Employing a foreigner in Flanders: seasonal workers
For foreign workers who do not qualify for admission to employment on the basis of their occupation, the future employer can still obtain admission as a seasonal worker under certain conditions. There must be an employment contract for seasonal activities in the horticultural or hospitality sectors, for a maximum of five months per twelve-month period. The future employer must demonstrate that they cannot find anyone else on the local labour market.
Foreigners for whom you do not need to apply for a work permit
For foreigners coming to work in Flanders, the employer must obtain a work permit in advance. For certain groups of foreigners, this obligation does not apply and you are exempt.
If the foreigner does not belong to one of these groups, a work permit is required. The employer can then hire the foreigner only if they meet the conditions that apply to the type of work that the foreigner will perform.
Can you not find your employee’s job in these categories or on the list of shortage occupations of the VDAB? Then your employee may still qualify for a work permit if they come to work as a seasonal worker.
What is a seasonal worker?
A work permit for seasonal workers will be granted if:
- the seasonal worker is bound by an employment contract with the employer for seasonal activities in the horticultural or hospitality sectors
- for a maximum of five months per twelve-month period.
A “seasonal activity” is an activity that, due to a recurring event or pattern of events associated with seasonal conditions, is tied to a certain time of year in which the number of workers required significantly exceeds the number needed for the work usually to be performed;
For how long can a seasonal worker work?
Seasonal work by third-country nationals is limited to a maximum of 5 months per 12 months. The 12 months do not necessarily coincide with a calendar year (1 Jan – 31 Dec).
Proving a shortage
Can you prove that in this specific situation it is not possible to find a worker on the local labour market within a reasonable time? Below you can read how to prove that you cannot find anyone other than your foreign candidate-employee and which other conditions are applicable.
- You are a Belgian employer and are offering employment in Belgium – no posting possible.
- The employee is not yet on Belgian territory (unless they are a long-term resident of the EU).
- You cannot find an employee on the labour market. This is the ‘concentric model’ of the entire labour market, applicable in the Flemish Region: Flanders > Belgium > European Economic Area. It does not matter whether your future employee might still have to undergo (individual) vocational training – but this is highly recommended.
- You can substantiate your fruitless search on the entire labour market using factual evidence.
- As an employer in Flanders, it is advisable to post a vacancy for seasonal workers with VDAB (in Dutch)(opens in new window) and to be supported by VDAB.
- Publish the vacancy on the VDAB website for at least 3 weeks in 1 month prior to your application.
Belgian employer only
As described above, you can only apply for a work permit for your employee as a Belgian employer. Is one of the following situations applicable? Then your employee is not eligible for a work permit:
- employment in Belgium via posting from a foreign employer to a Belgian user
- employment in Belgium with a foreign company – even if it has a Belgian company number.
Procedure for obtaining a work permit - 90 days maximum
The employer applies for the work permit for their future foreign seasonal worker who is coming to work in Belgium for 90 days maximum. They compile the required documents for the application. The documents do not have to be originals, a copy is sufficient.
The work permit is no longer renewable, not even for citizens from Ukraine. It is actually better for the employer to apply for a single permit for seasonal work of 150 days maximum, so that the seasonal worker can easily change employers if desired.
- Stap 1
Which region is competent?
The region in which the branch unit where the foreign worker is employed is located is competent. If the employer owns several business units, the region where the worker is mainly employed is competent.
If the main place of employment cannot be determined, for example because the employee is employed 50% in one region and 50% in the other region, the region where the company has its registered office and is therefore registered in the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises (CBE) is competent.
If the employer does not own any social unit or business unit in Belgium, the region where the employee is to perform his activities is competent.
If the place of employment changes, the employer must apply for a new work permit.
Other regions
Please contact the competent region below if you do not need to apply for a permit in Flanders:
Competent service in the Brussels-Capital Region
Brussel Economie en Werkgelegenheid
Directie Economische Migratie
Sint-Lazarusplein 2
1035 Brussel
Tel: 02 204 13 99 (9 am to 12 pm)
Website of the competent service in Brussels(opens in new window)Competent service in Wallonia
Direction générale de l’Economie, de l’Emploi et de la Recherche
Direction de l’Emploi et des Permis de travail
Place de la Wallonie 1
5100 Jambes
Tel 081 33 43 62
E-mail: permisdetravail@spw.wallonie.be(opens in your email application)
Website of the competent service in Wallonia(opens in new window)Competent service for the German-speaking Community:
Ministerium der Deutschsprachigen Gemeinschaft
Abteilung Beschäftigung, Gesundheit und Soziales,
Gospertstrasse, 1
4700 EUPEN
Tel 087 59 64 86
Website of the competent service for the German-speaking Community - Stap 2
To apply for a permit in Flanders, download the form “application for fixed-term
employment with a work card and work permit”: Word (in Dutch)(Word file opens in new window) or pdf (in Dutch)(PDF file opens in new window).
The application form asks you to enter the employee’s national register or BIS number.- If your employee is not registered in the national register, the employer must request a BIS number. The employer requests the BIS number via BelgianIDpro(opens in new window) and completes the application form.
A BIS number is a unique identification number which, like the national registry number, consists of 11 digits. The first 6 digits are based on the date of birth: 00.00.00-000-.00.
Non-Belgians working in Belgium but not living in Belgium are automatically registered in the BIS register of the Crossroads Bank for Social Security (KSZ) and have a BIS number.
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- Employee ID
- Employee is not in Belgium at the time of application:
- International passport.
- Employee is in Belgium at the time of application:
- International passport and Belgian residence permit showing legal residence in Belgium
- Employee is not in Belgium at the time of application:
- Your (as the employer) identity document or that of your proxy holder.
- An employment contract, dated and signed by both parties.
(Another document may be required instead of an employment contract for the category to which the foreigner’s work belongs, see below on this page.)
- Employee ID
- Stap 4
See in detail above:
- an employment contract with the Belgian employer for seasonal activities in the horticultural or hospitality sectors for a maximum of five months per period of twelve months
- proof that in this specific situation it is not possible to find a seasonal worker on the local labour market within a reasonable period of time
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Collect the required documents in the following fixed order in one application.
Application form
The form completed by the employer for admission of a fixed duration:
Application for fixed-term employment with a work card and work permit
Documents relating to residence
- Employee identity document, a valid passport or equivalent travel document (only specific personal data, no stamp pages, whether blank or filled in). Choose which situation is applicable:
- Employee is not in Belgium at the time of application
- Foreign identity card or personal data in an international passport.
- Employee is in Belgium at the time of application
- Foreign identity card of personal data in an international passport
- and Belgian residence permit showing legal residence in Belgium.
- Employee is not in Belgium at the time of application
- Proof(opens in new window) that the employee has a health insurance which covers all risks for them and their family members.
Employment contract
If there is no employment contract: proof of another income.
Employer identity document
Or of their proxy/agent.
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- Scan the full application, with all associated documents in the required order.
- Group everything into a single file in PDF format.
- Give the PDF a name as follows:
[surnames in capital letters] underscore [first names in capital letters] underscore
[country of nationality] and, if known, underscore [INSZ number, integral in digits – BIS- or national registry number].Example: SURNAME_First name1 First name2_Country_XXXXXXXXXXX.pdf
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E-mail address
Submit your scanned file via e-mail: aanvraag.arbeidskaart@vlaanderen.be
Please use that e-mail address only for filing applications.
All other communication is via the e-mail address provided by the case handler or via arbeidskaart@vlaanderen.be Do not include any other names as (co-)addressees, either directly or in Cc or Bcc.PDF attachment
Send 1 e-mail with 1 PDF attachment for each employee for whom you are applying for a work permit. Include the application form and all the documents in the correct order in this PDF attachment.
The maximum file size is 20 megabytes (MB). If your application is more than 20 MB, compress it into a zip file of 20 MB maximum.E-mail subject
In the subject line include the full name of the PDF file, followed by the specific category for which you are applying for a work permit (for example, highly skilled, executive or training multinational group, as indicated on the application form), followed by the type of application (‘first application’ or ‘renewal/extension’).
Fictitious example: MOHAMMED_AHMED YOUSSEF_Morocco_95470115388.pdf – highly skilled - first application;
E-mail text
Always include the following in the e-mail message itself:
- Employee (surnames and first names)
- Belgian company involved (employer or user in case of posting, company name and company number)
- In case of au pair: host family
- In case of posting: the foreign company involved(company name and address)
- Job title.
In addition to the required information, you can, if you wish, also provide additional information about the actual employment.
Fictitious example: MOHAMMED Ahmed Youssef, Janssen Pharmaceutica (0403.834.160), Marrakech Consultants (Avenue Ibn Sina, Marrakech), senior consultant.
Agent
Are you based abroad? Then authorise an agent who regularly resides in Belgium to submit the application. In that case, please also attach a copy of the agent’s identity document.
Confirmation of receipt
After you have e-mailed your application, you will receive an automatic confirmation of receipt, including your original message (without an attachment). The Economic Migration Department will then process the applications in chronological order of receipt.
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The Economic Migration Department examines the “employment” section of your application. Upon approval, we automatically forward the application to the Immigration Department, which examines the “residence” section of your application.
The application is approved
The employee receives a work card and the employer receives a work permit. Both documents include the same information:
- The work permit is the document (in letter form) for the employer, authorising him to employ a specific foreign employee, in a specific position or job, and for a specific period of time. The work permit is always sent directly to the (applicant) employer (or to his agent who submitted the application)
- The work card is the document (in card form with photo) for the foreign employee, authorising him to work for a specific employer in a specific position or job and for a specific period of time.
The work card can be delivered in two ways, depending on the situation:
- The employee is still abroad: the original work card is sent to the municipality where the employer is established. The employer collects the work card and sends it to the employee abroad. The employee abroad must present himself/herself with the work card at the Belgian embassy to obtain a short-stay visa (visa type C – not required for people who can travel visa-free). The employee can then travel to Belgium and register in a Belgian municipality.
- The employee is in Belgium: the original work card is sent to the municipality where the employee lives, the employee collects it himself or herself. Sending the work card by post to the municipal administration can take up to 3 weeks. If the card has not been received after this period, the municipality must contact the Economic Migration Department to request and send a duplicate.
The employee in possession of the work card can only work for the employer who applied for the permit.
The work permit for a maximum of 90 days cannot be renewed/extended. You must then apply for a fixed-term work permit for more than 90 days.
The application is not approved
You will receive a refusal decision.
If you do not agree with the refusal decision, you have the following options:
- You can submit a new application, complete and/or with new elements, which will then be re-examined.
- As an employee, you can look for a new employer who will submit a new application for a fixed-term work permit.
- You can appeal the refusal decision or the withdrawal decision.
Procedure for obtaining a work permit – Fixed duration, more than 90 days
The employer applies for a single permit of fixed duration for their future foreign seasonal worker who will work and reside continuously for a total of more than 90 days in Belgium. This single permit contains both a work permit and a residence permit. If the application is approved, the employee can work for the employer who applied for the permit.
The employer compiles the required documents for their application. The documents do not have to be originals, a copy is sufficient.
Advantage of a single permit for seasonal work
The worker can easily change employers under the following conditions.
- The seasonal worker has a single permit.
- Within the period of validity of the single permit, the new employer submits a written notification to the Economic Migration Department and takes over the seasonal worker. This can be done with this document: PDF version (in Dutch)(PDF file opens in new window) or Word version (in Dutch)(Word file opens in new window).
- If the position of the seasonal worker does not fit into the Admission to employment - seasonal worker category with the new employer, the Economic Migration Department may oppose the change within 30 days.
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- Employee identity document
- Employee is not in Belgium at the time of application:
- Personal data in an international passport.
- Employee is in Belgium at the time of application:
- Personal data in an international passport
- And a Belgian residence permit.
- Employee is not in Belgium at the time of application:
- Proof(opens in new window) that the requested administrative costs (fees) have been paid
- Extract from the criminal register(opens in new window), if the applicant is over 18 years of age. Legalised(opens in new window) and translated (Dutch, French or English)
- The standard medical certificate(opens in new window) showing that the employee is not suffering from a disease which is a threat to public health, as referred to in the annex to the law of 15 December 1980
- Proof that the employee has health insurance(opens in new window) or a declaration of commitment (in Dutch)(PDF file opens in new window)
These documents must be no more than 6 months old at the time of submitting your application.
- Employee identity document
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Employment contract
An employment contract signed and dated by both parties.
The employment contract must be drawn up in the language of the region where the employer concerned is established.
Employment through service vouchers or as a community worker is excluded for work permits.
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See in detail above:
- how you demonstrate that there is a shortage in the local labour market that prevents you from finding anyone else
- which documentation and documents you must add to your application.
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Only submit a complete application. It is not possible to email documents afterwards to add them to a file which has already been submitted.
- If the file has been processed, but you want to cancel/stop the application, you can do so via the ‘stop’ button. The Economic Migration Department will then process the cancellation/stop request.
- If the employment contract with the employee has been terminated early, you must press the ‘stop early’ button in the employee’s file.
After you have submitted the complete application via the one-stop shop(opens in new window), it is automatically forwarded digitally to the competent region. The competent regions, besides Flanders, are:
Brussels-Capital Region
Brussel Economie en Werkgelegenheid
Directie Economische Migratie
Sint-Lazarusplein 2
1035 Brussels
02 204 13 99 (from 9 to 12)
Website of the competent service in Brussels(opens in new window)Walloon Region
Direction générale de l’Economie, de l’Emploi et de la Recherche
Direction de l’Emploi et des Permis de travail
Place de la Wallonie 1
5100 Jambes
081 33 43 62
permisdetravail@spw.wallonie.be(opens in your email application)
Website of the competent service in Wallonia(opens in new window)German-speaking Community
Ministerium der Deutschsprachigen Gemeinschaft
Abteilung Beschäftigung, Gesundheit und Soziales,
Gospertstrasse, 1
4700 Eupen
087 59 64 86
Website of the competent service for the German-speaking Community(opens in new window) - Stap 5
The competent region will examine the “employment” section of your file.
After you have submitted the complete application, you can follow up the status of your application in the one-stop shop(opens in new window). For each change of status of your file, you will receive a notification and a digital letter via your eBox (in Dutch)(opens in new window).
These statuses are possible:
- The file has been submitted
- Additional information requested by the region
- Admissibility
- Inadmissibility
- Positive decision concerning work or negative position concerning work
After a ‘positive decision concerning work’, the file is automatically forwarded to the Immigration Department of the federal government, which will examine the “residence” section of your application. The following stages are possible:
- Being processed by the Immigration Department
- Additional information requested by the Immigration Department
- Positive decision concerning residence (Annex 46/47) or negative decision concerning residence (Annex 48).
In case of a positive decision on both work and residence (single permit), the Immigration Department will communicate this decision to the employee, the employer and the municipal council or the Belgian diplomatic and consular post specified in the application.
If the employee is in Belgium, the Immigration Department will issue an electronic single permit via the municipality. This permit contains both the work permit and the residence permit.
If the employee is abroad, the employee, who has provided a foreign address in their application for a work permit, must apply for a visa D (national long-stay visa) at the Belgian diplomatic or consular post competent for their place of residence.
That post will issue the visa, upon presentation of a valid passport and the decision to grant a single permit (Annex 46 or 47), provided that the decision presented by the employee is fully consistent with the decision communicated to the post by the Immigration Department.The national entry B34 made on the visa D means that the employee has received a single permit. The entry B29 means that the employee is a highly qualified employee (EU Blue Card).
If the employee has arrived in Belgium
Then, within 8 working days, the employee must register in the aliens’ register (in Dutch)(opens in new window) of the place of residence and apply for the issue of a single permit.
Renewing your work permit
Do you want to renew an existing permit? This also depends on the work permit you already have.
Renewal of a work permit for a fixed term of more than 90 days
Do you want to renew your single permit? Then submit your application file at least 2 months and maximum 4 months before the expiry date via the one-stop shop -Working in Belgium(opens in new window).
Include the documents below in your file. The documents do not need to be originals. Copies will suffice.
- International passport
- Belgian residence permit of the employee
- Proof that the employee has health insurance(opens in new window)
- Employment contract
- Pay or wage slips from the period for which the work permit expires or an individual account if the employee has worked for a full calendar year
- If the employee changes employer and there is still a valid single permit: notice letter with notice period.
The employee can not be working on posting.
What if the single permit of the seasonal worker is revoked
In the event that the seasonal worker’s single permit is revoked, the employer must pay compensation (= the wages that the seasonal worker should have received) to the seasonal worker. This is as a result of the following violations by the employer:
- violations of illegal employment
- chain liability
- bankruptcy of the employer
- non-compliance with social or fiscal regulations.
In the event of non-compliance with the payment of compensation, the seasonal worker can report this via the Flemish Social Inspection hotline (in Dutch).
Can the foreign employee also perform a flexi-job?
Only foreign employees in possession of a single permit may, under certain conditions, perform a flexi-job in addition to their salaried work. Of course, the general federal guidelines for flexi-jobs (in Dutch)(opens in new window) also apply to the employee.
If the employee has worked for at least 4/5 of 9 months for one or more employers other than the flexi-job employer, they may start a flexi-job without having to submit an application to the Economic Migration Department.