Family reunion visa - re entry visa

Dear members,


I hope that you are doing well.


i would like to have your views on the below question on family reunion visa for Belgium.


My wife was here with me in Belgium. She went to India for her delivery. She had valid Belgium resident card type A. Now her Belgium resident card has expired.


we plan to apply for family reunion visa, for my wife and the child to come to Belgium again


For the child , it has to be a new visa application as family reunion.


For my wife, is it possible to apply for re entry visa ?


I have read that If the Person had a valid resident card (now expired) and left Belgium within a year, we can apply re entry visa .


Is that correct? What's your experience on this visa category?

What's the processing time ?

Is it allowed to submit two different visa categories for wife and the children?

Will both application be sent to immigration office in Belgium?



For information, I have in Belgium for more than 5 years.


Thank you

Hello yash. I have had personal experience of re entry visa. Yes indeed you can apply for it for your wife. Or you can apply for a family reunion visa for your child only. But family reunion file will take alot of time whereas re entry visa for your wife will take maximum 1 month. But if your wife was already on family reunion with card A, its better that you apply for re entry visa for your wife. The visa will be valid for 91 days. You can also apply for family reunion with child at same time but it will take more time and both files will be sent to brussels for decision.

Hello @ABS25 ,


Thank you for sharing the info.


another question please: will the immigration office process/treat both applications simultaneously or not?

will i get the decisions at same time for both applications?


What was your experience?


Regards,

I did only re entry visa application. They may or may not process both visa files at same time. Its their choice. Cannot say what they will do but its sure that family reunion visa files take more time than re entry visa files. You can do another thing may be, that is by sending the embassy an email saying to treat both files at same time and faster.

@ABS25 thank you.

i plan to clearly mention in the letter/email to embassy/immigration office about 're entry'

I have spoken to one of my friends. from their experience, both applications will be treated under single reference. the decision is also same.

Yes its better to do that, also remember, for a visa file of family reunion of a baby, conditions to be fulfilled are very easy and basic so i hope file will be processed faster. Thats a plus point.

@ABS25 hello ,can you please tell me what conditions are required to gey re enter visa...my residence card expired in April 22,since then I m waiting for renewal...I booked my tickets for December, which I can prospond till March...I don't know till that time also I will be receiving my rp....as now stad is under cyber attack it will again delay the process...I don't want to loose my hard earned money invested in ticket

@Urvashi Ghosh Hello. Most important conditions required for gettting re entry visa are following:


  1. Your flight tickets when you left Belgium
  2. Your page of the passport which contains exit stamp when you left Belgium
  3. Return Visa application filled online on visaonweb
  4. Copy of your expired residence permit


Other things also which your embassy mentions on their website. If the expired permit was A card of one year or more, then you need to choose long stay as your visa category.

@Urvashi Ghosh Also as your case seems to be really urgent, write to dofi and explain your whole case that you have been waiting for a decision for so long etc etc. Explain it all after application of visa and i think in your case you have already applied.

@Urvashi Ghosh , did you submitted your visa visa application as re entry or normal one ?

@ABS25 thank you so much for clarification, I have already communicated in immigration department, they didn't have any option,they are only telling me to wait...

@YashRS ...I m currently in belgium, waiting for Rp wants to go to India and come back,so I was wondering whether i can apply for re entry visa...because i m waiting so long for my Rp and booked ticket for India which I don't want to waste

You'll never have the same process time......


Your wife was living in Belgium, she'll request a re-enter visa that she'll get as long as you're working to join you back. You can think about it as a "priority visa" to come back in Belgium.


Your child will have to wait up to 9 months to have the visa, normal process... as he/she was not born in Belgium...


The best way to avoid all that immigration issues would have been that the child get born in Belgium then travel with the mum back to India, but well... we all know what it is, family, stuff, ...

@AlexFromBelgium thanks for the reply. what you have said is happening for me. We submitted visa application for my wife and our baby, 2 weeks ago. My wife's application is already registered in dofi website. It is in treatment. Baby's visa application is not yet registered in dofi website.


I don't understand this process.

what if they issue visa for 3 months for my wife and they take decision for the baby's visa after 3 months!?

How long did the re-entry visa take ?