Members of your family who have been authorized to join you must present themselves within 8 working days of their arrival in Belgium to the municipal administration of the place of your residence. That is determined in a circular of 2007. The municipal administration will enter their names in the Aliens’ Register and issue an A card (an electronic card that is the equivalent to the certificate of registration in the Aliens’ Register – limited duration) valid for one year and renewable. 

Before enrolment in the Register, the municipal administration will check up the effective residence. Your family members will be given an “Annex 15” while awaiting their card A.

For 5 years, their A card will be renewed by the municipal administration for a period of one year provided the conditions for family reunification are still satisfied (limited and conditional residence) (art. 13, par. 3 of the Law of 15 december 1980).

Your family members will have to apply for renewal to the municipal administration of your place of residence between 45 and 30 days before the expiry of their A card. The municipality will inform the Immigration Office, who will control whether the requirements for family reunification are still met. The municipality will also verify whether your family members are still living with you under the same roof. If you move, you must inform the municipal authorities.

Father and mother of unaccompanied minors

If you are the father or mother of an unaccompanied minor with a protection status, the requirement of sufficient, stable and regular means of subsistence will not be applicable at the moment of the renewal of your residence permit, except when you apply for a residence permit of unlimited duration (a B-card) (Article 13 §1, paragraph 4 of the Law of 15 December 1980 - Constitutional Court decision 121/2013).

At the end of this 5-year period, an unlimited residence permit can be granted (electronic B card - equivalent to the certificate of registration in the Aliens’ Register), if the requirements in article 10 are still met (for example to live together under the same roof, to have sufficient means of subsistence if this was a condition at the time of visa issuance). Otherwise, the Immigration Office will refuse the unlimited residence permit, and will grant a new residence permit but limited in time. This permit will be renewed  the years after if the following requirements are met (art. 13, par. 3 of the Law of 15 december 1980):

  1. your family member has sufficient means of subsistence,
  2. your family member has a health insurance covering all risks, and
  3. your family member does not constitute a danger to the public order and / or to national security.

Please note that family members of beneficiaries of international protection will never acquire a residence permit of unlimited duration before the bene ciary him/herself acquires a residence permit of unlimited duration.

The members of your family who join you will not (automatically) receive the refugee or subsidiary protection status in Belgium. However, they have the possibility to apply for asylum in their own name. In the latter case, the application will be examined in the light of the contents of your own request for asylum.

Withdrawal or refusal of renewal of the residence permit

During the first 5 years of their stay in Belgium, your family members will have to prove that the requirements for family reunification are still met. If the Immigration Office considers that your family members no longer fulfil the conditions, it may decide to terminate the residence of your family members and withdraw the residence permit. This may happen, for instance, if your family members (art. 11 § 2 of the Law of 15 December 1980):

  • no longer meet one of the conditions set for the granting of the visa;
  • no longer effectively live a married or family life;
  • in the event of a registered partnership, married or entered into a lasting relationship with another person;
  • concluded the marriage, partnership or adoption solely for the purpose of enabling entry into or residence in Belgium.

The residence permit can also be withdrawn if you or your family member have used false or misleading information (or falsified documents) during the family reunification process, or committed fraud or have used other illegal means that have contributed to the acquisition of his residence permit (art. 74/20, §2, par.1 et 74/21, par.2 of the Law of 15 December 1980).

In some cases, your residence permit as a beneficiary of international protection can be revoked. ((3) See the conditions in Art. 11 , §3 , par 1-3 of the Law of 15 December 1980.) In this case, the residence of the family members may also be terminated (art. 11, §3, par. 4 of the Law of 15 December 1980).

The Belgian authorities can always decide to carry out checks in view of extending or renewing the residence permit, notably if there were presuppositions based on fraud or in order to verify whether you continue to meet the conditions for family reunification (art. 11, §2, par. 3 and Art. 74/20 §4 of the Law of 15 December 1980).

Thus, for example, the Immigration Office can withdraw the residence permit of your family members if they are not living together with you anymore or if you cannot prove that you have sufficient, stable and regular means of subsistence.

Please note that you are also exempted from the requirements of adequate housing, health insurance and sufficient, stable and regular means of subsistence at the moment of renewal of your family members’ residence card if the application for family reunification has been submitted within the year after the recognition of your protection status and if the relationship with your family members existed already before your arrival in Belgium. 

If the requirement of means of subsistence applies at renewal, the Immigration Office has to take into consideration the contributions of the family members to the household income (art. 16, 1 a of the Directive 2003/86/EC).

Moreover, the law provides that the Immigration Office has to take account of the nature and solidity of the family relationship, the duration of the residence in Belgium and the existence of family, cultural and social ties with the country of origin when withdrawing or refusing to renew a residence permit of your family member (art. 11 § 2, par. 5 and Art. 74/20 §2, par. 2 and Art. 74/21, par. 4 of the Law of 15 December 1980).

They must also take into account the situation of victims of domestic violence who have left their homes and are in need of protection (art. 11 § 2, par. 4 of the Law of 15 December 1980). 

Where the Immigration Office puts an end to your family member’s residence and issues an order to leave the country, your family member will receive an “Annex 14ter” and the A card shall be withdrawn. When this decision is not accompanied by an order to leave the country, your family member will receive an “Annex 37”. An appeal against this decision may be lodged at the Council for Alien Law Litigation within 30 days of the notification. In this case, your family member will receive an “Annex 35” awaiting the decision on the appeal.