Corporate Immigration update — New national government announces new key points in the field of Migration

Santa Fe Relocation has studied the Government Declaration of the new national Government and selected the most relevant intended changes in the field of Migration which affect expats.

Background

Following more than 7 months of negotiations, 5 coalition parties have agreed on forming a new Belgian national government. Its objectives were recorded in a Government Declaration paper. With competences for residency based at the national level and employment policy based at the regional level (Flemish, Brussels Capital and Walloon Regions) the key points linked to Migration in this national policy paper should be considered in conjunction with the current policies of the Regional Governments in the field of Employment.

Key points

While proposed changes regarding the processing times of single permit applications and the expat tax regime were welcomed, others such as the increase of document requirements and processing times for family members and the extra tests for permanent residency and citizenship applications are likely to create extra obstacles.
An overview of the key points affecting expats that were found to stand out is shown below:

• The procedures for highly skilled/ study migration and researchers to be shortened (while these have been going up recently)
• Expat tax regime to be made more attractive, (e.g. by increasing the tax-free allowance to 35%)
• More multiple entry visas expected for short-stay Schengen visa for people who regularly travel to the EU for family visits or professional reasons
• More and sharper controls to be expected in secondments, e.g. in the field of social security
• The retribution fees per immigration category to be increased.
• Processing times for family reunification to be increased to 1 year (apart from highly skilled study and labour migrants)
• Bigger emphasis to be put on activation of the labour market (relevant for spouses of expats when applying for the renewal of the dependent permit), in cooperation with VDAB, Actiris and Forem.
• Permanent residency (non- EU) will require passing a language and civic integration test
• Belgian citizenship applications will require a nationality exam, consisting of a citizenship test and a language test (at B1 level).

Expected implementation

Some of these points are implemented with immediate effect, others will be implemented as soon as new laws have been established and published in the Belgian Official Gazette. Santa Fe Relocation will keep you informed of any update.

Santa Fe’s recommendation

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 any of the situations mentioned above.

Kevin van Hove
Senior Immigration Consultant, BeNeLux
Santa Fe Relocation
Brussels, Belgium
BEimmigration@santaferelo.com

Anique Borchert
Immigration Manager, BeNeLux
Santa Fe Relocation
Amsterdam, the Netherlands
anique.borchert@santaferelo.com

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