Unlimited work permit and annexe 46

You will receive annex 46 in august sometime. It will be A permit. Student is counted as half so 3 years counted as 1.5 years.

New validity will be 1 year from the date of issue of annex 46. So it will be August 2027 validity

@pranav2424

thank you, One more question, please: During this one-year period, am I allowed to stop working for a while, or would that cause any problems?

@Safiu saf

You may stop working but for renewal of the residence part after one year, they require last 3 months pay slip.

@pranav2424

So the last 3 months he has to be working ? What if he finds a job 1 month before expiry does that means he cant renew ?

@Gvad45

This question needs to be asked to commune. I said what is written in the rule.

@Safiu saf

Hi,

Your resident permit will be still limited unless you don't complete full 5 years residency. (Study years count as a half of the total period). In my case, my card end date is calculated based on a 1-year period from the date of work permit approval by the Region, not from the date of Annex 46 approval.

my work permit approval date: 22/01/2026

my Annex46 date: 16/04/2026

my card expire date: 22/01/2027

(Even if my previous card will be expired May 2028, and I have a permenant work contract)

When applying for renewal, do you receive any confirmation that the file got sent to the immigration office?

@Typical

The work part has a sentence in the PDF..that it is sent to ministry for annex 46 and DONT CONTACT the employment department now. Because employment department has done its job.

@Typical

For renewal, ask commune. Nothing is online.

@pranav2424

I did submit all my documents to commune, but have no information following this or if they even sent my application

I received my Annex 46 on July 10, 2026, and the validity of my residence permit also starts on that date.

Can anyone who has renewed their residency with existing unlimited work permit share their experience? What happens after documents are submitted to commune, is there any confirmations that application got sent or just silence for 3-4 months?

@Typical

Hi,

there is no such a confirmation email, but what you are being told in your commune is a kinda confirmation. When all papers are being submitted through commune, it will be forwarded to immigration office quickly. The rest is the matter of time. Mostly takes 3-4 months. In the meantime, you can send an email to your commune and ask how it goes.

good luck

How long does it take to renew the unlimited work permit? After submission to the commune

@Gvad45 legally up to 4 months. but they always say you can only go to the commune 2 months before card expiry , meaning you can find yourself with an expired card for 2 months.

@Naouel cherif

Is there a way to track it? On the “working in belgium” website there is no information what so ever

@Gvad45

No unfortunately for renewal you can't

Check with your townhall from what month you can renew your A card. It's 3 months prior to expiry in Ghent at the moment.

I also received a confirmation email from the townhall once they sent the application to the immigration office. There it was mentioned that they would let me know once a decision was made.

on a very much related topic, when renewing your A card with an unlimited work permit (so very close to the 5 year mark, or you've hit the 5 year mark), has anyone directly received a B card, or do you always get an A card?

On the IBZ website I see this: Renewal of the single permit (A card) --> Residence permit granted for a limited period and work permit granted for an unlimited duration --> If the Immigration Office renews the residence permit, it will forward its decision to the municipal administration ( ). The administration then issues the worker with an A card (limited stay) or a B card (unlimited stay), depending on the case, with the indication "Labour market: unlimited".

on a very much related topic, when renewing your A card with an unlimited work permit (so very close to the 5 year mark, or you've hit the 5 year mark), has anyone directly received a B card, or do you always get an A card?
On the IBZ website I see this: Renewal of the single permit (A card) --> Residence permit granted for a limited period and work permit granted for an unlimited duration --> If the Immigration Office renews the residence permit, it will forward its decision to the municipal administration ( ). The administration then issues the worker with an A card (limited stay) or a B card (unlimited stay), depending on the case, with the indication "Labour market: unlimited". - @hermito

I also want to know the answer for this question...

on a very much related topic, when renewing your A card with an unlimited work permit (so very close to the 5 year mark, or you've hit the 5 year mark), has anyone directly received a B card, or do you always get an A card? On the IBZ website I see this: Renewal of the single permit (A card) --> Residence permit granted for a limited period and work permit granted for an unlimited duration --> If the Immigration Office renews the residence permit, it will forward its decision to the municipal administration ( ). The administration then issues the worker with an A card (limited stay) or a B card (unlimited stay), depending on the case, with the indication "Labour market: unlimited". - @hermito

From my experience, and from the official requirements of B card, when you want to apply for B card, you should match 2 conditions:

1. 5 years already passed
2. A card is expired or about to expire

1 condition isn't enough, meaning if you passed 5 years but your A card is still valid for years or months, you can't apply for B card, either you apply for L card if you're eligible, or wait until your A card next renewal.

In my case, I had an A card is about to finish before the 5 years completion by 1 or 2 months, so I received another A card then I applied for L card.

In my wife's case, she applied for A card renewal before the 5 years completion by around 1 week, so we applied for A card, but after a week if I remember correctly, we called our city hall which was Gent city hall, they mentioned we will send to the immigration office asking if they can issue B card.

Lucky her, the immigration office didn't have her file processed yet, so they sent back that they will process her renewal file and because the 5 years passed at the file processing moment, then they will issue B card, and eventually she received B card

I hope this experience answers your question!