Live in Belgium with your family

If you find yourself in one of the situations listed above, you need a visa or residence permit for family reunification.

If you are a family member of a Belgian, you can apply for a family reunification visa from the Belgian Embassy or Consulate in your country of origin or residence. However, if you are already in Belgium, you can apply for a residence permit from your municipality in Belgium.

In both cases, you will have to prove that you have a family link with a Belgian citizen. In other words, you will have to prove that you are the spouse, the registered partner, the child under 21 years of age (unless you can demonstrate a dependency link with the Belgian parents), or the parent of a Belgian minor.

Your application for a visa/residence permit should also include proof that your family member (person giving rise to the right of residence) has adequate accommodation, stable, regular and sufficient resources and health insurance that will cover you.

The Belgian authorities may also ask you for a clear police record and a standard medical certificate attesting that you do not suffer from any disease listed by the authorities as constituting a danger to public health. We will send you a template of the medical certificate by e-mail.

If you are a family member of a European, you can apply for a family reunification visa from the Belgian Embassy or Consulate in your country of origin or residence. However, if you are already in Belgium, you can apply for a residence permit from your municipality.

You will also have to prove that you have a family link with an EU citizen. You will have to demonstrate that you are the spouse, the registered partner, the child under 21 years of age (unless you can prove a dependency link with the parents), the parent of a European minor.

Under certain conditions, the parents or another family member of a European citizen can also apply for a family reunification visa/residence. You then have to show a dependency link with the European citizen before you arrive in Belgium. You must carefully prepare these kind of requests. We recommend that you consult a lawyer for these procedures.

Although the law does not require you to demonstrate that the European citizen has sufficient income, in the same way as for applications for family reunification with a Belgian family member, we also recommend you to add this kind of proofs in the file. It is also advisable to enclose documents showing that the European citizen has sufficient accommodation and insurance covering your risks in Belgium.

If you are a family member of a non-European person who has the right to stay in Belgium, you must apply for a family reunification visa at the Belgian Embassy or Consulate in your country of origin or residence.

As with the application for family reunification with a Belgian or European citizen, you must prove that you have a family link with the family member you are joining. In this case, you will have to prove that you are the husband, wife, registered partner or child under 18 years old of a non-European person authorised to stay in Belgium.

The application for a family reunification visa must also include proof that the family member who has the right to stay in Belgium has adequate accommodation, stable, regular and sufficient resources and health insurance that will cover you.

The Belgian authorities may also ask you to produce a clean police record and a standard medical certificate attesting that you do not suffer from any disease listed by the authorities as constituting a danger to public health. We will send you a template of the medical certificate by e-mail.

If you want to get married or register your partnership (legal cohabitation) in Belgium, you must first apply for a short-stay visa. For more information on this type of application, please visit the short-stay visa section of our website.

Please note that all official documents must be certified. Furthermore, if they aren’t in one of the official languages, they must be translated into French or Dutch by a sworn translator recognised by the Belgian authorities. We regularly work with sworn translators who work in different languages. We can therefore assist you with this type of procedure.