Absence of more than 3 months with Card A

Hello Mari!

In french: https://dofi.ibz.be/sites/dvzoe/FR/Guid … bleau.aspx



* If she's traveling for less than 3 months: nothing to do and everything is fine.
* If she's traveling for more than 3 months but less than 1 year AND her ID card will still be valid when she comes back: she MUST go to the commune to tell them that she'll be temporary leaving for more than 3 months, or she'll be removed from the foreigner registry.
You don't want that... really you don't! As she'd be assimilated as leaving Belgium!
* If she's traveling for more than 3 months but less than 1 year AND her ID card is NOT valid anymore when she comes back: she'll need to request a return-visa (C), which may be denied as you know.
(unless she was not able to come back because of "force majeure": a serious illness, an accident, ...)


BUT, keep in mind that she shouldn't spend too much time outside EU/Belgium if she ever want to request a permanent residentship: never spend more than 6 months at once outside Belgium and a bit less than 1 year MAXIMUM outside Belgium in 5 years

Many thanks Alex for your details and the web link. We will notify the commune and indeed try to have a stay not closer to six months even.

AlexFromBelgium wrote:

Hello Mari!

In french: https://dofi.ibz.be/sites/dvzoe/FR/Guid … bleau.aspx



* If she's traveling for less than 3 months: nothing to do and everything is fine.
* If she's traveling for more than 3 months but less than 1 year AND her ID card will still be valid when she comes back: she MUST go to the commune to tell them that she'll be temporary leaving for more than 3 months, or she'll be removed from the foreigner registry.
You don't want that... really you don't! As she'd be assimilated as leaving Belgium!
* If she's traveling for more than 3 months but less than 1 year AND her ID card is NOT valid anymore when she comes back: she'll need to request a return-visa (C), which may be denied as you know.
(unless she was not able to come back because of "force majeure": a serious illness, an accident, ...)


BUT, keep in mind that she shouldn't spend too much time outside EU/Belgium if she ever want to request a permanent residentship: never spend more than 6 months at once outside Belgium and a bit less than 1 year MAXIMUM outside Belgium in 5 years

Hello,

Thanks for the information.

What happens if the person leaves Belgium (out of EU)  for 5 months and 3 weeks during 1 year and comes back without informing the town hall? Would this have an impact on the request for permanent residency permit?

Thank you in advance.

Sooileh wrote:

AlexFromBelgium wrote:

Hello Mari!

In french: https://dofi.ibz.be/sites/dvzoe/FR/Guid … bleau.aspx



* If she's traveling for less than 3 months: nothing to do and everything is fine.
* If she's traveling for more than 3 months but less than 1 year AND her ID card will still be valid when she comes back: she MUST go to the commune to tell them that she'll be temporary leaving for more than 3 months, or she'll be removed from the foreigner registry.
You don't want that... really you don't! As she'd be assimilated as leaving Belgium!
* If she's traveling for more than 3 months but less than 1 year AND her ID card is NOT valid anymore when she comes back: she'll need to request a return-visa (C), which may be denied as you know.
(unless she was not able to come back because of "force majeure": a serious illness, an accident, ...)


BUT, keep in mind that she shouldn't spend too much time outside EU/Belgium if she ever want to request a permanent residentship: never spend more than 6 months at once outside Belgium and a bit less than 1 year MAXIMUM outside Belgium in 5 years

Hello,

Thanks for the information.

What happens if the person leaves Belgium (out of EU)  for 5 months and 3 weeks during 1 year and comes back without informing the town hall? Would this have an impact on the request for permanent residency permit?

Thank you in advance.

i will be in same situation, returning to Belgium next week after 4 months, lets see what happen will post update here :-)

Based on the current law, your "normal" request will be denied as you didn't respect the law to be eligible to get granted with a permanent residence id card.

Now, it's possible that exception would be allowed (force-majeur because of the covid19 period, this is also considered in the Belgian laws) .
You can expect the need to justify yourself about your 5 months+ gap and to make them understand that you didn't intend to be far away for so long => a real Force-Majeur case.

(Original flight tickets, traveled before corona started in EU, could not come back as no planes anymore, foreign countries closed, email to Belgian embassies/consulate to get repatriate / info, as much proof as possible...)


This is purely theoretical as force-majeur are always """strange cases""".
These are my own assumptions of what should happened in your cases.
Only immigration can give you an official answer (by mail or through your commune).


So, first, I encourage you to send an email to the immigration and share their answer
Then, when you get back in Belgium: immediately go to the commune to make sure they didn't remove you from the foreign register and you're still officially living in your respective accommodation!

AlexFromBelgium wrote:

Based on the current law, your "normal" request will be denied as you didn't respect the law to be eligible to get granted with a permanent residence id card.

Now, it's possible that exception would be allowed (force-majeur because of the covid19 period, this is also considered in the Belgian laws) .
You can expect the need to justify yourself about your 5 months+ gap and to make them understand that you didn't intend to be far away for so long => a real Force-Majeur case.

(Original flight tickets, traveled before corona started in EU, could not come back as no planes anymore, foreign countries closed, email to Belgian embassies/consulate to get repatriate / info, as much proof as possible...)


This is purely theoretical as force-majeur are always """strange cases""".
These are my own assumptions of what should happened in your cases.
Only immigration can give you an official answer (by mail or through your commune).


So, first, I encourage you to send an email to the immigration and share their answer
Then, when you get back in Belgium: immediately go to the commune to make sure they didn't remove you from the foreign register and you're still officially living in your respective accommodation!

Now your answer makes me worried, should i also write an email to commune about my absence for more than 3months?

In may case my office was closed due to corona and they said everyone should work from home so i decided to come back to home country and work from home here, during my out of Belgium i still pay apartment rent / tax / social security etc. International flights from my home country are resumed from 20th of June, but i have chosen a flight on 20th of July to come back.

The only reason i can write to them is I found more comfortable in working from home in my home country because i have family there in in BE i live alone, plus there were no flights until Jun2 20.

If i consider worst scenario what will happen 1) I will never be able to get PR or 2) My stay until now will not be accounted for the PR calculation.

Honestly, it will depend on your commune. Some are known to be extremely shitty in the foreign department...


They're mainly 2 possible scenarios:
* In the case you've been removed from the foreign register of your commune:

You legally must leave Belgium - or you must proof that you still have the right to live in Belgium (through work permit, ...) and you'll start a battle with administration to get back your rights.
As you've been removed from for the foreign register, it means that you've an interrupt of your legal stay. Meaning that your PR is reset.
If you're able to proof that it was a force-majeur case, your removal might be canceled, and so the reset.
If you're in that case, call an immigration lawyer... (around 70-100€)


* In the case you're still in the foreign register of your commune:
You should declare to the commune that you're back.
It depends on your total numbers of month out of Belgium within the last 5 years.
If you've been out of Belgian less than 6 months in a row in the last 5 years, you're fine for your PR calculation.
Else, reset to 0.



You should consider sending an email to your commune to tell them you're still stuck in India until the 20th June because of the covid19 but your main goal is to come back to live again in Belgium. (force-majeur, planes, price of flight tickets, ...)

If you've been out of Belgian less than 5 months in the last 5 years, you're fine for your PR calculation.

Isn't it 10 months during 5years?

https://dofi.ibz.be/sites/dvzoe/FR/Guid … gique.aspx

10 months in total, 6 months max in a row.

Thanks for your help i really appreciate it, will write an e-mail to commune.

@AlexFromBelgium I am in a similar situation as the OP but the link you shared is not working. Can you please provide a reference where it states that I cannot be absent from Belgium for more than 3 months on card of type A? 

@hssn601 I would appreciate it if you could tell us what happened after leaving Belgium for 4 months? were you removed from the registry?

    @hssn601 I would appreciate it if you could tell us what happened after leaving Belgium for 4 months? were you removed from the registry?
   

    -@sam889

I think in very rare case they remove you from register, after coming back i was still registered and had no issues.

@hssn601 Thank you very much for the reply, did you have to go to the commune or contact the immigration office?

Nopes nothing, i just checked from https://www.vlaanderen.be/ that i have been registered all the time by looking in to residence history.

@hssn601 nice thank you for sharing that, I will be looking if there something similar for Brussels area