Applying for a work permit for a highly educated foreign national in Belgium
Bert Theeuwes
Saskia Lemeire
Ségolène de Borchgrave
If you wish to employ a foreign national who is not an EU or EEA citizen in Belgium, you may need to obtain a work permit for your future employee, as explained in more detail in our previous blogpost. If your future employee has obtained a degree of higher education, you can apply for a work permit for a highly educated employee.
The two main conditions in order to be eligible for a work permit for a highly educated employee are the following:
The employee obtained a degree of higher education;
The employee will earn a gross yearly income of at least EUR 41.868 in Flanders or EUR 41.739 in Brussels or Wallonia.
In order to apply for a work permit for a highly educated employee, the so-called ‘single permit’ procedure must be followed. The single permit procedure was introduced in 2019 in order to replace the previously existing, more complex procedures. Instead of having two separate procedures (one for a work permit and one for a residence permit), the single permit procedure requires one application procedure and results in one permit, which includes both the right to reside and to work in Belgium. The application for a single permit must be submitted to the competent authority of the region where the employment will take place (the Flemish Region, the Brussels-Capital Region or the Walloon Region). Once the application is submitted and is declared complete, the authorities must make a decision within 120 days (4 months).
An alternative procedure exists to obtain a work permit for a highly educated employee, in the form of the European Blue Card procedure (based on European Council Directive 2009/50/EC). Since 1 September 2019, an employer must also go through the single permit procedure to obtain a European blue card (which also results in a single permit allowing the employee both to reside and to work in Belgium). The European blue card procedure differs from the ‘regular’ work permit for highly educated employees in two ways: (1) the authorities must make a decision within 90 days (3 months) from confirmation that the submitted application is complete, so the procedure is faster, and (2) it is easier for the employee to return to their home country without losing their status in Belgium. However, the European blue card procedure requires a higher gross yearly income, the employee must earn at least EUR 53.971 gross on a yearly basis.
When deciding on which procedure to follow, it is important to take into account the minimum salary requirement and the envisaged timing to obtain the work permit.
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Need help? Do not hesitate to contact our China Desk for further questions or assistance during the application procedure.