Corproate Immigration — Stricter stance of Flemish Employment Ministry in economic migration
Santa Fe Relocation has observed a stricter stance of the Flemish Employment Ministry towards employers wishing to recruit third country nationals via the channel of economic migration.
Affected parties
The stricter stance impacts employers wishing to recruit third country nationals via the channel of economic migration to Flanders.
Background
The Economic Migration Department of the Flemish Employment Ministry have shared their data on the number of applications and refusals in 2023. While the number of applications in 2023 was clearly higher than in 2022 (up from 20,300 to around 23,000), the number of approvals only increased marginally from 15,300 to 16,000. A disproportional increase in refusals of more than 5% could thus be observed in comparison to 2022.
In the aftermath of a number of cases in which illegal employment was detected in 2022, Flemish Minister of Employment Brouns installed an extra inspection mechanism to verify if the financial situation of an employer justifies extra recruitment. A number of cases, in which forged documentation was detected increased the scrutiny into documentation provided by the respective third-country national.
Impact
Applications may face additional requests for documentation/ info from the Flemish employment ministry towards employers to justify extra recruitment. These specifically refer to the financial situation of the employer. The inability to provide this documentation/ info within short notice will most likely result in a refusal of the application.
Implementation date
Immediately
Santa Fe’s recommendation
All applications filed in 2023 by Santa Fe Relocations on behalf of employers resulted in approvals.
We advise contacting your designated Santa Fe Immigration Consultant in Belgium, utilising the contact information provided below, for a comprehensive, case-specific assessment and anticipate on the situation mentioned above.
Kevin van Hove
Senior Immigration Consultant, BeNeLux
Santa Fe Relocation
Brussels, Belgium
D: +32 2758 0413
M: +32 485 433 064
E: BEimmigration@santaferelo.com
Anique Borchert
Immigration Manager, BeNeLux
Santa Fe Relocation
Amsterdam, the Netherlands
D: +31 172 447971
E: anique.borchert@santaferelo.com
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