Internship in Belgium with a french student visa as Non EU citizen

@Rishitha Reddy

Hello and welcome !

Try to contact the Belgium embassy in France : https://france.diplomatie.belgium.be/fr

Regards

Bhavna

@Rishitha Reddy

You have to be very careful, as even unpaid internships can be considered "working" by the immigration authorities. Usually, short internships are OK, provided they are properly integrated into your curriculum (i.e. there is some course-relevant work/study, rather than random slave labour). I know France is OK with internships, but you're adding an extra complication (probably substantial) if you're on a French student visa (are you?), and choose to intern in another country. This is both from an immigration perspective and from an academic/course perspective (if they expect to have some input into the internship and/or supervise it). Personally, I wouldn't even consider it (i.e. I'd stick with the country I've already got a visa for)!

I think the first step is to contact your course admin/tutor (and/or foreign student office). You need to find out if there is any process for approving and/or supervising potential internships. It's possible, but it would be unusual if you could choose anyone you want, and do whatever you want. (But perhaps your course gives you a very free rein, and simply requires you to deliver some kind of project/report at the end of it.) And you need to confirm if there are any additional permissions/restrictions for non-EU students doing a French internship... and whether it's possible to instead do the internship elsewhere in the EU.

Secondly, you probably should discuss the internship and the immigration issue with your potential employer. Maybe they haven't even realized you're a non-EU student. Or, maybe this is a proper internship already registered and approved with your university/course (and/or Erasmus), and they've had non-EU students in the past and know from experience that it's easy-peasy.

Thirdly, as @Bhavna suggests, you can ask Belgium. Maybe try the Belgium embassy. Or ask the Belgian immigration folks. Their website is here, and they have an email address for you to contact them. The issue is that you probably don't qualify for a Belgian student visa (as you're enrolled in a French university/course), and I'd be surprised if an unpaid/low-paid internship would qualify for a Belgian work visa. But maybe they have a mechanism for accommodating your exact situation.

https://dofi.ibz.be/en

https://dofi.ibz.be/en/contact

This is an EU official guide on student mobility ("your rights as a mobile student"). It's easy for EU students, but it's clear that they anticipate complications/delays in requiring another visa for non-EU students.

https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-det … b4a2c701b0

There is a specific program for EU student mobility (e.g. for students in France wanting to do a placement and/or exchange study in Belgium) called Erasmus. This is definitely worth looking into (and I believe it applies to both EU and non-EU students). But, again, my guess is that there's still some kind of approval process for potential internships.

https://commission.europa.eu/education/ … tudents_en

https://erasmus-plus.ec.europa.eu/oppor … r-students

https://piktalent.com/countries/france/ … uidelines/