Immigration update: Belgium | Faster procedure for Single Permit

Faster procedure for Single Permit applications

It is intended that the single permit application will be processed faster. From now on companies in Belgium should be able to attract highly skilled migrants faster or to extend their current stay more quickly.

Due to the heavy administrative procedure, companies sometimes had to wait more than four months for a decision on the single permit application for their employees. Due to following four measurements the processing time of applications should be halved.

• The procedure at the immigration office (DVZ) has been administratively simplified because final approvals will be send only to the employer or mandatary and no longer to the employees.
• The DVZ will recruit 20 extra staff members to handle the single permit applications.
• For extension applications, from now on the foreign employees are allowed to continue their work as soon as a work authorisation has been issued by the region. They will receive a provisional right of residence while waiting on the decision of DVZ on their residence authorisation, whereas previously they ended up in uncertainty and had to temporarily stop working.
• An electronic platform is being developed so that the application and the exchange of information can take place in a modern and transparent manner. It is not known when this platform will be ready.

Since the process of single permit applications will still be handled at different levels (work permit via the regions and residence permit via DVZ), strong cooperation will be required to guarantee the halving of the processing times.

Should you have any questions, please contact:

Annika Tossyn
Immigration Specialist
Annika.Tossyn@staging.santaferelo.com

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