Legally Registered Partner of a Third-Country Resident

the foreign national to whom they are related by means of a legally registered partnership (legal partner);

the foreign national with whom a registered partnership has been established that is considered equivalent to marriage in Belgium (assimilated partner);

This page provides information on the general conditions for family reunification with a third country national admitted or authorized to stay in Belgium for a limited or unlimited period., and on the documents to be presented by the foreign national's family members who wish to accompany or join him or her in Belgium to live as a family.

Third country national means any foreign national who is not a national of any of the Member States of the European Union or the Schengen area, nor of a country associated with the European Union (Iceland, Lichtenstein, Norway, Switzerland).

Certain family members of a third-country national legally residing in Belgium may benefit from special conditions due to the situation of the sponsor in Belgium.

a foreign national to whom Belgium has granted international protection (refugee status or temporary protection)

a foreign national authorised to reside in Belgium for medical reasons (article 9ter of the Law)

a foreign national who has obtained long-term resident status in another European Union State.

In Belgium, registered partnership refers to the declaration of legal cohabitation made before a civil registrar (see Articles 1475 et seq. of the Civil Code).

→ Submit the declaration of legal cohabitation or proof of a legal registered partnership.

The relationship between the applicant and the sponsor must be stable and lasting. Proof of such a relationship can be provided in the following way:

1. The partners have lived together continuously in Belgium or another country for at least one year prior to the application; or

2. The partners have known each other for at least two years, prior to the application, and provide evidence that they maintained regular contact, by telephone, correspondence or electronic messages, and that they met three times in the two years prior to the application and that these meetings totalled 45 or more days; or

3. The partners have a mutual child.

The applicant and the sponsor must be over 21 years of age. This minimum age is reduced to 18 years if the partners prove that they had been living together for at least one year prior to the sponsor's arrival in Belgium.

→ Submit proof of unmarried status of the applicant and the sponsor.

The applicant and the sponsor must not be in a long-term relationship with another person.

The applicant and the sponsor must not have been the subject of a final decision refusing the completion of the marriage based on Article 167 of the Civil Code.

The sponsor must have stable, regular and sufficient means of subsistence to meet their own needs and those of their family members and to avoid becoming a burden on the public authorities.

The sponsor must have health insurance that covers the risks in Belgium for themselves and their family members.

The sponsor must have adequate housing to accommodate the family member(s) who have asked to join them, and which meets the conditions imposed upon real estate leased as a principal residence, as stipulated in Article 2 of Book III, Title VIII, Chapter II, Section 2 of the Civil Code.

[Article 10 or 10bis of the Act of 15 December 1980]

The right to family reunification must be recognised if the aforementioned family members prove with documents that the conditions for family reunification have been met.

Waiting period for the sponsor who has a B, C, D, F or F+, K, L card:

If the sponsor is admitted or authorised to stay in Belgium for an unlimited period of time, or is authorised to settle there, he can only be joined after 12 months.

There is no waiting period in the following situations: (a) The partnership existed before the sponsor's arrival in Belgium, (b) The partners have a mutual child, en (c) The sponsor is authorised to stay in Belgium as a beneficiary of international protection.

The waiting period is not imposed on the sponsor residing in Belgium for a limited duration (A or H card).

The applicant must provide a medical certificate proving that they are not affected by any of the diseases listed in the annex to the Act of 15 December 1980, which may pose a danger to public health.

The applicant must provide an extract from the criminal record or an equivalent document.

The applicant must come to live with the sponsor.