How do you get a work permit in Belgium in 2026?

Your employer or authorised representative files with the economic-migration department of the Region where you will work. Flanders, Wallonia, Brussels-Capital, and the German-speaking Community each set labour-market conditions, shortage lists, and salary thresholds, while the single-permit procedure with the Region and IBZ is shared across the country. Expect proof of payment of the administrative fee and the supporting pack the Region lists for that job category.

Regional authorities assess the work side; the Immigration Office assesses the stay. EU portal guidance gives the authorities about four months after the file is declared admissible, with extensions possible for complex cases. A grant can appear as Annex 46; if the deadline passes without a decision, Annex 47 can certify a grant by silence in published cases. Read the live regional page for your job, not a friend’s Wallonia letter if you will work in Flanders.

You cannot invent a single-permit file without an employer channel for ordinary employment. Short-stay work exceptions and other categories exist, but they are not a substitute for the long-stay employee route.

If you are still outside Belgium, use the decision to obtain any required Type D visa, then enter and register at the commune of your real address within the published window: Register address. The commune and police residence check lead toward the electronic foreigner card: Get an eID. Fold banking, mutualité, and tax login into the first-month stack: Paperwork after moving, Open a bank account, and Choose health insurance.

EU citizens skip this work-permit path entirely and still complete Annex 19 and domicile when they stay longer than three months. After years of legal stay, permanent cards become a separate commune file: Get permanent residence.