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Administrative Information

Practical information
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When you arrive

Table of contents:
 

 

 

 

Immigration / Visa

For students, researchers and lecturers who are staying for more than three months:

  • citizens of the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Norway or Switzerland do not need a visa.
  • citizens of any other country have to apply for a visa at the home country’s Belgian embassy or consulate as soon as possible.

Regardless of nationality, individuals who are staying for more than three months are required to register with the municipality (‘Administration communale’, often spoken of simply as the ‘commune’) of residence within eight days of arrival in Belgium. This registration is valid for one year and must be resubmitted for renewal one month prior to its expiration (details below under ‘When you arrive’).

Researchers and lecturers employed by UCL may also require a Belgian work permit (see ‘Work permit’ below).

More information is available at the home country’s Belgian embassy or consulate, the Belgian Immigration Office and the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

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Work Permit

1. For students:

As a general rule, students are exempt from having to obtain a work permit, but there are two exceptions for students from non-EU countries: students who wish either to pursue a paid internship or to work while studying must obtain a Type C work permit.

More information is available at the ‘Foreign students’ page of the Belgian Federal Public Service for Employment, Labour and Social Dialogue (French), the federal website ‘Student at Work’ and the UCL Jobs Service.
 

2. For researchers and lecturers:

  • Citizens of a European Economic Area (EEA) member state,* or researchers or lecturers who come to Belgium under the terms of a hosting agreement (and thereby possess a scientific visa), do not require a work permit.

  • Citizens of any other country are required to obtain a Type B work permit before arriving in Belgium. The Personnel Department (contact: Edith Serville) is responsible for submitting applications to the relevant Belgian ministry. The procedure for obtaining a permit and the timescale may vary according to individual status and whether the individual is a Belgian resident. Residents abroad must apply for a visa at the Belgian consulate in the country of origin. The visa is granted based on – among other things – the nature of the stay and, in the case of a work stay, possessing a work permit.

(*) Thus: Germany, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Spain, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Czech Republic, Romania, United Kingdom, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland.

Type B work permits are valid for maximum one year and must be renewed each subsequent year. More information is available at the ‘Work permit’ intranet page: https://intranet.uclouvain.be/fr/myucl/travailler/informations-legales-permis-de-travail.html

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Bank Accounts

All students, researchers and lecturers should open a bank account as soon as possible after arrival. In fact, before leaving their home country, they should ask their bank whether it has a local counterpart in Belgium, which is likely and might be advantageous. As opening an account can take several days (see ‘Open a bank account’ in the ‘When you arrive’ section), arriving with sufficient funds in cash is necessary. More information in the "When you arrive" section.

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Social Security

Students other than grant-assisted PhD students do not pay Belgian social security contributions but do need to take action regarding reimbursement of healthcare costs (see ‘Healthcare’ section).

Grant-assisted PhD students, as well as researchers and lecturers, with an employment contract are subject to social security contributions, which are deducted at the source and payable to the Belgian National Social Security Office (ONSS). These contributions will provide either full or partial (not including unemployment and pension) social security cover, depending on nationality.*

The schemes covered by the social security system include:

  • compulsory health and incapacity insurance, healthcare sector;
  • compulsory health and incapacity insurance, benefits sector;
  • family allowance;
  • retirement and survivor pensions;
  • unemployment insurance;
  • annual holidays (for manual workers);
  • occupational accident insurance;
  • insurance for occupational diseases.

(*) Full social security cover applies to EU nationals and nationals of Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada and Quebec, Chile, Iceland, India, Israel, Japan, Kosovo, Liechtenstein, Macedonia, Montenegro, Moldavia,Morocco, Norway, the Philippines, Democratic Republic of Congo, San Marino, South Korea, Switzerland, Tunisia, Turkey, the United States, Uruguay and the independent states of the former Yugoslavia.

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Healthcare

Students, researchers and lecturers who are citizens of the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland must apply for the European Health Insurance Card. This card is free and provides access to the same public healthcare (e.g. doctors, pharmacies, hospitals or treatment centres) enjoyed by Belgian residents. Charges for medical care are reimbursed immediately or after returning to the home country. However, EU nationals may wish to join a Belgian health insurance scheme ("mutuelle") (see below) to make sure they benefit from all available services (for example, child supervision at home).

Students, researchers and lecturers who are citizens of any other country must join a health insurance scheme (the so-called ‘mutuelle’ or ‘mutualité’; French and Dutch only) as soon as possible after arrival. These schemes reimburse the cost of medical care (either in full or in part depending on the type of services provided) and some medications, and are run by a range of agencies – socialist, Christian, liberal and independent – any of which can be chosen. Non-compulsory ‘complementary’ health insurance, which covers some or all of the costs not reimbursed by compulsory health insurance, is also available.

International students and some visiting professors (for example, those participating in Erasmus + teaching assignments) often have to prove that they are covered by international health insurance.

International visitors who stay in Belgium for less than three months cannot join a Belgian health insurance scheme.

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Family Allowances

Bachelor’s, master’s and non-grant-assisted PhD students who have enrolled in a degree programme and are under 25 years of age will receive from the UCL Student Support Service a certificate addressed to their parents’ Family Allowance Fund.

Grant-assisted PhD students, as well as researchers and lecturers, with an employment contract are entitled to a family allowance (French, Dutch, German language website). Five types of allowances are offered by the benefits system:

  • birth grant;
  • adoption allowance;
  • basic family allowance;
  • orphan’s allowance;
  • supplementary family allowance.

The application for a family allowance, either when a person is employed or following the birth of the first child, must be submitted through the employer using a standard form available from the Personnel Department.

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Income Taxes and VAT

Students and grant holders (PhD students and postdoctoral researchers) are not liable to tax as individuals unless they earn above a certain amount: see studentatwork.be. Only PhD students and postdoctoral researchers will receive a tax return form. Contact the Personnel Department for more information about tax exemption conditions for grant holders.

Non-grant-assisted PhD students, as well as researchers and lecturers, with an employment contract must complete an individual tax return if, on 1 January of the tax year in question, they:

  • are included in the National Register;
  • have their domicile or centre of financial interest in Belgium;
  • are not exempt from the requirement to submit a tax return.

Individual tax returns must be submitted annually to the department specified on the tax return.

In Belgium, the normal rate of VAT is 21%. However, lower rates of 6% and 12% are applied to certain categories of goods and services. More information.

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Unemployment Benefits

After they complete their studies, all students should consult the Belgian Social Security website (French, Dutch, German) to find out whether they are entitled to unemployment benefits.

As a general rule, grant-assisted PhD students and employed researchers and lecturers can only claim unemployment benefits if they are legally resident in Belgium upon completion of their employment contract. Once their residence permit has been extended and they have obtained a C4 form from the Personnel Department, they can go to the NEO (National Employment Office) and apply for unemployment benefits. In addition to this legal residency requirement, they must also prove that they satisfy other conditions before they can claim benefits. These include having worked for a certain number of days during the reference period, the exact number varying according to age.

(*) Unemployment cover only applies to EU nationals and nationals of Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada and Quebec, Chile, Iceland, India, Israel, Japan, Kosovo, Liechtenstein, Macedonia, Montenegro, Moldavia, Morocco, Norway, the Philippines, Democratic Republic of Congo, San Marino, South Korea, Switzerland, Tunisia, Turkey, the United States, Uruguay and the independent states of the former Yugoslavia.

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Pension Rights

Grant-assisted PhD students and employed researchers and lecturers accrue pension or retirement rights based on the social security contributions deducted directly from their grant or salary. What happens to their Belgian pension once their research in Belgium comes to an end depends on where they go afterward.

Individuals who move to a country within the European Economic Area (the European Union and its member states) and retire in that country will have their Belgian pension exported in accordance with European Regulation 1408/71. Under this Regulation (which also applies to non-nationals of the EEA since European Regulation 859/2003 came into force), each member state where an individual has paid social security contributions for at least one year must pay a graduated pension (based on length of service) corresponding to the full contribution period in the country of retirement. A pension is received only upon reaching the country’s official retirement age, which in the case of Belgium is 65 years of age.

Retirees in a country outside the European Economic Area can have their Belgian pension exported only if they are a national of the European Economic Area or a country with which Belgium has concluded a bilateral social security convention (Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada and Quebec, Chile, Croatia, Iceland, India, Israel, Japan, Kosovo, Liechtenstein, Macedonia, Montenegro, Moldavia, Morocco, Norway, the Philippines, Democratic Republic of Congo, San Marino, South Korea, Switzerland, Tunisia, Turkey, the United States, Uruguay and the independent states of the former Yugoslavia). Those who are not a national of any of these countries will only be entitled to a Belgian pension if they remain in Europe.