How long to get your citizenship?

best is to apply 5 year after you had your first A card. Do yoy have now your B or L card?

The whole proces is about 5-6 months from the day you submit a completed file.

@Edigj thanks, so if I understand correctly - I apply for the B or L card once I've been a resident for 5 years and once I get the B or L card I can then apply for citizenship? How long is the delay to gain citizenship once I have the B or L card?

Hello!

After receiving L card, I could get a suitable appointment in 3 weeks from commune. My file found complete at that time and I submitted my decleration. After submitting my decleration I received a police visit in 2 months. After police visit I got the approval of my citizenship in 3 weeks.

@Zaza00 after applying for citizenship, it takes almost 4 months to get a confirmation e-mail. I beleive the counter for eligibility starts when you completed 5 years after receiving the A-card if I am not wrong. For me, they really started from there and not from when I started working (may be we lose a month or so here)

@manoras

I agree with your post. Most people will lose a month or 2, due to the lack of actual card being delivered.

I just got my nationality approved a couple of weeks ago. It to 4 months and 10 days to be precise. It was in Uccle and they were really nice. they even told me the exact date they would deliver the file to the king's prosecutor.

@Edigj18

Now, permanent residency is a MUST, in short B or L card, or any of the other EU permanent cards. Usually that takes like 6 months after you have completed 5 years of residency.

However, there is a cheat available to get the L card before the 5 years. I got it when I completed 4 years of residence in Belgium. The chances that immigration would look at your file are less than 50% due to high volume. you just need to submit your application for L or B card through your commune. the hard part is to get your commune to accept your application. for that, I used a lawyer, since legally the commune must accept the application for B or L card even if certain conditions are not met. Once the file is at immigration, if they can't take a look at it in 5 months, voilá! you will get your L or B card automatically.

I used this cheat because I claimed 2 years of residency with the Blue card in another EU state, but Belgium was denying those residency years. which was a bummer for me because I was right, but claiming it in court would have taken me 2 or 3 years.

In short, make a plan, look at what you have, what you can prove. Just follow the rules, and if you think you need a lawyer, take one! they are good and know all the ins and outs of the system!

Take care!