Application for an unlimited authorisation to work

What are the requirements?

You can apply for an “unlimited authorisation to work” if you can provide proof of several years of employment covered by an authorisation to work (any type of authorisation) over a period of ten years’ legal and uninterrupted residence in Belgium immediately preceding the application.

If your authorisations to work were issued by the Brussels Capital Region (Brussels Economy and Employment): you must provide proof of at least 30 months of employment covered by an authorisation over this ten-year period.

If at least one of your authorisations to work was issued by the Flemish region, the Walloon region or the German-speaking community: you must provide proof of at least 48 months of employment covered by an authorisation over this ten-year period.

Exception:Periods of employment as a seconded worker are not taken into account when calculating the years of employment covered by an authorisation to work. The periods of employment while being exempt from an authorisation to work (article 18 of the decree dated 16 May 2024) are not taken into account either.

As soon as you can provide proof of these 30/48 months of employment (not on secondment), covered by an authorisation, you will obtain an “unlimited authorisation to work”. This will allow you to work in Belgium without a duration limit, and is valid for all salaried professions and all employers.

All you will have to do is renew your residence permit each year with the municipality where you live.

How to apply?

If you are eligible to apply for an unlimited authorisation to work:

1. Prepare the documents you will need to attach:
   1. The application form for an unlimited authorisation to work, generated by the worker on the electronic platform
   2. A photocopy of the document covering the worker's stay in Belgium
   3. The data to identify the authorisations to work that were previously issued to the worker, including the authorisations to work issued by another region.
   4. A copy of all pay slips for the most recent full period covered by an employment permit
   5. A photocopy of the first page of the worker's currently valid passport
   6. Proof that the worker has health insurance covering all the risks in Belgium to themselves and members of their family (see residency law dated 15 December 1980)
2. Fill in an application for an unlimited authorisation to work via the one-stop shop “Working in Belgium”.  

It is the non-European worker, as a “citizen”, who applies for the authorisation in this case. 

Apply for an unlimited authorisation to work 
 

What is the procedure?

The procedure takes 120 days at most from the moment Brussels Economy and Employment has the complete file until the single permit is delivered / the rejection is notified.