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Aquiring Belgian citizenship after 5 years of uninterupted stay
Hi,
I have been living in brussels coomune for 5 years. I now have a type-B permanent residence card. during my five years of stay, I have always been working and i have always had type-A residence card which was renuwed every year. I have always aplied for the renewal of my type-A card well before the expiry date of the previous card. but, in all these years there were delays from the ministry and commune to provide me the new ID. because of this there is always a month's gap between the expiry of my old ID and the new ID.
I have now moved to the commune of ever, and when i went to apply for citizenship, they are telling me that i do not have 5 years of uninterupted stay as there have always been a months gap. i told them that it is due to the delay from the part of commune and ministry. but they are refusung to take my application.
Have anyone experience similar situation ?
Yes the commune looks at those gaps as a reason of non-continuity of residence, technically although practically you did stay 5 years. Now as it looks like you fulfill all other requirements, it would be best to consult a good expensive lawyer to convince the commune that it was never your fault for the gaps.
Question: What document (annex document number) did they give you during those gap periods where you were between ID cards?
Before spending money on a lawyer, ask your new commune what documents you can provide to prove that you lived here continuously. And go back to your original commune to ask them to produce proof that you were a permanent resident and that any apparent gap was caused by their delay.
Hi, there!
Interruption of stay is considered when you were scrapped from the National Register, which in your situation is not the case.
You need to ask an extract from your personal file (the commune is obliged to give it to you according to the law enrusing the right for access to information - 'exercise du droit d'acces'), which should list all dates then you requested your each card A, their validity, prologation, and when it was granted and when the previous card was annuled - so they normally do not annule previous card in their system until the next one is issued (which means your stay is not interrupted). And this document should be a proof on your uninterrupted stay.
Before going to lawyer, get in contact with Kruispunt Migratie (http://www.kruispuntmi.be/) or get in touch with Objectief (http://www.allrights.be): they usually provide good advise for free on how to go in each particular situation. Though they do not provide info in English (to my knowledge, at least).
And one more thing: in general the commune is not to decide whether your stay was uninterrupted or not, this decision takes only DVZ. The task of the commune is to check if all the documents are in order and comply with regualtions and pass the dossier to DVZ. Sometimes it is good to remind them this.
Good luck and patience,
D.
go back to your original commune to ask them to produce proof that you were a permanent resident
http://yep.it/vccjex
Hi Sbxl,
How did it go for you ? Are you an EU or non-EU citizen, as I am also in similar situation of residence permit A card renewal always delayed from commune end.
