Labour migration as from 1 january 2019: start of the single permit in belgium and new conditions in Flanders

As from 1 January 2019, labour migration to Belgium and Flanders will change radically. Belgium will start with the new "single permit" procedure. Flanders takes this one step further and introduces new conditions for migrant workers. By doing so Flanders wants to attract foreign talent and fill in structural bottleneck professions.

LAUNCH OF THE SINGLE PERMIT

One procedure one document: for residence and work

You would like to employ a worker from outside the European Economic Area in Belgium? Then you first need to ask yourself two questions. Is this worker allowed to live in Belgium? Is the worker entitled to work in Belgium? The residence permit is the answer to the first question, the work card and the work permit is the answer to the second question.

The "single permit" includes both elements: residence and work. It is an electronic residence card and includes both an admission to residence and an admission to work.

New work cards are therefore no longer issued, unless the residence and employment in Belgium has an intended duration of less than 90 days. In that case, the old procedure remains in force, resulting in a residence document and a type B work card.

The proceedings

The application is submitted in one region, but the single permit always applies to the entire Belgian territory.

The single permit must be applied for with the competent region and is issued by the Immigration Department (federal government). The migrant worker submits the application via the employer with the competent region. Generally, this is the region where the employee mainly works. Each region determines the conditions and rules for submitting the application.

All documents must be submitted at the start of the procedure. This requires a little more organisation and planning than under the old procedure, which started with the application for a work permit, followed by the visa application. The visa requires documents that are sometimes more difficult to obtain, such as foreign police clearance certificate.

The single permit is valid regardless of the employment scenario. This procedure applies both when the migrant worker starts working for a Belgian employer and when he is seconded to Belgium by the employer outside the EEA.

The government has four months to process the application.

The decision to grant the single permit shall be taken within four months of notification to the employer that the application is complete. This is a maximum period and not a standard period. If no decision is taken within this period, the single permit is considered to have been granted.

FLANDERS: LABOUR MIGRATION 2.0

The new regulations will facilitate access to the job market for middle-skilled people since no job market research is required. However, the job must be on the list of bottleneck professions. This is a dynamic list that is reviewed every two years according to the needs of the job market.

The wage limits are adjusted to the real wages on the job market. Moreover, a lower wage limit is set for young people in particular (up to 30 years): they must earn at least 80% of the average gross annual wage. For 2019, the average gross annual wage is 41,868 EUR.

The duration of admissions to employment for highly-skilled workers and managers will be extended from 12 months to 3 years.

Migrant workers can gain access to the job market for an indefinite period of time after having worked in Belgium for 4 years.

DO NOT FORGET THE LIMOSA!

The Limosa notification obligation is not legally part of Belgian labour migration legislation. Nevertheless, indirectly it also is a labour migration obligation. The Limosa declaration is to be made for workers who come to work in Belgium temporarily or part-time. In other words, these are workers who either usually work in a country other than Belgium or are recruited in a country other than Belgium. The Limosa declaration must be submitted to the NSSO before the worker's activities in Belgium start.