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Requirements for Belgian Permanent Residency
Hi,
I am not able to find the official website which lists all the requirements for a permanent residency in Belgium. Can someone help me with this?
What I have read on numerous posts is that -
1. You need to have an uniterrupted stay of 5 years.
- Does this include the time you spent in Belgium as a student?
2. You cannot leave Belgium for a period of more than 1 year in total in the past 5 years.
- Is there an explanation somewhere on how the commune / Belgian immigration authorities calculate this one year period.
- Is it only the number of days outside the Schengen area or the number of days outside Belgium? How do they keep track of this?
Thank you!
You will get the right answer from the commune.
Dont rely on comments here
Hi there,
Q1: honestly, I do not know precise info but I heard that the time as student counts only as half - if you stayed 2 years it will count as 1.
Q2: to my knowledge they take into consideration your absences ONLY if you officially deregistered from the commune. If you stay registered and keep you residence card, it is considered uninterrupted stay. No one keeps track of your absences if you travel for work or leisure.
You can look at the following website:
https://www.brussels.be/belgian-nationality
https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=649951
https://diplomatie.belgium.be/en/services/services_abroad/nationality
- follow the links on legalization of all the documents
It is not that hard but it does involve paperwork and legalization of all your documents.
