Do FWO years count towards permanent residency?

Dear all,


I now live and work in Belgium with F card, since I got married to a Belgian. Before that I also did a PhD through a scholarship from FWO. That was for 4 years. Therefore I have been living in Belgium for about 4.5 years. Four as PhD paying social security but no taxes I think and 6 months now as full time at a company.


My question is, when do I apply for permanent residency?


Me and my wife are also interested in living in Brazil (my country) for a year or two. Can I actually do this now or should I wait after receiving permanent residency?


Also BTW, not sure this changes anything but we have a beautiful baby girl who was born here in Belgium.

  1. you can ask for F+ when reaching 5 years on F card
  2. you can apply for nationality as you have F card and you have lived for 5 years

@Peterjohn123 this doesn't really answer my question.

@Max7710 As far as I know, your 4 years of PhD research will count as two years of work. There was a similar conversation on this topic and you can find it using the link below.


https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=937018

@Peterjohn123 this doesn't really answer my question.
-@Max7710

Well! The thing is its counted if you worked, payed tax and apply for D/L card! Look, D/L !!!!


You might dig more into thoes cards regulation before asking as you even dont understand my answer…


You have F card.

You want permanent residency, it means F+ or D or B or C.


It does not make sense to me for a person with an F card and then trying to apply for B/C/D.


In fact, F is a permanent residency with condition (marriage/child linkage).

@Appiah63 Ok so it seems that I could apply for card D then. According to the source, the 4 years should count as 2 years and then after that 3 more years are needed to achieve full 5 years required to apply for card D. Is that correct?

@Max7710

Please read carefully

As @Peterjohn123 said here:


you can ask for F+ when reaching 5 years on F card

you can apply for nationality as you have F card and you have lived for 5 years


You are eligible to get a +F card after 5 years rule (study 2/1 year rule) which is permanent residence permis


Why you would like to get any other than this I don't understand.


If you interrupt 5 consecutive years automatically you will lost your permanent card chance


So having an F in BE and living two years in Brasil doesn't allows you to come here and apply for +F or D

@maharaji1984 So both types of residency I have had, A and F can be combined towards nationality, right? Meaning in 6 months I can try to apply for nationality.

I guess you did not understand the fact "your pHd period counts as half"

Mathematicaly 4 years pHd 2 years counted

6 months work 6 months counted

5 years - 2.5 years  = 2.5 more years you need

@maharaji1984 hmm.. I read somewhere that it counts as half period towards permanent residency only but for nationality it counts as same period spent. Someone can correct me if I'm mistaken.

@Max7710 well search and let us know too from where you have read before.

@Max7710 Well, You need to be a permanent resident in order to apply for nationality.

I think your analyzing information has some problem and you showed no respect to my comment as a person who achieved a PhD.


A. Having permanent card already can apply nationality with out the fact “50% for study years”


B. Not having permanent card can ask for a permanent card D (which is the easiest) and it counts 50% for student years.


Your case B is a person who has a permanent card F already

  1. If you use that card to apply for the D/L card, which everybody finds weird, ok, 50% count towards student years. You can count then…
  2. If you apply nationality, apply directly as you stayed for 5 years (student years counted as full for permanent residence applying nationality)…