Belgium Foreigners A card & Visa validity

By A card, I assume you meant the residence permit card (Titre de Sejour).

Once you get a residence permit, your visa (D type) is not relevant anymore.

The dates on residence permit card is the validity of your permission to stay in, or return to Belgium.

You can live in Belgium, depart and come back during the validity period of your residence permit.

Yes i mean  residence permit,thanks a lot.

During the passport control at the airport i need to present my Belgium residence permit ,passport both let me know?

Yes. Your Belgian RP + Passport = your travel document

I live in the dutch part so title of my residence card is VERBLIJFSTITEL,during the passport control arrival & departure  in Schengen area will be stamped in my passport or scanned through my Belgium Residence Card? let me know.

Sir, your residence card is just an equivalent of the visa. Passport is your identification.

When you enter, your residence card will be read electronically by the border control agent to make sure it is valid. Your passport will be stamped with entry stamp/date.

When you leave, same procedure. Your passport will be stamped with exit stamp/date.

No big deal, It is just like entering/leaving any foreign country.


And immigration officers in India. They very well know that EU countries have residence cards for long term residents, and not visas.

Thanks for the detailed explanation. Now all my doubts are clear,I was a bit concerned because when i resided in France on long term visa ,they attached an residence permit sticker on my passport.

The procedure in Belgium is different they provide a Residence permit card,which seems to be a uniform procedure adopted in every EU country now.

Any ways thanks again for your prompt and detailed reply!

Hi Aneesh,

with a valid resident permit, can you also travel to any schengen country from India ?

E.g. Once I have the resident card, I can go back and come to Belgium (even if the D visa is expired); but would the resident card be valid to travel to other Schengen States from India ?

The answer is yes. You can use other schengen countries as an entry point when traveling with Belgian RP.

Thank you so much

Your resident card is now a bit like a visa, that allow you to freely cross the borders and move in Schengen area (and an ID card in Belgium ONLY)
BUT, when you travel elsewhere than Belgium, you'll also have to show your passport to provide your NATIONAL identity.


I've already explained it in another thread: https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.p … 24#4477407

Thanks much guys.