Search Q&A
Registration process - cancellation?
Hi,
I registered with a Brussels commune last month, and my registration is still being processed (I don't have the card yet). Does residency start from the date I begin that process, or from the date I receive the card itself?
Also, if I decide to leave Belgium and cancel the registration, is it enough just to contact the commune, or is there something more official I should do?
Thanks
Residency will usually date from the police control to check that you are actually living where you say you are, or from a day or two after. The actual registration process will usually take longer and you can only apply for a card once it is complete.
Sorry, I should have added that if you decide to leave Belgium before the process is complete, you should indeed tell your commune.
Residence if successful, starts from the date you register. You'll be able to look back on that date once you have your electroniccard by going online and searching your residence record. The above poster is incorrect.
Your residence card will however be valid from the date it is produced, this is not going to align ever with your registration date. If you need to prove you were resident before that date, you go online with your electronic card to retrieve that residence history.
When you started the registration process, you will also have received an annex the date your registered, so take a look at it.
When you started the registration process, you will also have received an annex the date your registered, so take a look at it.
I am sorry but Shortof is wrong in this particular instance. "Residence" starts from the date that you are first recorded in your (first) commune's register of foreigners, that date will not be before the date of the police control and probably a few days later (to allow the bureaucracy to actually happen). If Shortof doubts me, he/she should get a certificate of residence from the commune and check the date that it shows, it won't be the date that the commune was first asked for registration but (probably several) weeks later.
I have had to get a certificate of residence and I have accessed for others theirs and they all state the date of initial registration, not the date the police confirmed where the various people lived.
Date of inscription will only be delayed if the paperwork is not in order at first appointment of maison communale.
To the original poster
A lot of fairly useless discussion above.
There is the date you go to the commune to write yourself in.
There is the date the police come and check. If they are happy, you will normally get a letter in a couple of days.
Then you will get a card if all is well.
It’s all detail.
But, is the precise date so important to you? If it is, maybe we could advise you better if we had more information.
To leave Belgium, you need to regulate everything with your landlord if you have one, advise the commune and any banks, social security etc
