The law :
Before 1 January 2013, the conditions to apply for Belgian nationality("Naturalisation") were quite extensive. Almost anybody who had lived in Belgium for at least three years were eligible to apply for the citizenship, as long as they could produce a convincing dossier. All applications had to go to the House of Representatives(Chambre des représentants),which means that the system quickly became unsustainable: waiting periods escalated to several years and the dossiers kept piling up.
The Belgian legislator wanted that, the acquisition of the nationality should not be a shortcut for facilitating immigration. So, in 2013 they brought a new law named Article 12bis of the Code of Nationality for demanding the Belgian nationality.
Since the new code of nationality came into effect on 1st January 2013,The attribution of the Belgian nationality by Naturalisation is not a right anymore, but rather a favour that Belgian state can grant .
In Article 12bis of the Code of Nationality, a new term "déclaration de nationalité" was introduced which is considered as a right to citizenship. As per article 12bis one should earn the right to citizenship,which means a foreigner first has to prove his or her integration to the Belgian culture and community before being granted Belgian citizenship.
The processing time has been fixed to four months (written in the law)from the date of submission of the application. If applicant don`t receive any negative or positive answer within four months, then the application is being considered as Auto Accepted and citizenship will be granted within a few weeks of acceptance of your application.
If the candidate can establish that it is impossible for him to obtain the Belgian nationality in any other way (for example by declaration) and he/she could demonstrate exceptional qualities, for example on the scientific, athletic, artistic or academic level, then the candidate can ask Belgian nationality by Naturalisation.
To obtain citizenship , a foreigner has to met a strict list of conditions. However, because it became a strictly bureaucratic process, applications don't need to go to the Chambre des représentants anymore. The application for nationality has to be submitted at city hall(Commune). The Civil State Officer (officier d'état civil) has the right to refuse the application if he deems that the legal prerequisites have not been satisfied.
The eligibility criteria:
The legal bases on which a foreigner can ask for Belgian citizenship ranges from being born in Belgium, to being married to a Belgian for at least three years or having Belgian children. There are also bases for invalids, handicapped and pensioners, as well as a legal basis of 10 years of legal stay, but the most well known (and the one that applies in many cases) is the legal basis of five years of
legal stay in Belgium. That's also the one that applies in my case, so I'll cover this one over here.
Basically there are 3 ways to become Belgian.1. By declaration(déclaration):
- Demanding Belgian nationality by declaration is a legal procedure(procédure de droit).
- It takes 4 to 6 months for entire process.
2. By naturalisation:
- Demanding Belgian nationality under the clause naturalisation is a preferential procedure (procédure de faveur).
- The applicant must possesses exceptional merits in the fields of sport, culture,or science in order to demand the Belgian nationality.
- No residence period is formally required.
3. By attribution:
- There are different cases of granting Belgian nationality. All concern minors(under 18).
- Belgian nationality can be attributed to a child one of whose parents (or adopters) is Belgian or to a child born in Belgium.
