Conditions

  1. You have to have your main residence in Belgium AND have a legal right of residence.
    What does this mean?
    • When you file your application: you have to have an unlimited right of residence in Belgium
    • During the period immediately preceding your application: you have to have a right of residence of more than three months in the Kingdom

    It is the municipal authority which will verify these residence conditions.

  2. In addition to these legal stay and right of residence conditions, you have to meet conditions of social integration and/or economic participation and/or linguistic knowledge and/or participation in the life of your host community.

This will depend on your personal circumstances.

Each declaration is also subject to specific conditions:

Duration and cost

You will have to pay a fee of EUR 150 to begin any procedure for the acquisition of Belgian citizenship apart from a declaration of recovery which is free of charge. This fee has to be paid before the application is made.
You may also be invoiced for certain other costs (translation, stamps, photocopies, registry, etc.).
More information on the conditions that have to be met and the cost and length of these procedures can be obtained from the municipality where you have your main residence.

You have never been a Belgian citizen – Declaration of citizenship

Conditions

Depending on how long you have been resident in Belgium (5 years, 10 years or since you were born), you have to meet specific integration conditions.
N.B.: You need to be 18 years of age to become a Belgian citizen through a declaration.

The law distinguishes between five categories of non-nationals according to their circumstances and the conditions in which they find themselves:

1st case

You were born in Belgium and have legally resided there since birth.

2nd case

You have been legally residing in Belgium for five years AND

  • you provide proof of knowledge of one of the three national languages
  • you prove that you have socially integrated either:
    • through a degree or certificate
      which is at least at upper secondary education level and has been issued by an educational establishment organised, recognised or funded by a Community or by the Royal Military School
    • through at least 400 hours of professional training
      recognised by a competent authority
    • through an integration course
      provided by the competent authority for your main residence at the time you start your integration course
    • through work
      having worked uninterrupted for the last five years as a paid worker and/or as a civil servant appointed to a public post and/or principally as a self-employed person
  • you prove that you are economically participating either:
    • as a paid worker and/or official under government contract in public service: at least 468 days’ work over the last five years
    • as a self-employed person: payment in Belgium of quarterly social security contributions for at least six quarters over the last five years

3rd case

You have been legally residing in Belgium for five years AND

  • you provide proof of knowledge of one of the three national languages
  • you are married to a person with Belgian citizenship (if you have been living together for 3 years in Belgium) or you are the parent or adopting party of a Belgian child (who is under 18 years of age and is not emancipated)
  • you prove that you have socially integrated either:
    • through a degree or certificate
      which is at least at upper secondary education level issued by an educational establishment organised, recognised or funded by a Community or by the Royal Military School
    • through at least 400 hours of professional training (recognised by a competent authority) and through work (having worked, over the last five years, for at least 234 days as a paid worker and/or as an official under government contract appointed to a public post or having paid in Belgium, while working principally as a self-employed person, quarterly social security contributions owed by self-employed persons for at least three quarters)
    • having taken an integration course
      provided by the competent authority for your main residence at the time you start your integration course

4th case

You have been legally residing in Belgium for five years AND

  • you provide proof that you are unable to work, owing to handicap or invalidity, or that you have reached pensionable age

5th case

You have been legally residing in Belgium for ten years AND

  • you provide proof of knowledge of one of the three national languages
  • you prove that you are participating in the life of your host community.
    This proof may be provided by any legal means and includes evidence attesting that the applicant is taking part in the economic and/or sociocultural life of their host community.

General note

If you prove your social integration, you automatically prove your linguistic knowledge.

Who do you make the application to?

You have to make the application to the registrar in the municipality where you have your main residence.
They will give you an acknowledgement of receipt (a receipt) when your application (declaration) is complete and admissible and when you have paid your EUR 150.
The registrar sends a copy of your file to the royal prosecutor and to the Immigration Office and State Security for an opinion.
The royal prosecutor has 4 months, from the date of the acknowledgement of receipt, to object to your becoming a Belgian citizen.

You used to be a Belgian citizen but you lost Belgian citizenship - Declaration of recovery

Conditions

If you have lost Belgian citizenship, you can apply to recover it. This is called a declaration of recovery.

You have to meet certain conditions:

  1. You have to be 18 years of age or over.
  2. You cannot have lost Belgian citizenship through forfeiture (a special procedure where Belgian citizenship is withdrawn by a judicial authority).
  3. You have to have a main residence in Belgium and have had a legal right of residence for a certain time.

There needs to have been a main residence in Belgium for the 12 months preceding your declaration, based on an uninterrupted legal right of residence and, at the time of your declaration, you need to be permitted or authorised to reside for an unlimited period. The municipality where you have your residence will examine whether you meet the residence conditions based on your residence documents.

There is nevertheless an exception to the residence conditions in Belgium: if you have lost Belgian citizenship because you have failed to make a declaration of retention of citizenship before you reach the age of 28. In this case, the application can be made from abroad to the chief consular official.

Who do you make the application to?

You have to make your application (declaration of recovery) to the registrar in the municipality where you have your main residence.

If you are an exceptional case as provided for above and your main residence is located abroad, you can make this declaration at the Belgian embassy or consulate in the country where you reside.

Your Europe


Published on December 12th 2020

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