Applying for a work permit by email

The regions are authorised

Applications for:

• an employment authorisation (initial application and renewal) for a prospective employee who will come to work in Belgium for a maximum of 90 days or 90/180 days with a Schengen visa
• Employment authorisation for an au pair (12 months), trainee (12 months) and frontier worker
• a single permit of indefinite duration

should be submitted to the competent region:

• The Flemish Region
• The Walloon Region
• The Brussels-Capital Region(opens in new window)
• The German-speaking Community

Applications for a single permit to employ a non-European employee longer than 90 days in Belgium, should be submitted via the special service “Working in Belgium”. The application will be handled by the competent region.

Which region is competent?

For a single permit of indefinite duration this is the region where the applicant is domiciled.

For all other applications that is the region in which the business unit where the foreign national employee is employed is located. If the employer owns several places of business, the region where the employee is mainly employed is competent.

If the principal place of employment cannot be determined because, for example, the employee is employed 50% in one region and 50% in another, the competent region where the company’s registered office is located and thus registered in the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises (CBE) is competent.

If the employer does not own any corporate or business unit in Belgium, the region where the employee will carry out his activities is competent.

What if the place of employment changes?

Then you must apply for a new employment authorisation.

Competent regions if not Flanders

Contact one of the services below if you need to submit the application there:

Competent authority in Brussels-Capital Region

Brussel Economie en Werkgelegenheid
Directie Economische Migratie
Sint-Lazarusplein 2
1035 Brussel
Tel: 02 204 13 99 (from 9am to 12pm)
Website competent authority in Brussels-Capital Region (in Dutch)(opens in new window)

Competent service in Wallonia

Direction générale de l’Economie, de l’Emploi et de la Recherche 
Direction de l’Emploi et des Permis de travail
Place de la Wallonie 1
5100 Jambes
Tel 081 33 43 62
E-mail: permisdetravail@spw.wallonie.be
Website competent service in Wallonia (in Dutch)(opens in new window)

Competent authority of the German-speaking Community:

Ministerium der Deutschsprachigen Gemeinschaft
Abteilung Beschäftigung, Gesundheit und Soziales,
Gospertstrasse, 1
4700 EUPEN
Tel 087 59 64 86
Website competent authority of the German-speaking Community (in Dutch)(opens in new window)

Collect all the documents required and put them in the order below to create 1 application. Use the supplementary sheets that you find at the back of the application form to separate the different categories of documents from each other.

1. Application form

The form for work permits with a fixed term is to be completed by the employer:

• Application for authorisation to work for a fixed term with a work permit and employment permit (in Dutch)(Word file opens in new window)

The form for work permits with an indefinite term is to be completed by the employer:

• Application for authorisation to work with a single permit – indefinite period (in Dutch)(Word file opens in new window)
  

2. Documents related to residency

• Proof of identity for the employee: a valid passport or equivalent travel document (only concrete personal details, no stamp pages, whether or not blank or filled in). Choose which situation is applicable:
  • Employee is not in Belgium at the time of the application:
    • Foreign identity card or personal-detail page of international passport.
  • Employee is in Belgium at the time of the application:
    • Foreign identity card or personal-detail page of international passport.
    • Belgian residence permit proving legal residence in Belgium.
• Proof (in Dutch)(opens in new window)that the employee has health insurance that covers them and their family members for all risks.

3. Employment contract

If there is no employment contract: proof of other income.

4. Proof of identity of employer: only required for a permit with a FIXED TERM

This proof must be for the employer the proxy acting on their behalf.

5. Employment documents

Each category of foreign national employee requires specific employment documents. You can read which ones they are (depending on your application) in detail on the page “Maximum 90 days and 90/180 days with a Schengen visa” or on the page “Indefinite duration”. For example:

• All payslips or statements from the period covered by the work permit (for a renewal/extension).
• Individual account (overview of work hours and the wages of the employee) if the employee has worked for the entire calendar year.
• Degree or diploma (for a highly skilled employee).
• In the case of secondment: 1 of the following documents:
  • A declaration that the social security legislation of the employee’s country will remain in effect during the time they are working in Belgium
  • If there is no international agreement about social security: a declaration from the National Office for Social Security showing that the employee is not subject to the Belgian system for employees, because the conditions for this have not been fulfilled.
• In the case of secondment: an attest signed by the employer with:
  • the duration of the secondment
  • work and wage conditions during the secondment.
• Proof of enrolment in the Limosa Register(opens in new window) if the employee works on secondment within the applicable area of Title IV, Chapter 8 of the programme law (I) of 27 December 2006.
• Etc.

• Scan the entire application, with all related documents in the appropriate order.
• Combine everything in a single PDF file.
• Give the PDF a name that is constructed as follows:
  [Family name in capital letters] underscore [First name in capital letters] underscore
  [Country of nationality] and, if known, underscore [NISS number, in full, in number – BIS (in Dutch)– or National registry number].
  Fictional example: MOHAMMED_AHMED YOUSSEF_Marocco_95470115388.pdf

Email address

Submit your scanned dossier via email: aanvraag.arbeidskaart@vlaanderen.be(opens in your email application).
Only use this email address for submitting applications.
All other communication is to run via the email address a dossier handler gives you, or via arbeidskaart@vlaanderen.be(opens in your email application).
Do not include any other names as (co-)addressees, in either Cc or Bcc.

PDF attachments

Send 1 email with 1 PDF attachment each for each employee for whom you are applying for a work permit. Add the scanned application form and all scanned documents, in the correct order, to the PDF. The maximum file size is 20 megabytes (MB). If your application is larger than 20 MB, compress it in a ‘.zip file’ that has a maximum size of 20 MB.

Email subject

In the subject line, use the full name of the PDF file, followed by the specific category of work permit for which you are applying (e.g. highly skilled, managerial staff member or training with a multinational group, as specified on the application form), followed by the type of application (‘first application’ or ‘renewal/extension’).
Fictional example: MOHAMMED_AHMED YOUSSEF_Marocco_95470115388.pdf – highly skilled – first application.

Email text

In the email message itself, always include:

• the name of the employee (family name and first name)
• the name of the Belgian company (employer or the company at which a seconded employee is posted, official company name and official company number)
• in the case of an au pair: the host family
  where appropriate, the foreign company that is involved (only in the case of secondment: company name and address)
• the function title.

As well as the required details, you can also include extra information about the employment, should you wish to.
Fictional example: MOHAMMED Ahmed Youssef, Janssen Pharmaceutica (0403.834.160), Marrakech Consultants (Avenue Ibn Sina, Marrakech), senior consultant.

Confirmation of receipt

After you have emailed your application, you’ll receive an automatic confirmation in reply, including your original message (without the attachment). The Economic Migration Department processes applications in the order they are received.