Moving to Belgium

http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/ci … y=Brusselshttp://business.belgium.be/en/belgium_i … ice_index/

hope that helps!

MurielC wrote:

http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/city_result.jsp?country=Belgium&city=Brussels

http://business.belgium.be/en/belgium_i … ice_index/

hope that helps!

Thank you There are some economic terms that I don't know but it's very helpful!
Are you living in Belgium?

Do you have a job already? You say you are a nurse. Do be aware that you'll need a high level of Dutch to work in a public hospital in Flanders and it can be difficult to have other EU nursing qualifications recognised. I know a British nurse who eventually gave up fighting to have her UK nursing qualifications recognised and re-took them in Dutch, took a few years.

schoolmum wrote:

Do you have a job already? You say you are a nurse. Do be aware that you'll need a high level of Dutch to work in a public hospital in Flanders and it can be difficult to have other EU nursing qualifications recognised. I know a British nurse who eventually gave up fighting to have her UK nursing qualifications recognised and re-took them in Dutch, took a few years.

There's a company that is recruiting nurses for Belgium, Flemish part.
We have dutch classes before leaving Portugal.
When we have a good level of dutch they introduce us to the hospitals that are looking for nurses.
I haven't decided yet because I am afraid that the cost of living in Belgium might be too high. I don't want to go to a foreign country and be counting every €. 
My diploma is according to the EU directives, so now it's easier to get permition to work all around Europe.

schoolmum wrote:

Do you have a job already? You say you are a nurse. Do be aware that you'll need a high level of Dutch to work in a public hospital in Flanders and it can be difficult to have other EU nursing qualifications recognised. I know a British nurse who eventually gave up fighting to have her UK nursing qualifications recognised and re-took them in Dutch, took a few years.

This recruitment agency helps us with many things once we go to Belgium, they even pay us the plain ticket.
So off course they want people that are totally committed on going to a foreign country.
Before I sign any contract with the recruitment agency I have to think very well. They were very clear about what they do, they have really good rates and people who went to Belgium are very satisfied.
Once I decide to go I know that I'll be leaving my parents house to start my own life all by myself. So, I want to be cautious, especially about monetary conditions.

Do be very very cautious, I would worry about handing over huge amounts of money to a recruitment agency, then arriving and finding no job. This British nurse I know DOES have UK qualifications recognised under the EU directive, she has lived here many years and is married to a Belgian, she speaks fluent Dutch, her qualifications were REJECTED by the Belgian registering authority, against the EU directive!

Why don't you go to the UK or Ireland as you already write English so I expect you speak it too? Surely that would be much easier? The Belgians are very family oriented and pretty much do not socialise with work colleagues, you might have a hard time making friends with any Belgians and may end up with friends who are foreigners. In the UK, people are far more welcoming of other nationalities and their lives are not based upon the weekend ritual of spending all their time with family, they are much more open to welcoming foreigners into their lives.

schoolmum wrote:

Do be very very cautious, I would worry about handing over huge amounts of money to a recruitment agency, then arriving and finding no job. This British nurse I know DOES have UK qualifications recognised under the EU directive, she has lived here many years and is married to a Belgian, she speaks fluent Dutch, her qualifications were REJECTED by the Belgian registering authority, against the EU directive!

Why don't you go to the UK or Ireland as you already write English so I expect you speak it too? Surely that would be much easier? The Belgians are very family oriented and pretty much do not socialise with work colleagues, you might have a hard time making friends with any Belgians and may end up with friends who are foreigners. In the UK, people are far more welcoming of other nationalities and their lives are not based upon the weekend ritual of spending all their time with family, they are much more open to welcoming foreigners into their lives.

I won't be giving any money to the recruitment agency. The money will be managed by me, as I do here in portugal.
UK also wants foreign nurses but now they are only recruiting to nursing homes and in belgium they are recruiting to hospitals... I prefer hospitals...that's why I am thinking more about Belgium than UK. Also because the recruitment agency for UK is not that supportive as the one for Belgium.
So you really think that is hard to make friends in Belgium?

Yes it is very very difficult to make friends with Belgians. You will find it easier to make friends among the non Belgians in the same situation as you without family.

The UK constantly recruits nurses for hospitals, you just need to look at wherever UK hospitals advertise their vacancies. No need to use an agency.

schoolmum wrote:

Yes it is very very difficult to make friends with Belgians. You will find it easier to make friends among the non Belgians in the same situation as you without family.

The UK constantly recruits nurses for hospitals, you just need to look at wherever UK hospitals advertise their vacancies. No need to use an agency.

I will look into that, thanks for all your answers

schoolmum wrote:

Yes it is very very difficult to make friends with Belgians. You will find it easier to make friends among the non Belgians in the same situation as you without family.

The UK constantly recruits nurses for hospitals, you just need to look at wherever UK hospitals advertise their vacancies. No need to use an agency.

Well it's sad but it's true.
I'll advise you to join a sport club where you can do sport in a team. When you are in team they'll pick you up as a friend!

I don't know about the degrees but speaking dutch or french is very important!

StefanJ wrote:

schoolmum wrote:

Yes it is very very difficult to make friends with Belgians. You will find it easier to make friends among the non Belgians in the same situation as you without family.

The UK constantly recruits nurses for hospitals, you just need to look at wherever UK hospitals advertise their vacancies. No need to use an agency.

Well it's sad but it's true.
I'll advise you to join a sport club where you can do sport in a team. When you are in team they'll pick you up as a friend!

I don't know about the degrees but speaking dutch or french is very important!

What about at work? they make friends with people that work with them or not?
I believe that in a hospital ward the majority of the nurses are Belgian.

cspm25 wrote:

StefanJ wrote:

schoolmum wrote:

Yes it is very very difficult to make friends with Belgians. You will find it easier to make friends among the non Belgians in the same situation as you without family.

The UK constantly recruits nurses for hospitals, you just need to look at wherever UK hospitals advertise their vacancies. No need to use an agency.

Well it's sad but it's true.
I'll advise you to join a sport club where you can do sport in a team. When you are in team they'll pick you up as a friend!

I don't know about the degrees but speaking dutch or french is very important!

What about at work? they make friends with people that work with them or not?
I believe that in a hospital ward the majority of the nurses are Belgian.

Of course they'll be friendly to you. But most Belgian people tend to keep work and private apart.
The reason for that is that they live very busy lives.

People will be friendly to you if they nottice that you really want to integrate.
They'll link integration to your language.

The key to success in Belgium is be willing to learn the language and to be open and tolerant.

Also in hospitals colleagues and patients will complain or make issues if you don't understand and speak the language very well!

Also to be fair I have been learning Flemmish for 7 months and I dont think my level is no were good enough to work anywere never mind a hospital. I think a lot of people under estimate how difficult it is to learn a lang.

Also a find the Flemmish to be extreemly kind and friendly people

hannahhadman wrote:

Also to be fair I have been learning Flemmish for 7 months and I dont think my level is no were good enough to work anywere never mind a hospital. I think a lot of people under estimate how difficult it is to learn a lang.

Also a find the Flemmish to be extreemly kind and friendly people

That is good to know (the friendly part, not the language difficulties :S)
I have two friends at Genk, they are doing Erasmus, last semester of nursing course and they are loving it!