EU Blue Card
Residency route facts
Identity
| Official name (local) | Europese blauwe kaart / Carte bleue europeenne as of 2026-08-13[7][9] Dutch and French. |
|---|---|
| Official name (English) | EU Blue Card as of 2026-08-13[6] The Immigration Office notes the national indication B29 on the type D visa as the marker that the holder is a highly qualified worker under the Blue Card. |
| Legal basis | Loi du 15 decembre 1980, art. 61/26 to 61/27-6 (Titre II, Chapitre VIII); Cooperation agreements of 2 February 2018 and 6 December 2018; regional employment rules as for the single permit as of 2026-06-24[1][7][9] Chapter VIII sets the residence limb and expressly leaves the substance to the two cooperation agreements and the Regions: art. 61/26 makes the work-authorisation application to the competent regional authority the residence application as well. Both the Flemish and the Walloon administrations describe the Blue Card as a modality of the single permit rather than a separate procedure. |
| Instrument type | residence card as of 2026-08-13[7] An H card, distinguishing it from the A card issued on an ordinary single permit – the Flemish administration states the distinction directly. |
Who can apply
| Nationals not served by this route | EU, EEA, EFTA as of 2026-08-13[7][9] |
|---|---|
| Criminal-record condition | Yes as of 2026-08-13[7] A criminal-record extract, legalised and translated into Dutch, French or English, for applicants over 18; documents may be no more than six months old at filing. |
Permit terms
| Initial duration | Not established from a qualifying source[7] |
|---|---|
| Renewable | Yes as of 2026-08-13[8] The Flemish administration describes the renewal step directly: 'na 24 maanden (= verlengingsaanvraag) wordt een Blue Card van 3j afgeleverd, geldig voor elke werkgever' – after 24 months a renewal issues a three-year card valid for any employer. |
| Renewal duration | 3 years as of 2026-08-13[8] Flemish Region. On the renewal application filed after 24 months a three-year Blue Card is issued, valid for any employer and for any employment meeting the Blue Card conditions. |
| Work rights | employment only as of 2026-08-13[7][9] Dependent highly qualified employment. Employer mobility is staged: in the first 12 months a change of employer is possible only on Blue Card conditions and after written notice to the regional service, with employment starting once receipt is acknowledged – Wallonia states a 30-day wait in the first year; after 12 months the card is valid for any employer and no notification of a change is needed in Flanders, while Wallonia requires the new employer to notify the Region. |
Permanent residence and citizenship
| Counts toward permanent residence | Yes as of 2026-06-24[1] Aliens Act art. 15bis, para 2, final al.: for a foreigner authorised to stay under art. 61/27, periods of residence in different EU member states may be aggregated toward the five years, provided five years of lawful uninterrupted residence in the Union as a Blue Card holder, of which the two years immediately preceding the application were in Belgium. This is an accelerator relative to the ordinary route, not a shorter Belgian requirement, so pr_years_override is not set. |
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Requirements
| Job offer required | Yes as of 2026-08-13[7] An employment contract of at least six months, or of indefinite duration, with a Belgian employer. Posting is expressly excluded in Flanders: 'enkel bij Belgische werkgever (geen detachering mogelijk)'. |
|---|---|
| Salary threshold |
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| Labour-market test | No as of 2026-08-13[7][9] Neither regional condition set requires a labour-market test for the Blue Card. |
| Qualification requirement | degree, equivalent experience as of 2026-08-13[7][9] A higher-education diploma from an institution recognised as such by the state where it sits, from a programme of at least three years, at minimum level 6 of the Flemish qualification structure. The diploma condition does not apply to managers and specialists in information and communication technology, who must instead show three years of relevant professional experience within the seven years preceding the application – both Regions state this identically. |
| Employer sponsorship | Yes as of 2026-08-13[7] |
Process
| Where to apply from | either as of 2026-08-13[6] As for the single permit generally; since 1 January 2023 a person already holding a Belgian short- or long-stay authorisation may apply from Belgium. |
|---|---|
| Statutory processing time | Not established from a qualifying source[7] |
| Fees |
|
| Quota |
Physical presence
| none stated | to keep the permit as of 2026-08-13[1][7] Neither the Aliens Act nor the administering authority imposes a minimum physical presence or an absence ceiling on this permit itself. Intra-EU mobility is expressly provided for instead: a Blue Card issued by another member state carries a work-authorisation exemption in Belgium for up to 90 days in any 180 for temporary business activity and Van der Elst service provision, and long-term mobility of more than 90 days and up to three years runs on a simplified regional authorisation. The country-level right-of-return rule of Aliens Act art. 19 applies to every residence title and is recorded at country level. |
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Family inclusion
| Family members may be included | Yes as of 2026-08-13[1][4] Family reunification runs off the general regime of Aliens Act art. 10bis, para 2, not off this instrument: the holder of a limited-duration residence title is a sponsor within that provision. The conditions – stable, regular and sufficient means at 110% of the guaranteed average minimum monthly income plus 10% per additional dependant, sufficient housing meeting the legal safety and health criteria, and health insurance covering all risks in Belgium for the sponsor and the family – are recorded on be-family-reunification-limited-stay-sponsor. One derogation applies specifically to this route: where the sponsor holds an EU Blue Card (H card) and the family unit was already formed or re-formed in another EU member state, the income of the other family members is counted toward the means test. |
|---|---|
| Eligible relations | spouse, registered partner, minor child, adult dependent child as of 2026-08-13[1][4] Aliens Act art. 10bis, para 2 admits the family members listed in art. 10, para 1, al. 1, 6, a) to e): the spouse and the registered partner, both at least 21, their common minor children, the minor children of either where parental authority and custody are held, and an unmarried disabled child over 18 who produces a certificate from a doctor approved by the Belgian diplomatic post. adult_dependent_child carries that last limb; the vocabulary has no narrower value for it. |
| Family may apply at the same time | Not established from a qualifying source |
| Family members' work rights | Not established from a qualifying source |
Your next step
Read the requirements above considering your own situation: the income multiple, the absence limits, who you can bring. Check the country record for the reference figure those amounts are calculated from, and for anything that has changed recently.
The next step is your own case. That assessment is legal work. Create profile for our assistance in this.
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Verification
| Sources cited | 10 |
|---|---|
| of which official (tier 1) | 10 |
| Oldest as-of date | 2026-06-24 |
| Newest as-of date | 2026-08-13 |
| Reviewed on | 2026-08-17 |
| Schema version | 1.1 |
Sources
- [1] Loi du 15 décembre 1980 sur l'accès au territoire, le séjour, l'établissement et l'éloignement des étrangers — consolidated text (Justel), updated to 24 June 2026
Service public fédéral Justice (Moniteur belge / Justel) · statute · Tier 1 · Published 2026-06-24 · Accessed 2026-08-13 - [2] Remuneration minimum – permis unique
Bruxelles Economie et Emploi / Brussel Economie en Werkgelegenheid, Service public regional de Bruxelles · official portal · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-19 - [3] Contribution fee
Immigration Office (Office des Etrangers / Dienst Vreemdelingenzaken), FPS Home Affairs · fee schedule · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-13 - [4] Stable, regular and adequate means of subsistence
Immigration Office (Office des Etrangers / Dienst Vreemdelingenzaken), FPS Home Affairs · official guidance · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-13 - [5] Contribution fee indexation
Immigration Office (Office des Etrangers / Dienst Vreemdelingenzaken), FPS Home Affairs · official guidance · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-13 - [6] Single permit
Immigration Office (Office des Etrangers / Dienst Vreemdelingenzaken), FPS Home Affairs · official portal · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-13 - [7] Een buitenlander in Vlaanderen tewerkstellen: Europese blauwe kaart
Government of Flanders (Vlaamse overheid), Department of Work and Social Economy · official portal · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-13 - [8] Een buitenlander in Vlaanderen tewerkstellen: intra-corporate transferee
Government of Flanders (Vlaamse overheid), Department of Work and Social Economy · official portal · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-13 - [9] Carte bleue europeenne
Service public de Wallonie – Emploi et Formation professionnelle · official portal · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-13 - [10] Autorisations de travail et permis de travail B : seuils salariaux a respecter par les employeurs
Service public de Wallonie – Emploi et Formation professionnelle · official portal · Tier 1 · Published 2026-08-10 · Accessed 2026-08-13