Employing a foreigner in Flanders: intern in/after training

Foreign students can complete their internship in Flanders under certain conditions. Their future employer must apply for a work permit for this purpose.

Not every foreigner needs a work permit

Foreigners coming to work in Flanders, the employer must obtain a work permit beforehand. For certain groups of foreigners, this requirement does not apply and you are exempt.

This applies,among others, to:

Employment for up to 90 days, so-called short-term mobility, in particular short-term employment with a Limosa declaration.
Persons participating in a restricted meeting in Belgium, with a maximum of 60 days per calendar year in our country, and no more than 20 consecutive calendar days per meeting.
The foreign employee receiving training at the Belgian headquarters of a group of companies. That training is part of a training agreement between the headquarters of that group. The training, and therefore also their stay, shall not exceed three months (with a Limosa declaration).

The full list of exemptions can be found here.

Therefore, if the foreigner does not belong to one of these groups, a work permit is required. The employer can only employ the foreigner if they meet the conditions which apply to the type of work which the foreigner is to perform.

Who is considered an intern in/after training?

In order to do an internship in Flanders with a work permit, some conditions must be met.

The internship is a full-time position from a minimum of 3 months to a maximum of 6 months. It may be extended once for a maximum of 6 months.
The internship can generate a salary but can also be unpaid.
However, if the internship is unpaid, an allowance, reimbursement for expenses, premium, scholarship, etc. must be paid. Because in order to gain access to the territory, the foreigner will have to prove that they have sufficient means of subsistence. ‘Sufficient means of subsistence(opens in new window)’ means at least 120% of the living wage(opens in new window).
The intern must have a higher education diploma or be pursuing studies leading to it (Flemish qualification level 5 or higher(opens in new window)).
The internship may start during the studies or at the latest two years after obtaining the diploma.
The internship, qualification level and field of study of the diploma must be in the same field of study.

Procedure for obtaining a work permit as an intern in/after training

The employer applies for a fixed-duration single permit for their future foreign intern in/after training. That single permit contains both the work permit and the residence permit. If the application is approved, the intern can work for the employer who applied for the permit.

Stap 1
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.
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.
Stap 2
A Dutch-language internship agreement
signed by both parties, with:
a description of the internship programme with an overview of training
the duration of the internship
the conditions of ‘placement’ and supervision, work regime or internship hours
the legal relationship between employer and intern
a declaration by the intern not to take any other job in Belgium during the internship
Proof of adequate accommodation and proof of sufficient means of subsistence
Either via wages in an employment contract, or via other income (allowance, expenses, premium, scholarship, etc.)
Sufficient means of subsistence means at least the living wage of a single person – since 1 January 2023, this is 1 214,13 euro.
Higher education diploma
Flemish qualification level 5 or higher(opens in new window).
Stap 3
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 (in Dutch)(opens in new window)
Stap 4
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.