Family reunification with a foreigner authorised to stay for an unlimited period

Route status

Active as of 2026-08-13^[3]

Open to new applications under the rules recorded below.

Residency route facts

Identity

Identity
Official name (local)	Gezinshereniging met een vreemdeling met onbeperkt verblijf / Regroupement familial avec un etranger en sejour illimite as of 2026-06-24^[1]
Official name (English)	Family reunification with a foreigner authorised to stay for an unlimited period as of 2026-08-13^[2] The Immigration Office's own wording on the fee schedule for art. 10, para 1, al. 1, 4 to 7 applications.
Legal basis	Loi du 15 decembre 1980, art. 10, para 1, al. 1, 6, read with art. 10, paras 2 to 5; art. 12bis for the procedure; Law of 18 July 2025 as of 2026-06-24^[1]^[4]
Instrument type	residence permit as of 2026-08-13^[3]

Who can apply

Who can apply
Nationals not served by this route	EU, EEA, EFTA as of 2026-06-24^[1] Family members of Union citizens and of Belgians use arts. 40bis and 40ter instead.
Minimum age	21 as of 2026-06-24^[1] Art. 10, para 1, al. 1, 6, a) and b): spouse or registered partner and sponsor both over 21.
Criminal-record condition	Yes as of 2026-06-24^[1] Art. 12bis, para 2, for an application lodged abroad by an applicant over 18.

Permit terms

Permit terms
Initial duration	Not established from a qualifying source
Renewable	Yes as of 2026-08-13^[3]
Work rights	Not established from a qualifying source

Permanent residence and citizenship

Permanent residence and citizenship
Counts toward permanent residence	Yes as of 2026-08-13^[3] The Immigration Office states that after a certain period the family member can apply for settlement or permanent residence; the period is not stated on that page.

Requirements

Requirements
Who can sponsor	permanent resident as of 2026-06-24^[1] Art. 10, para 1, al. 1, 6: a foreigner who has an unlimited right of residence and has been admitted or authorised to stay in Belgium for at least two years. permanent_resident is the closest vocabulary value; the Belgian test is 'droit de sejour d'une duree illimitee', which covers the establishment card K and the EU long-term resident card L alike.
Eligible relations	spouse, registered partner, minor child, adult dependent child as of 2026-06-24^[1] By reference to art. 10, para 1, al. 1, 6, a) to e); the same five limbs as the limited-stay route. Parents are eligible only on the separate refugee-minor limb at 5, f), which is not this route.
Sponsor income requirement	1.10 × guaranteed average minimum monthly income per month as of 2026-06-24^[1]^[4]
Sponsor accommodation requirement	Yes as of 2026-06-24^[1] Art. 10, para 2, al. 2: sufficient housing considered normal for a family of comparable size and meeting the legal safety and health criteria, plus health insurance covering the risks in Belgium for the sponsor and the family.
Sponsor waiting period	2 years as of 2026-06-24^[1] Art. 10, para 1, al. 1, 6: the sponsor must have been admitted or authorised to stay for at least two years. The period is reduced to one year where the family ties already existed before the sponsor arrived in Belgium, and is removed entirely where the sponsor is joined only by the family members at c) to e) – the children limbs.
Pre-entry language test	No as of 2026-06-24^[1]^[4] No pre-entry language or integration test appears in art. 10 or in the Immigration Office's condition pages; post-arrival civic-integration duties are Community and Regional and were not researched.
Who qualifies as a sponsor	Minimum permit duration: Not established from a qualifying source^[1] Not expressible as a duration: the Belgian test is qualitative – an unlimited right of residence – rather than a minimum permit length. The two-year condition recorded under waiting_period is about how long the sponsor has held it, not about the permit's own term. Permit must lead to permanent residence: Not established from a qualifying source Not stated as a condition; the sponsor already holds unlimited residence.
Sponsor and relation matrix	Sponsor status: permanent resident Relation: spouse Resulting condition: Both over 21; sponsor resident at least two years, or one year where the family ties predate the sponsor's arrival. Means at 110% of the guaranteed average minimum monthly income plus 10% per additional dependant, housing and health insurance. Sponsor status: permanent resident Relation: registered partner Resulting condition: As for a spouse, plus the durable-and-stable-relationship test of art. 10, para 1, al. 2. Sponsor status: permanent resident Relation: minor child Resulting condition: Unmarried and joining before 18. The two-year waiting period falls away where the sponsor is joined only by children, and the means condition of art. 10, para 2, al. 3 does not apply in that case either. Sponsor status: permanent resident Relation: adult dependent child Resulting condition: Unmarried disabled child over 18 on an approved doctor's certificate; exempt from the contribution fee.

Process

Process
Where to apply from	either as of 2026-08-13^[3] As a rule the application is made abroad; in certain situations it may be made in Belgium. The Immigration Office states both without enumerating the domestic cases on the hub page.
Statutory processing time	9 months as of 2026-06-24^[1] Art. 12bis, para 2: nine months from the complete application, extendable twice by three months, with positive silence at expiry. Raised from six months by the Law of 18 July 2025.
Fees	Kind: application Amount: EUR 218 as of 2026-08-13^[2]^[5] Federal contribution fee (redevance / bijdrage) under Aliens Act art. 1/1, indexed on 1 January each year to the consumer price index. Payable per person; one fee only for a family applying jointly on the same legal basis where the partners are married or legal cohabitants. Non-payment makes the application inadmissible, and the fee is not refunded on refusal or abandonment. Children under 18 are exempt. Charged per: applicant Paid by: applicant Condition: federal contribution fee for art. 10 applications; EUR 213 in 2025. Free of charge for applicants under 18, for an unmarried disabled child over 18 with the required certificate, for family members of beneficiaries of international protection, and for beneficiaries of the 1963 EEC-Turkey Association Agreement
Quota	Quota exists: No as of 2026-08-13^[3] Family reunification is a right where the conditions are met; no cap exists.

Physical presence

Physical presence
none stated	to keep the permit as of 2026-08-13^[3] No day-count rule was found; the conditions that persist are the family relationship and the sponsor's means, housing and insurance.

Family inclusion

Family inclusion
Family members may be included	No as of 2026-06-24^[1] This route is itself the family route. Art. 10, para 3 restricts onward reunification on a marriage or partnership to a sponsor with two years' regular residence.
Eligible relations	Not established from a qualifying source as of 2026-06-24^[1] Empty by construction; see above.
Family may apply at the same time	Not established from a qualifying source Not applicable in the ordinary sense; recorded unknown rather than forced.
Family members' work rights	Not established from a qualifying source Not applicable; see above.

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.

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Verification

Verification
Sources cited	5
of which official (tier 1)	5
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] Contribution fee
Immigration Office (Office des Etrangers / Dienst Vreemdelingenzaken), FPS Home Affairs · fee schedule · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-13
[3] Family reunification
Immigration Office (Office des Etrangers / Dienst Vreemdelingenzaken), FPS Home Affairs · official portal · 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