Flemish employment resignation letter request

Dear All,

I am currently working in belgium and got another job offer from my next employer and they have applied for my single permit application. flemish employment authority is now asking them(next employer) to provide my resignation letter so my next employer informed me to send resignation letter within 15 days since this is the time frame employment authority shared with them.

1. Will it be enough to send resignation email to my current employer and sharing it to employment authorities ??

2. Does it also be signed by my current employer because it that case it might take sometime to go back and forth?

It would be really helpful if someone has recently gone through similar process and share his/her experience with me.

Note : my notice period is of 3 weeks (25th July informed by my current employer) if I put down my papers now and next mission will start from 1 September so ideally it will be gap while joining my next mission.
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Hello,

1) no, both party must sign the formal document that you'll stop working at dd/mm/yyyy.
Resignation document is not enough.

2) it can't take much time...
Either you give your resignation letter by hand, either you send it, either by a registered mail.
Of course, do that before the 27/28/29/30/31 of the month, to not lose another month.
You've laws to respect.

Take also into account that a new work permit (not a renewal) can take up to 3-4 months!
Sometime it's faster, but always be prepare for worst case scenario!
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I think best to get the confirmation via official email that your resignation accepted. But make sure to send the hard copy to the head office address via the registrated bpost letter..

Best of luck..
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TLDR: You do NOT need to resign now, as far as I know.

This is an interesting question, which apparently no one (including Flemish employment authorities) has a clear answer.

It happened to me recently. We set the start date with new employer 9 weeks ahead, they applied for a new single permit. A person working in Flemish work department requested a resignation letter from my new employer in order to initiate the process. I said "I cannot resign now. My notice period is 3 weeks. If I resign now, then I will be unemployed for 6 weeks, at least. I don't want unemployment gap."

After a long discussion with my new employer, I contacted myself to Flemish employment authority. They told me "letter of intent to resign (which is signed only by you, so your current employer will not know yet) you are leaving) is OK for now. Then just before notice period starts, you need to submit official resignation letter".

If your new employer really wants you to resign now, you can tell this story, and you can contact to Flemish employment authority yourself (I suggest contacting via email, so that you have a written proof).

I don't know why but some rules are interpreted differently by people in the Flemish employment department. Unemployment gap is a serious issue, and resigning to initiate a permit process does definitely lead to a gap, given very long processing times.
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@AlexFromBelgium

Hey Alex,

Thanks for your response to the topic.

It seems like you have a great knowledge about the employment laws in Belgium. I shared my story in the same topic. I appreciate you give some feedback on it. In my case, just a simple letter of intent (signed only by me) worked. But there are still companies who want new employee should resign immediately.

Thanks,
J.
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@John Deyta

Thanks and really very helpful .Since My start date is in 1 sep 2022 to new employer Ideally I am not going to put down papers.

I put my scenario like this to both my current and new employer.

I asked my current employer to write a proof that I have informed them to resign once my new employment approval is granted and they have given it in an email saying they are informed.

I have shared the same email proof to my new employer and they are saying this might not be sufficient for flemish authority however they will send this email to them.I am waiting for them to reply back.

I haven't resign now. My gut feeling is that flemish authority will take sometime and till that time I will be in good position to decide and resign .and I will have 4 weeks of notice period since I am completing my 1 year on 12th july so I will be planning to resign on 25-28 July and my last working day will be on  26th August. (Once employer receives your register letter by post here ) they will provide immediately my official resignation letter.


Could you please send me in message how to contact with flemish employment authority by ourself since these rules are very unclear for someone like us.

Thanks
Vaibhav
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@John Deyta Really appreciated Man .Thanks a lot I hope it will help many expats like us who are working in belgium  😀

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Good Evening Guys,

Thanks for your guidance and support on this topic. My next Employer has communicated me that flemish Authority has approved  my employment approval based on email proof shared to them,  thats seems okay to them.

( I discussed with HR department of my current organisation and clearly informed them regarding need of resignation letter required by flemish employment authority to further process my single permit application and they were kind enough to consider my issue seriously and I politely ask them if they can drop an email saying they have been informed about my resignation and I will no longer work with current employer once my next employment approval is granted and they dropped me an email to me which I  shared with my next employer and they submitted same to flemish authority and that's how that process worked out for me)

I still believe John approach is the safest and better than me to handle this situation.

I hope this thread help other team members here :)

Thanks @AlexfromBelgium ,@kpradeep and @John for your kind support.

Kind Regards
Vai

Thanks
Vaibhav
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@All


I would like to know few more information on this topic.


1. Can the official resignation letter be sent via email (sending signed copy of me and requesting a signed copy from the employer) ?


2. Can the resignation letter and letter of intent to resign be in English?


3. Can the resignation letter contains effective start date of notice period (say 2 weeks later the notice starts and ends 3 weeks after the start date)?



Kindly advice

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Hi @John Deyta and @Vs2802


I am in similar situation like you, my new employer is asking for resignation letter from current employment to proceed with Permit application.


I read your response that letter of intent to resign should be sufficient, can you please let me know how to contact Flemish employment authority to confirm the same ?


thanks,


Best Regards,

SS

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Hey All,


I am in a similar situation (trying to switch jobs but 2nd employer is asking for a resignation letter). I send an email to get a confirmation to see a letter of intent would be enough for the initial application. But got a response like "Resignation letter with notice period and end date is needed. You can take into account that there is currently a processing period of approximately two months for processing renewal applications". Just curious anyone faced the same and managed to still change jobs ?


many thanks,

Siju

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