Unlimited single permit application

What are the requirements?

You can request an "unlimited single permit" if you can justify several years of employment covered by a single permit or a work permit, over a period of ten years of lawful and uninterrupted residence in Belgium immediately preceding the application.

• If you are a citizen of the United Kingdom or a country that has concluded international agreements with Belgium with regard to the employment of workers (Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Morocco, Montenegro, Serbia, Tunisia, Turkey) and your spouse, your registered partner or your children lawfully reside with you :

  you need to justify two years of employment covered by a single permit or a work permit, over a period of ten years of lawful and uninterrupted residence in Belgium immediately preceding the application.

• If you are a citizen of the United Kingdom or a country that has concluded international agreements with Belgium with regard to the employment of workers (Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Morocco, Montenegro, Serbia, Tunisia, Turkey) :

  you need to justify three years of employment covered by a single permit or a work permit, over a period of ten years of lawful and uninterrupted residence in Belgium immediately preceding the application.

• If your spouse, your registered partner or your children are lawfully residing with you, :

  you need to justify three years of employment covered by a single permit or a work permit, over a period of ten years of lawful and uninterrupted residence in Belgium immediately preceding the application.

• In all other cases  :

  you need to justify four years of employment covered by a single permit or a work permit, over a period of ten years of lawful and uninterrupted residence in Belgium immediately preceding the application.

An "unlimited single permit" will allow you to work in Belgium without a duration limit, and is valid for all salaried professions and all employers.

Attention. The following employment situations cannot be taken into account to calculate the number of employment years covered by a type B work permit or a single permit (royal decree dated 9 June 1999):

• interns;
• seconded employees;
• invited researchers and professors;
• specialised technicians;
• au pairs;
• spouse, registered partner or children of a foreign worker with a type B work permit or self-employed status (Art. 9.16);
• spouse, registered partner or children of a foreign worker exempted from a work permit (Art. 9.17);
• workers in training (article 9,18 and 9,19 of the royal decree dated 9 June 1999)
• seasonal workers
• workers covered by article 2 of the royal decree dated 9 June 1999

How to apply

If you are eligible to apply for an unlimited single permit :

1. Prepare the necessary annexes (.pdf)
2. Fill in an application for a single permit via the digital counter "Working in Belgium".

In this case, it is the non-EU worker as a "citizen" who applies for a single permit. 

Apply for an unlimited single permit 
 

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.