Belgium Visa Processing Timeline and Documentation

Please dont post in multiple threads. Post your questions in any one thread.

- Minors dont need PCC
- You can apply with work permit
- it is recommended to have Pcc from passport office.

Hello Aneesh,

Do I have to Apostille the PCC, Marriage certificate and birth certificate?I did not have original birth certificate so I gave affidavit for single permit application? Also documents are not Apostille . Will they reject my application? Please suggest what shall I do?

Aneesh wrote:

Please dont post in multiple threads. Post your questions in any one thread.

- Minors dont need PCC
- You can apply with work permit
- it is recommended to have Pcc from passport office.

"You can apply with work permit"- shall i apply for visa with work permit? No need to wait for Single permit?

Does anyone know what is the maximum days or months it takes to get an approval for the Work permit extension request? (Now, single permit)

My Work permit extension request was submitted by my employer in the first week of May 2019 and they got a communication on 20-May-2019 (from the migration department) that the extension is permitted. But then, my employer told me that I will receive a communication from the Foreign affairs department regarding my residence permission.

It is 3 months now, but I haven't got any communication from the foreign affairs department. Is this normal?

Yes it is normal. High workload + summer period.

rsreeu wrote:

Aneesh wrote:

Please dont post in multiple threads. Post your questions in any one thread.

- Minors dont need PCC
- You can apply with work permit
- it is recommended to have Pcc from passport office.

"You can apply with work permit"- shall i apply for visa with work permit? No need to wait for Single permit?

first you need to be clear yourself what kind of permit your company applied for you. Work Permit or Single Permit. if it is the old style work permit, then if you got it, you can directly apply for visa. If it is the new style single permit, then you need to wait for the single permit.

Hello Anees ,

I  need your advice here , I have applied for my residence Permit renewal on May 08 , and still its with ministry with Approval , i have mailed ministry  multiple times , but they always say its  with them for approval , its already more than 5 months  , could you please advice what can i do ( the  mistake which happened from my side  i applied for renewal just after RP expired , because my change of address was pending )

Hello Anees,
i need your suggestion here,i have already applied for D type visa( student visa), when i check my visa status at vfs site that time i found this: Your visa application has been sent for further assessment by the Embassy/Consulate general of Belgium to the Belgian Immigration Office on 14th Sep 2019.This number enables you to contact the Belgian Immigration Office, single point of contact for all questions related to the status of your visa application as of this moment (Antwerpsesteenweg 59B, Your visa application has been sent for further assessment by the Embassy/Consulate general of Belgium 1000 Brussels, T: +32.2.793.80.00, [email protected]). Furthermore, using this file number, you may check on the status of your visa application on the Immigration Office website. Should you need your passport back before the end of the procedure, please send your request by e-mail to the Embassy or Consulate general of Belgium.
my questions are: what do u mean by further assessment? though my all documents were ok.
How much time they will take decision? my university enrollment will over October 15.
what will i do now? i am very tensed for it.

There are many posts in this forum about this. File is being sent to Belgium means, it is sent to the ministry here for decision making. You have to wait for the processing and decision. You can get your university to write to the ministry or get a letter from your university, requesting the ministry to speed up your processing and provide this letter to the ministry.

Hi Shivam,

Did you pay administration payment proof in Euros or INR ? How much did you transfer ?
After payment we will receive any mail as proof of statement or only bank statement is enough ?

Thanks,
Aravind M

You can go to any of the local banks and pay 358 euros, the bank will deduct equivalent amount in INR. You'll get a pdf doc with the transfer details after a day or 2. This document will suffice as a proof. You'll need this doc for SP processing and later for visa processing.

Ensure that the reference format is given correctly. I think its,

  <NAME><DOB><NATIONALITY> , check the website once for the right format. This is a mandatory field. Online banking option might not let you give this reference format.In my case, I visited the bank for the payment.

Hi all,
Does long term Belgian visa require travel itenary or dummy ticket
If so,
Whether my and my spouse travel itenary should be same?
As I am going through single work permit and dependent is processing by myself

Thanks,
Aravind

No, travel tickets are not required for long term visa application.

hi guys help me
what's meaning?

Dossier:    In afwachting ontvangst van documenten die de visumaanvraag ondersteunen en die door de Belgische diplomatieke/consulaire post per diplomatieke valies verzonden wordt.
Datum beslissing/Status Dossier:    Oct 17 2019
extra info1:    Het visumdossier wordt slechts behandeld op het ogenblik van ontvangst van de betrokken documenten, ook al werd de visumaanvraag eerder via elektronische weg overgemaakt. Gemiddeld genomen neemt de verzending van de diplomatieke valies één maand in beslag. De behandelingsduur van de visumaanvraag hangt dan af van de complexiteit van het dossier. Indien een dossier nog in behandeling is of indien het dossier nog niet behandeld is omdat gewacht wordt op de verzending per diplomatieke valies van de documenten die de visumaanvraag ondersteunen, verschijnt als datum, de datum waarop de visumaanvraag geregistreerd werd door de Dienst Vreemdelingenzaken.
extra info2:    In principe wordt de beslissing verzonden op de dag dat ze getroffen wordt. Het kan echter soms enkele dagen duren voordat de diplomatieke of consulaire post de beslissing effectief ontvangt.

It says the ministry needs some additional supporting documentation.

They send the list of additional documents via the consulate or if it is a document from your spouse, sometimes they ask it directly to your spouse by email or letter.

In any case, you will be notified. Consulate will demand additional documentation to you via VFS soon.

Once you provide that, your file will be processed in a week or two.

thank you Aneesh sir thank u very much......

Thanks Aneesh for your reply.

For me my employer is processing visa & for my dependent i am processing long term visa on my own.

and I have booked visa appointment for my dependent & me at same date.

Since I am applying for single permit visa with help of my employer , they will provide me a temporary flight reservation ticket.

In this case do i need to book a ticket for my dependant?

never buy a flight ticket before you get your visa.
A reservation is more than enough (validity 24-48h)

When you go to the embassy to receive the visa, you'll be requested to give them your flight tickets.

gskataria1 wrote:

I am currently in USA moving to Belgium with my employer.
3rd party immigration company is asking my employer for Social security certificate of Coverage from the US for the single permit application for Belgium. I understand this certificate is going to take a long time to arrive so my single permit application cannot be filed till then. But no where on this forum or on Belgium consulate website I have seen that this certificate is required for the application.

Can anyone please confirm if this certificate was required for your process or not?
thanks

Hi
How was your experience at Belgium consulate in US. I am not an US citizen but will be applying from USA.
Thanks
Sanjay

shivamgrover21 wrote:

Hi All,

I would like to share my experience in getting the long term D visa for Belgium.
I had tons of questions for the visa application, but this forum and the responses from people have been of great help. Mostly though AneeshKs's responses were our savior and I am really thankful for those.

We received the work permit from the employer in a month and below documents were required:
1. Degree Certificate
2. Contract Document
3. Photographs
4. Medical Certificate - > through a accredited doctor and in the required format (not required to be legalized)

After we received the work permit, we gathered the below documents ourselves and from the employer:

----- 3 exact sets of the below documents were required (one with original, rest two copies -----

Primary Candidate (W.P Holder):
1. Passport Copy
2. Previous Schengen Visas
3. Application form (is now filled online)
4. Photographs
5. Language Form
6. Work Permit
7. Medical Certificate (the one used for W.P)
8. PCC Certificate (got through Passport office and duly legalized)
9. Admin Payment Proof.
10. Visa Fee


Dependent Spouse :

1. Passport Copy
2. Previous Schengen Visas
3. Application form (is now filled online)
4. Photographs -> they told to remove the spectacles.
5. Language Form
6. Work Permit Copy
7. Medical Certificate -> got for the same doctor -> format was different for spouse since work permit format is only required for primary applicant.
8. PCC Certificate (got through Passport office and duly legalized)
9. Admin Payment Proof.
10. Visa Fee
11. Contract Copy
12. Medical Certificate  - > through a accredited doctor and in the required format (not required to be legalized)
13. Housing Document -> got a temporary contact
14. Health Care statement -> statement from insurance company or the employer confirming that you will be covered in Belgium for medical costs.
15. Marriage Certificate -> (duly legalized)
16. Birth certificate -> (duly legalized)

We applied for the Visa together.
The primary applicant requested for one year validity.
VFS Person suggested that the dependent spouse apply for 6 months else there are chances that the application will be sent to Belgium and it will take a lot of time.

Note : Legalization required -> Notary Stamp -> SDM Attestation -> Apostile Stamp from MEA.
PCC only required MEA Apostile

We got the visa in 3 working days (Including submission and collection)


I hope someone will find this information helpful and good luck to the applicants.

Hi shivamgrover21
How did you get the temporary contract for residence?

Thanks
Sanjay

Does anyone knows whether we need to mention the country of 1st country of visit if our flight is not directly to Belgium, but has a layover of few hours at some other EU nation?

Problem is, am going to book flight after my visa arrives, and before hand I can't tell whether I'll have a layover in any other EU country.

Please note, I understand that I can not land in any other EU country,  and then travel to Belgium again if I have not mentioned that to be my 1st country of visit. My question is about, whether normal layover in other EU nations are allowed, if I have mentioned Belgium to be my first country of arrival in EU.

Thanks
Sanjay

sanjaymd1984 wrote:

Does anyone knows whether we need to mention the country of 1st country of visit if our flight is not directly to Belgium, but has a layover of few hours at some other EU nation

There's a specific box in the Schengen application form/Belgian immigration form that you must fill when you request your visa.
Box number 23: member state of first entry


As I'm understanding, you've already fill that paper and did request for a visa.
So you're just going into trouble at the border of another Schengen state if you're not coming in Europe from the country you've stated in box number 23.
You should ask the embassy when they tell you that you've been granted with the visa.
You'll have to give them your flight ticket for them to glue the visa into your passport.

Member state of first entry, in the application form: must be filled in as Belgium (it only complicates your visa application processing if you fill in another country here), as  you are applying for a long stay visa in Belgium.

Once your visa is approved, when you buy your tickets, it is ok to have a transit in another schengen country (your immigration will be in the first schengen port of entry). provided you can prove to the immigration officer that your final destination is Belgium (carry proof of further travel to Belgium - next flight, train or whatever ticket).

Hi Aneesh
My husband has got Type A work permit approved and it says limited period (ie., 3 years), can this be easily renewed after 3 years? and after 5 years can we apply for PR on this visa type?

Thank you

Did he get this after 4 years of working in WP B ?

He is currently working in London. His first time in Belgium, his current company applied for his work permit.


It says he can apply for type D visa

Below is the text from the email:

Brief ter kennisgeving –toekenning gecombineerde verblijfstitel (A-kaart – toelating arbeid van bepaalde duur)
Geldigheidsperiode: van 01/12/2019 tot en met 30/11/2022

Aneesh wrote:

Member state of first entry, in the application form: must be filled in as Belgium (it only complicates your visa application processing if you fill in another country here), as  you are applying for a long stay visa in Belgium.

Once your visa is approved, when you buy your tickets, it is ok to have a transit in another schengen country (your immigration will be in the first schengen port of entry). provided you can prove to the immigration officer that your final destination is Belgium (carry proof of further travel to Belgium - next flight, train or whatever ticket).

Thanks a lot Aneesh.

Violetkm wrote:

He is currently working in London. His first time in Belgium, his current company applied for his work permit.


It says he can apply for type D visa

Below is the text from the email:

Brief ter kennisgeving –toekenning gecombineerde verblijfstitel (A-kaart – toelating arbeid van bepaalde duur)
Geldigheidsperiode: van 01/12/2019 tot en met 30/11/2022

This is the single permit (residence permit type A + Work permit type B).  Yes, he can apply a D visa with this to enter the country, and you can apply as his dependent. Single permit can be renewed based on continuous employment. His employer will be initiating this at the end of validity of the existing single permit. After 5 years continuous employment he can apply for PR/nationality.

Can any one of you let me know the good insurance provider  in Belgium for doing the dependant visa ?

Hi All,

My employer, submitted my documents for single permit to ministry. Today they have received the below question from the ministry.

What's the name of the competent diplomatic or consular post near the place you are living in India?

As I am living in chennai India, I gave the details of the Belgium Consulate chennai.

Consulate General Chennai
18, III th floor, Yafa Tower - Khader Nawaz Khan Road - Nungambakkam
600 006 Chennai
India

Opening hours and closing days
Consul General Mark VAN DE VREKEN
+91 444 048 55 00
+91 805 623 48 05 (Emergency) Emergency consular assistance, ONLY for Belgians in difficulty, outside opening hours
[email protected]
http://india.diplomatie.belgium.be

Is this the one they are expecting ? Does anyone here, received the similar request ?

Thanks in Advance.

Hello,
I have a question regarding the timeline of long term visa D processing in the embassy, I applied through TLScontact in Egypt on November 13 which means I passed 2 weeks waiting, so any idea why it get delayed? Noting that the DOFI website states that the Embassy should not delay the VISA issuing, moreover a lot of people received their VISAs with 3 to 5 days, I know that each country differ than other, but also I knew someone in Egypt who applied in the mid of this year using Annex46 and got his VISA less than 2 weeks, so any idea about this issue? Also I send an email asking about the status of the application to the embassy 2 days ago and they still didn't reply me!

Ahmed_Talaat wrote:

Hello,
I have a question regarding the timeline of long term visa D processing in the embassy, I applied through TLScontact in Egypt on November 13 which means I passed 2 weeks waiting, so any idea why it get delayed? Noting that the DOFI website states that the Embassy should not delay the VISA issuing, moreover a lot of people received their VISAs with 3 to 5 days, I know that each country differ than other, but also I knew someone in Egypt who applied in the mid of this year using Annex46 and got his VISA less than 2 weeks, so any idea about this issue? Also I send an email asking about the status of the application to the embassy 2 days ago and they still didn't reply me!

Today I completed 3 weeks, I sent the embassy week ago, but they didn't respond, some of my friends here who are going to Belgium for study advised me to contact ibz based on experience they had before, so today I sent to ibz asking politely if they can help as my employer is waiting and let's see what's gonna happen.

Embassy should normally tell us if they sent the file to IBZ. Anyway, let us hope to hear some update from any one of them.

Aneesh wrote:

Embassy should normally tell us if they sent the file to IBZ. Anyway, let us hope to hear some update from any one of them.

Thanks Aneesh for your kind reply and yes, let's wait and hope.

Ahmed_Talaat wrote:

Ahmed_Talaat wrote:

Hello,
I have a question regarding the timeline of long term visa D processing in the embassy, I applied through TLScontact in Egypt on November 13 which means I passed 2 weeks waiting, so any idea why it get delayed? Noting that the DOFI website states that the Embassy should not delay the VISA issuing, moreover a lot of people received their VISAs with 3 to 5 days, I know that each country differ than other, but also I knew someone in Egypt who applied in the mid of this year using Annex46 and got his VISA less than 2 weeks, so any idea about this issue? Also I send an email asking about the status of the application to the embassy 2 days ago and they still didn't reply me!

Today I completed 3 weeks, I sent the embassy week ago, but they didn't respond, some of my friends here who are going to Belgium for study advised me to contact ibz based on experience they had before, so today I sent to ibz asking politely if they can help as my employer is waiting and let's see what's gonna happen.

Tomorrow I will complete 4 weeks waiting for my long term visa D in the embassy, until today neither the embassy nor the government replied my emails yet.
TLS is always saying that they don't have a pre-defined time frame for this process.
Is that something normal to take that long?!!

To keep you all posted about my weird status, ibz replied me today with the following:

The applications are still located at the Belgian embassy in Cairo. Please contact them for further information.

I called TLS again and they have no information but the operator told me that their knowledge is that the long term visa in Belgium Embassy takes too long and may reach up to 6 months!!
The embassy still doesn't reply my emails, it really weird situation!

Indeed, it is very weird. Normally applications with a work permit/single permit, are processed quite fast. I have no idea why the consulate sits on it for so long. May be they have pending files. One idea you can think of, is to get your employer to write to the consulate requesting a faster processing, stating that they need you here as soon as possible. We have done this (with another country's consulate - as they were also taking so long to process the application of our new-hires with work permit). The consulate took into consideration our request and gave a faster response to our applications.

Aneesh wrote:

Indeed, it is very weird. Normally applications with a work permit/single permit, are processed quite fast. I have no idea why the consulate sits on it for so long. May be they have pending files. One idea you can think of, is to get your employer to write to the consulate requesting a faster processing, stating that they need you here as soon as possible. We have done this (with another country's consulate - as they were also taking so long to process the application of our new-hires with work permit). The consulate took into consideration our request and gave a faster response to our applications.

Well, I'm wondering if the embassy will reply my employer even!
I'm following a group of students on Facebook, it seems like visas for studying purposes get out fast from the embassy, within almost 2 weeks! I still don't know anyone who applied for work within these days!

Finally the embassy replied my email stating that my VISA will be issued and my wife and son's applications will be sent to home for decision, anyone knows how long it will take for this decision?