Frequently Asked Questions

For foreigners who are coming to work in Flanders, the employer must obtain a work permit in advance. The type of work that the foreigner will perform determines whether he will be admitted to the labor market or not.  

To assess whether or not a foreign employee is eligible to work in Flanders, the Flemish government has identified different categories of foreign workforce such as for example; highly educated academics, seasonal workers, professional athletes,... One of the categories eligible for a work permit are medium-skilled workers that perform a profession which is mentioned on the so-called “Migration list for medium-skilled professions for which there is a structural labor shortage” (“Migratielijst voor Middengeschoolde functies waarvoor een structureel tekort aan arbeidskrachten bestaat” in Dutch and reffered to as “the Migration list” hereafter).  

This list is drawn up and evaluated every two years directly by the Flemish Minister of Employment herself and identifies a limited number of medium-skilled bottleneck professions for which there is a structural labor market shortage while the strategic need on the Flemish labour market is so high and/or urgent, that foreign labour is allowed to work in Flanders.

The Minister has decided that due to recent geopolitical and macro-economic events (e.g. tariff exemption for polished diamonds in the EU-US trade agreement obtained through the shared efforts of the Flemish and federal government), it is now convenient from an economic and strategic perspective to add medium-skilled diamond professions to the Migration list. This makes Flemish diamond companies eligible to obtain work permits for foreign medium-skilled polishers and sorters.

This decision was taken by Minister Demir – Flemish Minister for Employment - and ratified by the Flemish government at the Council of Ministers meeting on November 28, 2025. The updated Migration List has thus already been approved but will only come into effect next month, starting on January 1, 2026. As of this date, Flemish diamond companies will be able to apply for work and single permits for foreign employees who would come here to perform a bottleneck job as described in the updated Migration List.

The Flemish government has identified different categories of foreign workforce such as; highly educated academics, seasonal workers, professional athletes,... The “other” category is the residual category for foreign workers who do not fall under “highly skilled” nor within a profession on the migration list nor within any other category. However, since May 1, 2024, access via the “other” category has been severely restricted. Today, Flemish companies can apply for foreign workers under “other” if the position happens to be included on the VDAB list of bottleneck professions and the candidate has at least a certain minimum level of education/qualification. (Both not being the case for diamond professions) On top of that, the employer must demonstrate that he was unable to find a suitable candidate on the local labor market — with explicit publication of the open job position (at least 9 weeks on VDAB + EURES), attempts via VDAB mediation, etc. In other words: a so-called labor market test is required.

Given that neither diamond polisher nor diamond sorters are (no longer) identified as bottleneck professions by the VDAB and thus not included on their list, it was impossible for diamond companies to apply for foreign labour work permits via this or any other category. The fact that these professions are now added to the Migration list gives employers in the diamond industry a new, legal avenue for foreign labour migration.

A bottleneck profession, also known as a shortage, bottleneck job, or bottleneck occupation, is a job for which there is a high demand and a significant shortage of qualified workers. This means the supply of available candidates is not sufficient to meet employer needs, which can slow down processes or industries that rely on those roles.

The application must include documentation both for the work (e.g. contract, employer data, job details) and for the residence/identity of the worker (passport copy, criminal record extract if required, medical certificate, health insurance, proof of sufficient means of subsistence, etc.).  

The following documents need to be attached to the application for a Single Permit in order for the application for a work permit to be admissible:

• Curriculum vitae (CV) of the foreign employee.
• Detailed job description signed by both parties, listing the daily tasks: this includes the specific tasks and assignments that the future employee will perform.
• Diploma/certificate or proof of experience for the position to be filled, e.g., a social security certificate.
• Qualifications required to perform the medium-skilled shortage occupation. (e.g., certificates from diamond grading courses)
• If available: social security certificate (employment overview).
• If available: certificate from the local social security service proving previous employment and positions held.
• Employment contract with complete work schedule, stating the name and number of the joint committee (“Paritair Comité”), the employee's position, and the corresponding wage classification. The employment contract should also clearly indicate that the employee is employed at least 80% of the time with the Single permit.

Identify which foreign employees you want to bring to Belgium.  

This can either be a diamond sorters (non-EU), or a Diamond polishers (non-EU).  
Not allowed: nannies, cooks, drivers, admin staff, IT, accounts, etc. 

Prepare documents: Collect the required documents (CV, passport, job description, contract, proof of skills, etc. — full list provided under the relevant question below). 

Apply for a Single Permit (work + residence) starting 1 January 2026 
The employer applies for the single permit, not the employee. 
You apply through the Flemish economic migration portal.  

Wait for approval & once approved: 
Flanders grants the work permit. 
Belgium grants the residence permit. 

The employee then applies for a Visa D (abroad), which they do at the Belgian Embassy/Consulate/third-party service before travelling.

After the employee arrives in Belgium, they register at the commune and receive their residence card. 

The actual process is described further in the FAQ. 

The application for a Single Permit (work + residence permit) must be initiated by the employer or the employer’s Belgian representative/agent, as long as the employer is based in Belgium/Flanders. If the employer is abroad, then a Belgian-resident agent (with a formal mandate) can submit on the employer’s behalf. It is thus not the prospective foreign employee himself who needs to file this application; it is the employer who must take the lead in gathering and submitting all required documents.

Only after the employer submits and the authorities approve the application (work + residence), the permit will be issued to the employee — then the employee may proceed with visa applications (pre-arrival) and other residence-registration steps (post arrival).

Yes it does. Starting the 1st of January 2026, diamond companies based in Flanders can submit an application for a Single Permit for a foreign diamond sorter in order to work in Antwerp. The inclusion on the Migration List gives the employer a legal framework and category to support his application for foreign labour.

Yes it does. Starting the 1st of January 2026, diamond companies based in Flanders can submit an application for a Single Permit for a foreign diamond polishers in order to work in Antwerp. The inclusion on the Migration List gives the employer a legal framework and category to support his application for foreign labour.

If you're looking for polishers in Belgium, send an e-mail to Melissa Smet from SBD via melissasmet@sbd.be 

No. Applying for a work or single permit to bring in foreign employees must always happen within the framework of the identified categories (such as the Migration List, the category Other, category cross-border, category seasonal labour,...)

The updated Migration List only includes medium-skilled jobs related for which there is a structural shortage such as diamond sorters or polishers. For any other job whether administrative functions (IT, accountancy, compliance, etc.) or house staff (nannies, cooks, drivers) the Minister’s Migration List does not offer a track towards legal labor migration.  

However, some of the jobs as outlined above could be mentioned within other, already existing labour migration categories such as the pre-defined Category for Au Pairs (nannies) or the Category Other, which is based on the VDAB list of bottleneck professions and currently includes jobs related to cooks, educators, and home cleaners. However, please be aware that to fill in these kinds of positions with foreign workers, an employer will need to prove a negative outcome of the labour market test. Meaning that he did everything to find these employees on the local labour market first. Furthermore, additional requirements and proof of skill may be required by the administration, such as proof of sufficient knowledge of the Dutch language, proof of education in child care, etc.

Yes and no. The answer is not 100% straightforward. An application for a work permit via the Category of the Migration List will roughly follow the same process and timeline as a work permit application via the Category Other. Companies will have to follow the same flow, submit the same type of documentation to the same administration(s), and offer the same guarantees regardless of the category through which they submit the application.  

However, one major difference between the application track of the Migration List and the Category Other is that the latter requires an employer to prove that he did everything in his power to fill the open job position by conducting an extensive search on the local labour market. To this end, the employer must demonstrate that he was unable to find a suitable candidate on the local labor market — with explicit publication of the open job position (at least 9 weeks on VDAB + EURES), attempts via VDAB mediation, etc. In other words, the employer must first prove to the administration that he performed the required labor market test. This is a mandatory step in the procedure via the Category Other, but employers looking to source foreign labour to fill an occupation as listed on the Minister’s Migration List for medium-skilled professions are exempt from such a test. Thanks to this shortcut, companies applying via the Migration List can expect a smoother procedure with a slightly lower administrative burden of proof.

Yes, this is correct. In order for a foreign worker to be employed in Flanders (longer than 90 days), an employer needs to obtain two things for their foreign workforce.  

The first is the permit to work on Flemish soil, the so-called “work permit” issued by the regional, in this case, Flemish administration.  

The second is the permit to reside on Belgian soil, the so-called “residence permit” issued by the federal administrations, namely the Immigration Office (“DVZ”) and/or Belgium’s overseas consulates and embassies.  

Given that foreign workers need to be in the possession of both a work and a residence permit, this procedure was partially simplified administratively in 2019 with the objective to regulate both permits at the same time and is referred to as the “Single Permit” (also known as “the Combined permit” or “Gecombineerde Vergunning” in Dutch)

Yes, in a way it will. The distinction between the Migration List and the Category ‘other’ takes into account the strictness of the selection process and policy: the aim of the Migration List is primarily to allow migration for medium- and highly-skilled shortage occupations, where demand is structural and the threshold for foreign recruitment is low.

The short answer is no. Obtaining a Single Permit in Flanders does not by itself mean a foreign employee can travel to Belgium (or enter the Schengen area) without a valid Schengen visa.  

In order to enter with a Single Permit the employee will need a long-stay visa (Type D) — sometimes also referred to as the “visa D / work with single permit” — in their passport. However, once the employer obtains approval via the Single Permit (work + residence) for their foreign employee in Flanders, the employee must then apply for the visa D at the nearest Belgian embassy/consulate in his/her home country before travelling. Given that the employee at that time has already been granted both the permit to reside (by the federal administration) as well as the permit to work (by the Flemish administration), the issuance of a Schengen D-visa will be a mere formality for the embassy or consulate (provided that all documentation has been submitted on time, correctly, and in full)

To summarize: The Single Permit as applied for by the Employer in Flanders covers and grants the legal right to the foreign employee to work and live in Belgium. But separate from that, the foreign employee still needs a Schengen visa (type D) to enter, if he is travelling from abroad and/or is a non-EU national. Only once your foreign employee has received that visa in his passport, he or she can actually travel to Flanders and start working here.

The updated Migration List has thus already been approved but will only come into effect next month, starting on January 1, 2026. As of this date, Flemish diamond companies will be able to apply for work and single permits for foreign employees who would come here to perform a bottleneck job as described in the updated Migration List.

Yes, that is correct. The fact that diamond professions are now included on the Migration List does not mean that a single permit is no longer required for foreign workers, but it does mean that a single permit (including a work permit) can once again be applied for by Flemish diamond companies looking to employ sorters and polishers. This had not been possible for our sector since the beginning of 2025.  

To summarize: inclusion on the migration list is not in itself a separate “type of permit” or an exemption of single permit — it is a criterion that determines whether the job is eligible for migration under economic migration. However, the legal issuance remains via the Single Permit (work + residence) for foreign employees from outside the EEA/third countries.

The short answer is no, a labour market test is no longer needed when applying for foreign diamond sorters or polishers since they are included on the Migration list and occupations on this list are automatically recognized as bottlenecks and thus exempt from the labour market test.  

Normally, an employer who wishes to employ a foreign worker here via the Category Other must indeed demonstrate that he was unable to find a suitable candidate on the local labor market — with explicit publication of the open job position (at least 9 weeks on VDAB + EURES), attempts via VDAB mediation, etc. In other words: the employer must first proof to the administration that he performed the so-called required labor market test. An intensive procedure of which the conclusion drawn by the employer is not always followed or supported by the administration.  

However, employers looking to source foreign labour to fill in an occupation listed on the Minister’s Migration List for medium-skilled professions are exempt from such a test. Thanks to this shortcut, companies applying via the Migration List can expect a smoother procedure with a slightly lower administrative burden of proof.

No, this is not possible. The inclusion of the bottleneck professions in the diamond sector on the Migration List recognizes the legitimate necessity of Flemish diamond companies to source external employment via economic migration by means of the Single Permit. However, this does not mean that detachment (secondment) to a Flemish diamond company and/or detachment between sister branches of a company registered in Flanders is allowed. The Migration List only offers employees the right to apply for Single Permits for foreign non-EU employees to come work in their Flemish operations as either a diamond sorter or a polisher.

You can apply through this link: https://www.workinginbelgium.be/en/single-permit.html 

Processing times can vary, but based on information provided by the Economic Migration Service, you can expect the following timelines:

• First-time application (work authorisation): approximately 5 weeks
• Renewal (work authorisation): approximately 3 weeks

Once the work authorisation is approved, the file must also be assessed by the Immigration Office (residence authorisation):

• First-time application: approximately 15–16 weeks
• Renewal: approximately 9–10 weeks

In total, a first-time application may take up to 21 weeks. 

To avoid delays, companies are strongly advised to prepare their files thoroughly and submit immediately from 1 January.

For official estimates, please refer to:
https://www.vlaanderen.be/werken/een-buitenlander-in-vlaanderen-tewerkstellen/geschatte-doorlooptijd 

For this category of medium-skilled experts, academic degrees are not required. However, applicants must still demonstrate that they have received some form of relevant training or education. The system is not intended for low-skilled profiles, so the application must be supported with credible evidence of expertise.

This does not have to be a diploma. Certificates, attestations, documented training, or other proof of learning can all help substantiate the applicant’s skills. A CV with only a single line of experience will not be sufficient; a proven track record, such as documented employment in a polishing facility (e.g., via social security records), can effectively support the application.