Permanent Residence Type B - For Dependents.

Hello,

VermaRam wrote:

I understand that the rules to apply for PR have changed this year and now you need 5 year of local contract to be able to claim permanent residency in Belgium.

Sorry but you misunderstood. Permanent resident is 5 years of legal stay. (for non-student)
What you're talking about is one of the possible path to become a Belgian National.


But you can request a D card for you, if you have a high enough salary per month for the last 5 years.
And your wife should probably go for the C one, worst case scenario she should pick the B one.


All the permanent resident cards are the same, except for the D one. As it allows you to settle elsewhere in Europe with the minimum administration to do and nearly immediate access. (no visa, etc...)

Becoming permanent resident is in general a fast process... It's less likely that she won't have her new card if you do the request soon enough (2-3 months before the card expire).
And even if the card has expired, she must go to the commune to receive an annexe document that proof she's in a legal stay in Belgium and that a renewal resident card process is pending. (basically it means no travel outside Belgium)

Hello Alex,

Thanks for your kind and quick response.

I was referring to the new rules of permanent residency which they brought up recently.

https://www.ey.com/en_be/tax/tax-alerts … plications

I am not sure if it's me who is not fully aware or if i misunderstood the new laws completely.

After taking a look at the link i mentioned, Do you still think my wife is eligible for type C or B? You are raising my good hopes :-)

I appreciate your response 😊

Your link is under review as you're a newly registered user on the forum, so we need for the moderators to "allow" it on this forum. I've requested them to allow the link to be able to check the veracity of your statements.


But basically I can already state that the laws didn't change the basic rules about the permanent residence status, as I would basically know it, would have read it in news papers, tv news, etc as I'm pretty "active" on that topic. But a mistake is always possible!

But what did change since the 11 October 2021, is that the permanent resident card of EU family member is now 10 years instead of 5. (EU 2017/1954) + new card layout (+new security features)
The C card became the K card. (10 years too)
The D card became the L card. (10 years too)



The only basic & global rule is still: 5 years of legal stay in Belgium without a gap (you or your wife were not abroad for more than 10 months outside Belgium and never more than 6 months at once) + no crime.
The immigration website is under an eternal renewal and, I've to admit I don't want to read the full laws this evening as it's super boring

The C card of your wife will depend on you (your status). As you're a full pledge worker for the last 5 years and she came to join you.
Basic documents you'll both need are your resident permit + valid passport + criminal record from your commune.
But for your D card, you'll have to justify your yearly tax documents + payslips + contract(s) and if you're self employee you'll have to give way more documents + whatever your commune request, but there shouldn't be much more than the one I've stated.


B card is more """easily""" canceled than the C one. But I'm talking about crimes (murders, being a danger for the national security, etc...), and even a C card can be canceled in that case, so.......
As a B card holder, she'll still be in the foreigner register at the commune.
As a C card holder, she'll be in the population register (national) ==> access to CPAS/OCMW) that's the main difference, as far as I know. (better social help)



PS/tip: if you live in a "big" city (brussels, Antwerpen, etc...) start the process immediately when you receive the renewal document by mail: 4-5 months before the expiry date!
Or you might need to buy a temporary A card.

As far as I remember, I admit I need to check, but I think that the immigration + prosecutor have 5 months to refuse your request for a permanent resident card. (basically if you've been to jail or did any big crime)

Where can I check status of application of Type D/L card.

There's no way as it's an internal process.
The immigration will contact the commune to grant it or not.

Thanks Alex !!