your application, you can get a new Annex 49 from them. This annex will state ‘Access to the employment market: Limited’. This document allows you to work. However, this is only for the employer who applied for a new combined permit on your behalf. You may start working again after the region approves the application and you do not have to wait for the decision from Immigration Services.
- If Immigration Services also approves your application, you will receive an email with an Annex 46, which will allow you to request a new A residence card.
Your employer has dismissed you and you wonder whether all your employment rights have been respected. Your employer is obliged to respect a period of notice of dismissal or pay a dismissal allowance. If you have any questions about your employment rights, you can get in touch with the labour inspectorate, your trade union or FAIRWORK Belgium.
Procedure for obtaining a combined permit for an unlimited duration.
Once you have worked for a certain period with a work and residence permit, it is possible to apply for a combined permit for an unlimited duration. The advantage of this permit is that you can work for any employer and in any job, without having to apply for a new permit. This means you are no longer dependent on your employer and can easily change jobs.
The main condition is that you have already worked in Belgium for a certain period with a valid work and residence permit. Not all periods of work count the same way from one region to the next. The amount of time you must work depends on the region you live in, your nationality, your family circumstances and sometimes also what kind of work permit you had during your period of employment.
This link will show you the conditions when living in Flanders, and use this link if you live in Brussels. The contact information for the Wallonian labour migration service can be found here and for the German-speaking Community, here.
Important: different conditions apply if you have the status of ‘long-term EU resident‘ in another EU country and you work in Belgium. Read more about this here.
Can my combined permit for unlimited duration still be cancelled?
You have to renew your combined permit for an unlimited duration yourself. It is valid for one year, so you must request a renewal every year and it’s best to do that between 45 and 30 days before your combined permit expires. Every year, when you renew your permit, there will be a check to see if you are still working. If it turns out that you have been unemployed for a long period and/or have claimed OCMW or unemployment benefits, there is a chance that your residence card will not be renewed. There is no risk of this if an accident at work or work-related illness has occurred. It is therefore always useful to make sure you do not lose any residence rights you hold in another EU country. Once you have legally resided in Belgium for five years, you can personally apply to Immigration Services for an unlimited residence.
If you work again in another country after you have obtained the combined permit for unlimited duration, you may keep this permit. You must, however, apply to Immigrations Services to renew it every year. A renewed residence card will also count as the beginning of the five consecutive years of legal residence in Belgium.
If you are coming to Belgium to work for fewer than three months , if you are a frontier worker or you are coming to Belgium as an au pair, you will need a work permit.
A work permit is for people who come to Belgium to work for only a short period, who work in Belgium but don’t live there or who reside in Belgium as an au pair. If you want to live and work in Belgium for a longer period, you need a combined permit. You can read more about this above.
How do you apply for a work permit?
The application must be made in the region your employer is located (or if you are an au pair, the region in which your host family lives).
The employer (or au pair’s host family) must make the application.
Depending on the kind of work you are coming to do in Belgium, you will have to provide the region with a number of documents and complete the application form for a work permit. You will find the application form for the various regions at the following links: Flanders,Brussels,Wallonia and the German-language Community.
Once your application has been approved, you may work for the period stated on the work permit.
Important: a work permit is only valid if your residence is legal. You must have a visa for the period you are working in Belgium. Or you must be exempt from the visa obligation.
Is a work permit always compulsory?
There are some situations in which a work permit is unnecessary, as long as specific conditions for work are met (this often concerns a very short period, shorter than 90 days). These exceptions are listed per region through the following links: Flanders, Brussels, Wallonia and the German-language Community.
If you have any questions about au pair rights or the responsibilities of the host family, you will find the necessary information here.
Brits after Brexit
The United Kingdom is no longer part of the European Union. If you hold British nationality and did not have a residence permit before 1 January 2021 in Belgium or had not applied for a residence permit by this date, you will have to follow the procedure for obtaining a combined permit as described above.
If you already had a residence permit or had already applied for one before 1 January2021 (which was later approved) you must applybefore 31 December 2021for a M residence card. This residence card entitles you to reside and work in Belgium for any employer and in any job. Your current residence document, for example: Annex 8, Annex 8bis, E, E+ F and F+ card will remain valid until 31 March 2022. If your current residence card expires during the procedure to apply for an M residence card, you will be issued with an ‘Annex 56’. This document also allows you to stay and work in Belgium. You should apply for an M residence card in the municipality where you usually reside.
If you don’t apply for the M residence card until after 31 December 2021, you will have to demonstrate that you were unable to apply earlier. If you cannot do that, you will lose your right to the M residence card.
British frontier workers
If you were already working as a frontier worker before 1 January 2021 you may apply for the N card. This card does not give you residence rights but ensures that you can travel daily without formalities between Belgium and the country where you have residence rights. As a frontier worker, your current Annex 15, remains valid until 31 March 2022. If your Annex 15 expires, you will receive the Annex 57 document with the application for the N card. This Annex 57 also allows you to travel to Belgium for work purposes without formalities. You should apply for an N card in the municipality where you normally work.
You will find further detailed information about these procedures here.
