Belgium Self-Employed Visa: The Professional Card

Anyone who is not an EEA or Swiss national and wants to exercise a self-employed activity in Belgium, as a natural person or as the agent of a company or association, needs the card to register with the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises. Exemptions include holders of unlimited residence, recognised refugees, spouses of Belgian or EEA citizens, and short business trips of up to 90 days a year.

The applicant must hold or request the right of residence, meet the regulatory requirements of the activity (for example access-to-profession rules) and show that the project benefits the region's prosperity. A new business must offer goods or services not already abundant and contribute to aspects such as innovation, sustainable job creation, culture or the region's international role.

When joining an existing company, the region also checks the company's accounts and your contribution to it. Flanders and Wallonia apply their own economic-value tests and forms.

The application includes the official form (French or Dutch version for applications abroad), a criminal record extract, a copy of your identity document, two photos and a business plan of at most 20 pages. In Brussels it costs EUR 140 on submission and EUR 90 on issue. The post forwards the file to the competent region; the D visa part also requires the Immigration Office contribution fee, a medical certificate and a criminal record.

Register with your municipality within eight days of arrival. Then, at an enterprise counter, obtain your enterprise number, register with the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises and, depending on the activity, register for VAT and join a social insurance fund for the self-employed.

Apply for renewal at least two months before expiry through an enterprise counter. Brussels checks compliance with regulatory, tax and social obligations and the economic value, including profitability, and asks for tax and VAT clearance, social contribution certificates, two years of tax returns and accounts.

Refusals by the Immigration Office can be challenged before the Council for Alien Law Litigation (CCE/RvV), as a rule within 30 days of notification, by the person concerned or their lawyer. Decisions of the regional employment authority on the work component have their own appeal route stated in the decision. A new application with the missing evidence is also possible.