A single permit cannot be obtained from Belgium during irregular residence or a short stay. The worker will need to return to the country of origin.

This return must not be improvised. We first meet you for a consultation, examine the situation and tell you frankly whether a procedure is possible. If it is, we open the case and verify all information and documents before confirming whether the prospects remain high. The return is organised only then, never before.

Both the worker and employer must be open to this possibility. If departure is excluded in principle, the single-permit route cannot succeed.

Would the worker be willing to return to the country of origin if we confirm that the prospects of success are high?

A single-permit application is always filed by the employer, never by the worker. An application therefore cannot begin before an employer has been found in Belgium.

If you want to understand your options at this stage, a written legal opinion is the appropriate service. A lawyer examines your profile, answers your questions and provides a complete written note on the available routes.

Applications for residence based on private means are now filed as a D-visa application from the country of origin.

If returning to your country of origin is not possible, the application must be filed from Belgium by demonstrating exceptional circumstances preventing departure. This is a more demanding route that we will discuss in consultation.

Read before booking

In most situations, family reunification requires the person already in Belgium to have sufficient income from salaried or self-employed work. The required amount is indexed each year.

This condition does not apply in certain situations, particularly when the application concerns the parent of a minor Belgian child.

If your only income is social assistance, the application will be refused. We will direct you to a written legal opinion to examine other possible routes before starting a procedure.

We support students from the start to the end of the procedure. We do not take over a case that has already begun.

We handle:

• first student visa applications from abroad;
• first student residence applications in Belgium where residence is legal;
• student residence renewals;
• post-study residence extensions;
• changes from student status to another residence status.

We do not handle:

• applications already filed;
• rights to be heard, including after a renewal refusal;
• orders to leave the territory;
• appeals against a refusal.

We do not handle rights to be heard or appeals against refusals in student residence matters.

Read before booking

Two conditions must be met for us to file a student residence application.

Admission to a recognized or subsidized institution. Private institutions do not create a right to student residence.

Sufficient means of subsistence, with an amount indexed each year, provided by a guarantor or money blocked in an account.

These applications cannot be assessed by a form. Everything depends on your history, ties and health, and the assessment is strict.

We therefore offer a written legal opinion rather than an immediate consultation. A lawyer examines your situation in detail and tells you frankly whether an application has prospects of success.

One point of honesty before continuing.

If you arrived recently, have already filed several regularisation applications, or nothing concretely prevents you from returning to your country of origin, these applications very rarely succeed. In those situations, we advise contacting the legal aid office.

Some situations deserve serious examination, including an older person whose children are established in Belgium, a parent separated from a child with legal residence, children who have attended school in Belgium for a long time, or a person with a serious illness that prevents return.