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E+ Residency card

Question

Anyone know if NATO employees with ID cards issued by the Belgian Foreign Ministry (was employed by NATO from outside Belgium) can apply for the E+ Residency card in Belgium? Have lived in Belgium continuously since 1999 and bought my house here. ID cards issued to people with this "ex-pat" status by the Foreign Ministry apparently don't count for the purposes of time accrued living in the country to apply for Belgian nationality, and as a Brit, am looking for a way to have my time lived in Belgium recognized in this post-Brexit referendum mire. Think a lot of EU employees might be stuck in the same boat. Grateful for any constructive advice. And if I can get an E+ residency permit, where would I get it from and how would I go about it?

abc123

My husband is EU employed amd recently returned his 'special ' id card to the foreign ministry (it went via the ID card people at work). They gave him a paper requesting our commune issue him with a standard residence card. He took the paper to the commune and they did the rest.

Jun 25, 2017 09:58
abc123

Also in Politico today:

ASSISTANT WINS BATTLE FOR BELGIAN CITIZENSHIP

Laura Rayner, a British parliamentary assistant, now has a Belgian passport after a long legal battle that highlighted the problems EU staffers face when trying to get citizenship. Holders of the special identity card available to EU employees have often been told they do not qualify for Belgian residency, and later citizenship. Rayner, who has lived in Belgium since September 2009, challenged that in a court in Leuven, saying she was entitled to citizenship no matter what ID document she was using. The court agreed, noting that EU law exempts staff at the bloc’s institutions from registering with Belgian authorities. That in turn means EU personnel have never agreed to forgo their residency rights, as Belgian authorities have claimed in the past, and that simply exercising one’s right to free movement as an EU citizen is sufficient to claim residency.

Jun 25, 2017 14:43
CC_R

Was discussing this type of thing with a American friend whose married to a Belgian her opinion is that some communes are making it deliberately hard because they are irked. She seemed to feel that had people applied before brexit vote the issue wouldn't have existed they would have been welcomed with open arms but somehow people keeping their British nationality and living here for decades and only asking now the rules may change is problematic because we have to has upset them by only doing as a last resort so to speak she feels. I have to say I as a Brit thought well imagine some brits may feel same if position reversed but seems unfair. Please don't have a go at me not my opinion but passing on hers

Jun 26, 2017 07:45
yttap

If you are currently employed at NATO and have the special carte de séjour you have expat status and pay no taxes! You would need to be ordinarily resident here for 5 years, registered at your commune,and paying BE income tax. Belgians do not receive expat allowance, as you know. If you want to apply for Belgian nationality, check on the procedure with your Commune.

Jun 26, 2017 08:35