Belgian Nationality - Police check

Hi everyone,
I am soon going to apply for Belgian nationality on the basis of being integrated in Belgium and having worked 468 days.
I am currently a permanent resident (card D), living in Vlaams Brabant, Flanders.

I've read in a lot of places online that there is a police visit at your address.
Can you let me know if this is a normal procedure?
How long did it take for the police to come from the time of the application itself? And preferably, in which commune did you apply for the nationality?

Due to travels, I am worried I will miss this police check.

Thanks a lot in advance for your answers!
-@NewlyBelgian

I think it is normal procedure. There is not specific period to know when the police/agent will come because it depends on their workload... usually it takes 2 weeks.. I recommend that you get the phone number of the police/agent (in Flanders is easy because each small area within the same commune there is a known agent you can contact for any matters) and try to synchronize with him, and just in case you missed him it is not an issue they will try to reach you again, I also do not know the maximum tentative numbers that you do not have to miss. 

I applied for nationality in mid-July at Etterbeek commune. It's been almost 3 months and there hasn't been any police check till date. I think they did away with the police check in some communes in Brussels. Not sure about your commune though.

I applied for nationality in mid-July at Etterbeek commune. It's been almost 3 months and there hasn't been any police check till date. I think they did away with the police check in some communes in Brussels. Not sure about your commune though.
-@anindya17

Hi, quick question...did they tell you that the police would visit you? I was just inquiring last week about nationality application and they told me this was a step in the process (at least in Flanders), but I indeed got some comments from fiends in Brussels that told me they don't do it there. So, I was wondering if the case in Brussels is that they dont do it just because the police is too busy and cant cope with all the applications or they just removed this step from the process.

From what I understand is not the same type of visit you get when you switch addresses... where they just check you live there. Its a bit more "deep" where they at least ask why do you want to become Belgian, etc.

Hey there,

So I applied in Mechelen on the 20th of July. A police agent visited yesterday. And he was in no mood to talk lol. And it was 10am lol so I was still waking up. I mentioned to him that I wasn't expecting him as the commune didn't say anything. (The commune only said, we'll send you decision by post; if its positive you get it from us, if its negative you get it from the police).

He asked for my current passport. Made a note of the details. Took down my phone number. And that was that.

He said they're examining my file now and will send me a decision by postal mail. That was it.

I asked if I need to visit the police station (he said nope) or if we need to chat (he didn't seem to want to lol).

So that was that. Now I await! 

Hey there,
So I applied in Mechelen on the 20th of July. A police agent visited yesterday. And he was in no mood to talk lol. And it was 10am lol so I was still waking up. I mentioned to him that I wasn't expecting him as the commune didn't say anything. (The commune only said, we'll send you decision by post; if its positive you get it from us, if its negative you get it from the police).

He asked for my current passport. Made a note of the details. Took down my phone number. And that was that.

He said they're examining my file now and will send me a decision by postal mail. That was it.

I asked if I need to visit the police station (he said nope) or if we need to chat (he didn't seem to want to lol).

So that was that. Now I await!
-@richeekdey3

Hey, thanks for the update, it's really useful for me. I guess with these things it really depends on the police officer you get and such. I think a no chatty one is better than a bad mood one that starts questioning non related stuff.

I'm sure you will have a positive answer soon.

Best of luck

Hey there,
So I applied in Mechelen on the 20th of July. A police agent visited yesterday. And he was in no mood to talk lol. And it was 10am lol so I was still waking up. I mentioned to him that I wasn't expecting him as the commune didn't say anything. (The commune only said, we'll send you decision by post; if its positive you get it from us, if its negative you get it from the police).

He asked for my current passport. Made a note of the details. Took down my phone number. And that was that.

He said they're examining my file now and will send me a decision by postal mail. That was it.

I asked if I need to visit the police station (he said nope) or if we need to chat (he didn't seem to want to lol).

So that was that. Now I await!
-@richeekdey3

All communication in dutch?

@IgnacioEg Nope, my commune didn't mention anything about a police check. And I even asked if I am allowed to travel outside while the application was under process. My commune told me there's no restriction on travel and I'm free to do so.

My limited research on this forum tells me it was scrapped during the COVID pandemic in the Brussels region and they probably never resumed.

There was no police check for my nationality application in Brussels. I received nationality last month.

There was no police check for my nationality application in Brussels. I received nationality last month.
-@Jimsen

Hey @Jimsen,

Where you in Brussels commune or in region Brussels?

@anindya: Woluwe-Saint-Pierre

@Jimsen Thanks for the info. Would mind sharing how long it took from the date of application?

So what language police local or english?

@anindya: It took 4 months after commune verified the documents.

@Jimsen How much time it takes normally(or maximum) for the commune to verify documents. Others can also share their personal situation in such a case.

Commune took 1 week for me.

Hey there,
So I applied in Mechelen on the 20th of July. A police agent visited yesterday. And he was in no mood to talk lol. And it was 10am lol so I was still waking up. I mentioned to him that I wasn't expecting him as the commune didn't say anything. (The commune only said, we'll send you decision by post; if its positive you get it from us, if its negative you get it from the police).

He asked for my current passport. Made a note of the details. Took down my phone number. And that was that.

He said they're examining my file now and will send me a decision by postal mail. That was it.

I asked if I need to visit the police station (he said nope) or if we need to chat (he didn't seem to want to lol).

So that was that. Now I await!
-@richeekdey3
All communication in dutch?
-@hssn601

Well that was the funny thing. I was talking in my broken dutch lol. But the cop switched to English.

He really didn't want to talk lol. Just seemed to want to know that the person who applied (aka ME) was indeed me (hence the passport check).

@Jimsen Did you receive a mail from your commune after their document verification was done and they forwarded your file to the ministry? In my case they went over my documents on the day I submitted I submitted my nationality application and just gave me a document stating the major of the commune has received my application. I neve received anything from my commune after that and it's been 3 months. So, wondering if I'm missing something.

@anindya17 On accuse de reception which you received, did they mention that your file is complete and has been forwarded? Or they mentioned that we will take 30 working days to examine your file? What kind of accuse de reception you got?

@ABS25 I just double checked and it does mention my file is complete and has been forwarded. So that probably explains why I didn't receive a second document from my commune about it.

@anindya17 Exactly. And if its already 3 months then probably there is no police visit in your case. You will receive answer in 4 months or 4 months one week.

@anindya17: Commune gave me “Recepisse - confirmation de recevabilite du dossier”. You can check a bit of activity on mondossier.rrn.fgov.be

@Jimsen This recepisse was delivered like normal post or registered post? And also what kind of activity on mon dossier you mean? Is this an activity by your commune or SPF? If by commune then what kind of activity you mean?

@ABS25: Commune printed and gave “Recepisse - confirmation de recevabilite du dossier” when I went to commune with receipt of €150 and paid €25 at commune.

@NewlyBelgian hello, could you please let me know if you had a police interview, if you live in Brussels? Thank you

@vocicag725 : There is no police check / interview in Brussels when I applied for Belgium nationality 6 months back.

@Jimsen Thanks a lot. I guess its not applicable in Brussels but not very sure.

Hey! Not sure if this is still relevant for the original author or not but it could be useful for others.

I applied for the nationality in Gent on the 5th of Dec 2022 and got the police visit on the 30th of January 2023, so almost 2 months after.

The visit was super fast, the office showed up and 8pm at my place, just said they needed to do a quick control related with my application and asked a few things, mainly if I had any kids and what was my work (he had this information just had to confirm). I asked if he needed my id or passport but was not needed, he had a copy of my application even with a photo, so it's just mainly confirming that I indeed applied.

As for the language, my Dutch is terrible and still was able to understand and reply, didnt need to say much, mainly yes or no so that went fine. He first told me that couldn't be done in English as it was a nationality application, but could have spoken French or German.

So, in 5 mins it was done.

Hope it helps someone

@IgnacioEg thanks for sharing

@ABS25: Commune printed and gave “Recepisse - confirmation de recevabilite du dossier” when I went to commune with receipt of €150 and paid €25 at commune.
-@Jimsen

Hi , you paid 25 euro ? for me I gave all documents and the receipt of 150 Euro , they gave me the Recepisse and told will reply in 4 months and  police will visit

I share my experience in Bruges:

Police comes, and makes you a short interview in Dutch, I didn't ask for french, though I think it's possible, as my Dutch level is very good.

it depends on the officer, I applied on 2 occasions, first was denied.

I was informed by the town hall that a police interview would take place in the 1st or 2nd month, both times it happened 3 weeks after signing the declaration.

the first time the agent just appeared one evening at my address without letting me know, the second time, the agent called me to see if and when we could make the appointment.

the first time, a bit longer than 2 years ago, was a very very friendly police officer, the visit took around 1 hour.

it goes about everything he can write about you to convince or to give advice to the king's procureur... hobbies, how long you live here, if you speak any other local language, what kind of job, why Belgium, if you have friends.. plans for the future, is a very light conversation in which he tries to understand your motivations and whether you are a person that lives and wants to live by the Belgian norms.

when my first application was denied, I could go and check my dossier, and the police officer had written an amazing beautiful letter about me, so no, the denial decision was not from the advice of the police, but because I lacked other documentation.

the 2nd time I had the interview, somewhere in January 2023, the agent was also very kind, very polite.

called me to make the appointment, in total it took around 10 minutes.

he mentioned that he didn't have to ask/write much about me, as he still had the report of the other police agent from 2 years ago, so he just needed to make some updates like where I work now, and why Belgium... why the first time the nationality was denied... etc.

he left saying... I can only write good things about you...

which I also believe he did

so, those are my 2 stories.

first time -> nationality denied, waiting time from moment of signing the declaration -> 4 months 1 week

second time -> approved, waiting time from signing declaration til approval -> 3 months 1 week, yes, 3 months.

I hope this helps !

@bruggeling1 Thanks for the informative post. When your first time was denied due to lack of documentation, wasn't the lack of documentation was evident already at the city hall when you signed the declaration and/or after the documents were sent to the civil registrar?

Because to my understanding the procedure says, ''the civil registrar indicates on a form documents that are missing. The applicant then have 2 months to complete his/her application. If the missing documents are not delivered in that time, the official will declare the application inadmissible.''

Anyway, congratulations on your successful 2nd attempt!

The clerk based his answer on experience and not on the law. The law says that the diploma has to be in one of the 3 local languages for it to be counted as integration and towards working days.

The experience of the clerk is that some nationalities have been approved even if the diploma was in English. But I think that's either because the servants of the procureur didn't check the dossier with a lot of detail, or the nationalities where approved because the response period expired.

So... in my case ... I had a full dossier in the eyes of the clerk... but... the servants at the court did apply the law letter by letter on that point... and rejected my diploma in English... which immediately affected all other points: integration, working days...

@ABS25 hi

I happy to read your comment.mine already 3.5 months.just 20 days remain to complete 4 months 4 days.is it good?i do not recieve anything until now..mine should be positive??

@Jimsen hiI read your comment..i also applied Nationality and its upto 3.5 months only 20 days remain to complete 4 months 4 days.i do not recieve anything until now.is it still refusal can come or not??

@Muhammad Hanif69 Normally yes. It is good news but just to be 100% sure, just wait for completion of 4 months.

@ABS25 yes your right..one time in week i check my file on Dossie.be and it show last updated file january and only i see my birth certificate generated by Commune...thanks

@Muhammad Hanif69 How many months it is untill january? Starting from the date when you applied for nationality.

@ABS25 i applied 9.12.2022 so until 9 January 1 month.today is 3 months 17 days.i think 17/18 days remain.