Hi all!
My wife (28) and I (24) are planning on emigrating over to Belgium at the end of the year. We have hopefully a few different options, and I was hoping somebody has gone through a similar experience. For some backstory, I am currently a hotel manager in the U.S., and I have put in a couple of "feeler" applications to see the responses back on how difficult it may or may not be to find work while or before we go; the responses have been positive and I am still pursuing to see if it will be possible to have a job set up for myself before we depart.
In the meantime, we are trying to go through different avenues. I have grandparents who currently live in Belgium, one of which (my grandmother) is a Dutch national, and the other who I believe has permanent residence. By the time we are looking to depart, my parents will also be in Belgium whose situation is similar. My father has Dutch and U.S. citizenship and my mother is a U.S. citizen. I myself, as well as my wife, holds just U.S. citizenship.
With that being said, my father did not hold his Dutch citizenship while I was born, he was automatically eligible through my grandmother but just recently, I believe in the past three years received citizenship. I have reached out to the Dutch consulate here who has helped me in the past to hear if somehow I am eligible as well, but I doubt it because he did not hold citizenship at the time of my birth. In the mean time, with my current situation, I have been more focused on family reunification. Looking into the laws, my option would be to apply directly with a Belgian consulate here in the States. (On that note, is this a process that a "honorary consulate" can handle? I found one in our hometown that we are in) I also read an EU law that said if I gain employment, I am automatically approved for family reunification, can anyone confirm? If that is the case, I would not need a family member to sign for my well-being or health insurance, correct?
I also found in EU law that if I have a EU national as a relative, I am automatically able to apply for a work visa, but that confused me as I thought you always needed your workplace to apply for you.
What would you guys recommend? Thanks for your time!