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Demand nationality on the basis of 5 years of legal stay in Belgium

The Requirement :  


Are you ready to submit your dossier to demand Belgian nationality under the law 12bis "déclaration de nationalité"?

If yes! then,
  • Complete the dossier with the documents mentioned below (Nr. 1 to 7) with the copy of your permanent-residency (séjour illimité)card(B/C/D/E/E+/F/F+).
  • Prepare two set of your dossier by making copy of each document in two sets.
    •
  • Make separate copy of each page of the document. Don`t make copy of the document as front and back on same paper (Pas recto/verso).
  • Don`t staple or pin the documents.

The Documents :


  1. Proof of age and birth.
  2. Proof of uninterrupted legal stay.
  3. Proof of social integration.
  4. Proof of knowledge of Belgian language.
  5. Proof of economic participation.
  6. Proof of payment of the application fee to request the Belgian nationality.
  7. Residence certificate with address history(certificat de résidence avec historique des adresses)- mostly provided by commune.


1. Proof of age and birth:


To prove that the applicant is more than 18 years old, an individual needs to provide a Certificate of Birth .
Following are the conditions for birth certificate, to be accepted by the Belgian authority.
The birth certificate MUST BE:-


  1. Issued in your country of origin.
    2.
  2. Legalised at the Belgian embassy in the country of origin or apostilled.If certificate is not issued in NL,FR or DE language, then it must be sworn translated and legalized from court of first instance (Tribunal de première instance/Gerecht van eerste aanleg). you can find the sworn translators here, but I have taken service of Brigitte Daenens (brigittedaenens@hotmail.com),as she speaks English, her fee was comparatively low than others and she translated the documents in 2 days.
  3. The name (both nom and prénom) on the birth certificate needs to be exactly the same as your Belgian ID card. If it is not same in both document then you will need an extra document called "attestation d'individualité" from the embassy of your country in Belgium, which confirms that the person mentioned in "Belgian ID card" and in "birth certificate" is the same person.
  4. If "attestation d'individualité"is not issued in NL, FR or DE then it needs to be sworn translated and legalized from court of first instance + legalized by Federal Public Service of Foreign Affairs (Ministère des affaires étrangères service légalisation) Rue des Petits Carmes 15, 1000 Bruxelles ,which opens at 9h00 between monday-friday.
Exception:
Applicant from South Sudan, Afghanistan, Angola (Cabinda enclave) and Somalia does not required to produce birth certificate.
The document from their embassy will be sufficient.
Refugees and stateless persons:
Document issued by General Commission for Refugees and Stateless Persons(Commissariat Général des Réfugiés et Apatrides CGRA)needs to be produced.
For EU countries: legalization is not compulsory but sometimes an apostille is required.

2. Proof of uninterrupted legal stay:

To prove uninterrupted legal stay, an individual needs to be in possession of an unlimited-stay(séjour illimité) residency card when applying for citizenship (so a B, C, D, E, E+, F or F+ card). 

The special card given to EU officials or internationals not under a Belgian contract doesn't count as legal stay, meaning that many UK citizens working for the European institutions can't apply for Belgian citizenship, because they were not formally residents of Belgium.

Orange card(a 3 month temporary card given to foreigners before they are "regularized", or to foreigners applying for a card upgrade(as an "in-between card" card),and Attestation d'immatriculation doesn't count as legal stay.

A stay is also "interrupted"when a card expires and is not renewed in time.
The document required to uninterrupted legal stay is the "certificat de résidence avec historique des adresses" provided by the Commune.

If you have moved to another Commune in those five years, then it might be possible that one may ask you to get that certificate from other commune as well.

In other words, it's really not that easy to fulfill the "five years of uninterrupted legal stay" criteria. Ahh the bureaucracy, you know.
This is how I feel every time when I interact with government offices.
Social integration can only be proven in one of four ways:
  1. Having Belgian diploma:
    1. Having completed at least secondary school (Un diplôme minimum CESS (= 6e année secondaire)) in Belgium.
    2. The diploma must be obtained in Belgium , equivalence of the diploma will not be considered as Social integration proof.
    3. A Belgian diploma proves social integration but not economic participation.
  2. Professional training of at least 400 hours:
    1. The professional training needs to be one that leads to a specific profession or trade (language courses don't count in this case).
    2. The training must be recognized by a competent authority.
    3. Documents to provide as a proof of professional training includes the diploma, but also the proof certifying the number of hours.
  3. Have completed a "social integration course":
    4. The "parcours" includes a 5-week social integration class (how Belgium works, etc.), a social orientation programme and Dutch/French classes up until level A2. When one complete all these parts, then he/she obtains the "social integration certificate", so it can easily take up to a year to complete.The social integration class had only been given by the Flemish community until very recently, meaning that the "parcours" could only be completed at BON Brussel(in Brussels).But in 2017, following French-speaking organisations have been accredited to give the social integration class.
  4. Worked non-stop for the past five years:
    If one have worked non-stop "travail ininterrompue" for the past five years,then in this case all criteria are covered at once: language, social integration and economic participation. Full-time and part-time work counts, as long as one has been paid  (meaning there has been contribution to the ONSS) every single month of the year. "Being paid" covers regular work days, but also paid holidays, sick days, etc. What counts as an interruption is any unpaid day, which is sometimes sneakily called "authorized leave", "unpaid day off", etc. An employee can only have up to 10-12 unpaid days per year: any more and it will be considered as an interruption, breaking the magical chain and resetting the counter. This also means one has to be extra careful in-between employers: any month with no pay at all will be considered as an interruption. If the work magic flow is broken, one needs to prove social integration and language knowledge by other means.
    The only accepted proof of work are the "comptes individuels" provided by employers every year for tax purposes (or the proofs of paid social contributions for self-employed workers). These can be a challenge to collect for individuals who have had many short-term employers, or out-of-business ones, etc. As a proof of work the letters from employers, work contracts, pension statements, etc NOT EXCEPTED but only "comptes individuels".

    The catch is that some people have worked more than five years and then had some break , and very little before applying, but those working days before the break doesn't count, only the ones in the five years prior to the citizenship application will be considered.

    The working days are being considered from January of the year.So if someone has started working in February of a particular year(Let say year X) and had completed 5 years before applying,in this case his/her working days will be counted from 1st January of the next year(Year X+1) , not from the February of the year X.

4. Proof of knowledge of Belgian language:

Proof of knowledge of one of the official languages (level A2) can be a course certificate, studies or training completed in Belgium,
by having worked non-stop for the past five years, or  an accredited language test.
To obtain language certificate , test can be given at Actiris or Bruxelles Formation or SELOR.

Language course can be followed at following institutes .

5. Proof of economic participation:

Economic participation needs to be proven by having worked at least 468 days in the past five years (or 6 trimesters of paid social contributions for self-employed workers). A nice little trick is that studies or training hours can be converted into working days, but only if they were completed (certificate or diploma obtained).The only accepted proof of work are the "comptes individuels".

6. Proof of payment of the application fee to request the Belgian nationality:

The fee for registering the application is 150 euros, apart from 25 euros fees of commune.
The payment of the registration fee(Le paiement du droit d'enregistrement),is bit tricky!.
You can not pay this fee at commune but you have to pay it online and once Registration Office received your fee,then they will send the Registration certificate (Attestation du Bureau d'enregistrement)via post to your registered address.
Once you receive the Registration certificate(Quittance)from registrar office, you have to produce it as Original copy in the commune along with other documents

The fee needs to pay online the account BE61 6792 0031 6417 as per the details mentioned below .
Attention: In the communication field , you have to write your national register number followed by the word Nationalité.You Don`t have to write your current nationality at the place of the word Nationalité.




7. Residence certificate with address history(certificat de  résidence avec historique des adresses):

Mostly it is provided by the commune itself, you don`t have to worry about it.
But, If you have moved to another Commune in last five years, then it might be possible that one may ask you to get that certificate from other commune as well.


So that's the whole Belgian citizenship story! It's only the tip of the legal iceberg,but it's plenty for now and for the purpose of this post.

It's a neat hobby that brings me unexpected joy and meaningful interactions with people that can use the help and support, and I'll be damn proud when I get that citizenship, so it's absolutely, unequivocally all worth it.

If you are ready with your dossier , then don`t wait!Just go and ask for the citizenship .
The sooner is better, as you never know when law gets change !
Bon courage!

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