Immigration process for non-EU nationals

The BJA Legal & Tax Committee is pleased to announce some recent positive developments around the immigration process for non-EU nationals coming to Belgium.

• The introduction of the online immigration portal, which ensures a quick and transparent way of managing immigration applications towards Belgium,  decreasing the red tape that used to characterize the immigration process until now.
• The decrease of the overall processing timeline for single permit applications for non-EU nationals (although regional differences are still noticeable), as such improving the predictability of the process and largely benefitting the employee experience further to a move to Belgium.
• The upcoming introduction of the ICT permit, expected in November 2021, helping to establish Belgium as a gateway to Europe by virtue of the scope of this ICT permit, which allows employment in different EU countries based on one permit only.

 
These positive developments are for a part the result of the strong connection and impact BJA’s Legal & Tax Committee has developed together with the Investment Committee over the past years with the different government stakeholders, moving the Federal & Regional governments to transform the Belgian immigration system into a transparent, modern and quick system that can handle the challenges of today’s international mobility landscape. The Legal & Tax Committee will continue to monitor the developments on this topic.

Wim Eynatten, Chairman Legal & Tax Committee, Partner Deloitte
Matthias Lommers, Member Legal & Tax Committee, Senior Director Deloitte