Card A- temp residence permit and unlimited work permit

Hello,

1) type of card define your RESIDENT stay (temporary - permanent) (A,B,C,D,E,E+,F,F+, national)
Permanent resident are automatically renewed as long as you are living in Belgium. (I said living, not working)

2) yes exactly. You don't need a work permit anymore and you've full access to work in Belgium. You don't need the approval from the government anymore.
You're on your own, like a local Belgian / EU.

3) You can indeed apply for the B card to become a permanent resident, or even the D one (if you've been working for 5 years with higher salary).

You already have unlimited work permit (automatically after 4 years of stay in Belgium).
And what you're going to do now is to request to become permanent resident ==> B or D card.



Just remember that when you announce to your boss that you'll stop working for company "A", you'll still have to work XX days for them (calculate on how many time you've been working for them)
You can only start working for company "B" when it's done.
Make sure how much days you've to still work for company A before signing the contract with company B (as there will be a start date written in the contract!)

Thank you Alex for the details explanation. Very much appreciated. Also, noted the info about the notice period you mentioned.

I guess permit B is still a foreigner visa with 5 years validity and Permit D is more like a permanent resident? Will do some research.

Thank you again

Best
Rahul Rathod

They're not visa, but resident permit ==> resident permit > visa
Both B & D are permanent resident card, but if one day you want to settle elsewhere in Europe, the D one has more advantages & less administration to be done, that's the only big difference between both card.

By the way, you said your card has Illimite on the back side and you received it in 2019?
And this year is your 5th year? So I assume that you had stayed for 3 years at the time of 2019?

From my recent experience, your new employer still need to request a new work-permit even if your single permit type A has some long validity, also its clearly written at the back "limited access to labour market", card A is linked to your current employer sponsorship, so a new WP must be requested.

@mohan garg On the backside of the card it is mentioned "illimite" - unlimited work permit.  The card A is for temporary residence as Alex mentioned above.

@raulrathod is expat period counts in 4years for applying unlimited wp ?

@raulrathod Thanks a lot for all your support !!

Hello!

I got approval for unlimited single permit (work permit + residence permit) now i am not sure if i need to go to commune and ask for new A card as my current one has labour market limited. My current A card is valid until 2025 so i am thinking what not to apply for new A card now and after 6 months directly go for L card.

My question is it necessary to apply for new A card when you get approval for unlimited single permit.

@hssn601 I am exactly going to be in a situation like yours.

I am applying for the indefinite single permit in Flanders. Me and my family already have a residence permit valid till Aug 2025. As I see, I will be provided a new residence card valid for 1 year after approval of my indefinite single permit. Do I need to apply for issuing new ID card with same validity for my family as well? Or can they continue with their existing single permit that is still valid?

Does this whole process have impact on work status of the spouse working on the dependent work authorization?

@raulrathod Can you find where you read that your employer is contacted when you apply for an unlimited work permit? I am really interested in knowing why they contact them.

Thanks

@fabowuapp I believe they do not contact your employer when changing to an unlimited permit. My dossier to change work permits was opened one day and approved the next - less than 24 hours later. I doubt they contacted my employer in that short period.

@patiltush how much time it took to get unlimited one? i applied for it 2 weeks back. not sure if it takes same time as normal single permit?

Once someone has an A card with unlimited work permit, what is the process needed to change jobs once a new work contract is signed? Do you have to inform your commune that you have changed employers, or send then a copy of your new contract?

Hello , my unlimited work permit is approved , now should i go to commune and apply for residence or somewhere else . thanks in advance!

Hello everyone,

I am a non-EU citizen from a country with a labor agreement with Belgium who has worked in Belgium for the past 4.2 years under a Single permit type A card. In Flanders.

Came to my attention recently that once having 4 years of continuous work in Belgium, I can apply for an unlimited working permit that will allow me to change employers without requesting a new single permit again. Does anyone here have more information on this and what would be the procedure to apply if this is true?