Belgium - why work abroad?

⇑Why work in this country?

Belgium is a country of 12.0 million people with three regional labour markets. Each region has its own public employment service: VDAB in Flanders, Le Forem in Wallonia and Actiris in Brussels, plus ADG for the German-speaking Community.

Unemployment has gone up slightly – from 5.6% in 2022 to 6.2% in 2025, just above the EU average of 6.0%. Youth unemployment is also higher than in the EU as a whole: 17.4% among people aged 15–24, compared with 15.2%. The employment rate is below the EU average: 72.8% of people aged 20–64 have a job (EU: 76.1%).

As an EU/EEA citizen you do not need a work permit. What matters most is language: Dutch is used in Flanders, French in Wallonia, German in the German-speaking area and both Dutch and French in Brussels.

⇑Where the jobs are

Each region publishes its own list of shortage occupations (knelpuntberoepen / métiers en pénurie):

• Flanders – VDAB’s 10 most persistent shortage occupations in 2026: accountant, construction cost estimator, industrial electromechanic, machining set-up operator, horticulture worker, technician for construction, agricultural and lifting machines, industrial maintenance manager, nurse, truck driver and site manager.
• Wallonia – Le Forem lists 144 shortage occupations for 2026. Construction leads with 38, followed by industrial technology and health and social care (19 each). The hardest jobs to fill are home care aide, pharmacist and roofer; the list also includes bus drivers, nurses, masons and security guards.
• Brussels – Actiris has an overview of occupations that are recruiting (in French).

For the country as a whole, EURES names healthcare, education, construction and IT as shortage sectors, with strong demand for science and engineering technicians and building trades workers. In Flanders, nurses and other healthcare professionals and carers are especially hard to find.

For graduates, the best chances are in technical and engineering jobs, nursing, IT and accounting – and in Brussels it helps a lot to speak both French and Dutch.

⇑How to find a job

Start with the job portal of the region where you want to work:

• VDAB job search – the largest job database in Flanders, with filters for student jobs, part-time work and travel time, and email job alerts (in Dutch),
• Le Forem job offers – thousands of offers published every day, mainly in Wallonia (in French),
• Actiris job offers – full-time and part-time jobs in Brussels, the rest of Belgium and abroad (French, Dutch, English),
• ADG – job offers and application coaching in the German-speaking Community (German, French),
• EURES – the EU job portal, plus EURES advisers who help with moving for work.

Post your CV on online job sites and keep your LinkedIn profile up to date. Unsolicited applications are possible: say clearly what job you are looking for and why you want to work for this particular employer.

For step-by-step advice on job search, CVs and interviews in any EU country, see our How to find a job abroad – 10 practical guides.

⇑CV, application and interview

A Belgian application usually contains:

• a CV – your personal details, the job you want, work experience with achievements and education (most recent first), training, skills and your language levels on the European scale (CEFR); you can use the Europass CV,
• no photo – unless the job requires it or the employer asks for one,
• a cover letter written separately for each application and tailored to the company and the vacancy – it should show your personality and what makes you different from other candidates.

Apply in the language of the region: Dutch in Flanders, French in Wallonia, German in the German-speaking area. In Brussels both Dutch and French are used.

Diplomas: to have a foreign diploma recognised, contact NARIC-Vlaanderen if you want to work in Flanders, or use the equivalence portal of the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles for French-speaking Belgium.

⇑Pay and working conditions

• Minimum wage: the national statutory minimum wage is €2,234 gross a month (July 2026, Eurostat).
• Collective agreements: pay scales (barema’s / barèmes) are agreed for each sector between employers and trade unions and set out in collective agreements (cao / CCT). They fix a minimum and a maximum salary, linked to experience and seniority. The number of your joint committee (paritair comité / commission paritaire) is on your payslip.
• Holidays: a full year of work gives you 20 days of paid leave in a five-day week (24 days in a six-day week). The number of days depends on how much you worked in the previous calendar year.
• Holiday pay (vakantiegeld / pécule de vacances): for blue-collar workers it is 15.38% of the gross wages of the previous year – 8% single and 7.38% double holiday pay.
• Written contract: compulsory for fixed-term contracts, part-time work, student jobs and domestic work. Contracts can also be open-ended, for a specific job, for replacement or temporary.

⇑Student jobs and internships

Students from the EU/EEA can work in Belgium without a work permit.

• Student jobs: with a student contract you can work up to 650 hours per calendar year (since 1 January 2025) with much lower social security contributions. From hour 651 normal contributions apply. You must be at least 16 (or 15 if you have completed the first two years of secondary school), and studying must be your main activity.
• The student contract must be in writing. You can check how many hours you have left with the online service and app Student@work.
• Tax: you pay no income tax on your student job earnings unless you earn more than €15,971.43 a year (2026 figure, gross after social contributions).
• Internships: traineeships that are part of your studies are usually unpaid, although some employers pay for transport or meals. The rules differ between the regions; in Brussels, Actiris offers practical training of up to 6 months.

Students from outside the EU with a student residence permit can work up to 20 hours a week during the academic year, as long as it does not interfere with their studies, and without limit during school holidays.

Thinking of studying there first? See Studying in Belgium – practical information.

⇑Your first weeks: registration, tax and insurance

1. Report your arrival: you are advised to report your presence to the municipality (gemeente / commune) where you live within 10 working days of arriving.
2. Register as an EU worker at the municipality within 3 months of arrival, with your ID and your employment contract or an employer’s declaration (Annex 19bis). You first get a provisional certificate (Annex 8ter); after a police check of your address you are entered in the foreigners’ register and receive an EU residence card. If you do not register in time, you risk a €200 fine. Under federal rules registration is free, but municipalities charge administrative fees – in the City of Brussels €25 for the registration request and €30 for the card.
3. National register number (rijksregisternummer / numéro de registre national): you get it when you are registered. You need it, for example, for your bank account, the employment services and health insurance.
4. Health insurance: join a Belgian health insurance fund (ziekenfonds / mutualité).
5. Tax: if you work in Belgium, you also pay income tax in Belgium.
6. Bank account: to open one you need an ID document issued in Belgium (for example your residence card) and your national register number.

Problems with your rights as an EU worker? Your Europe Advice and SOLVIT help for free.

⇑From outside the EU

If you are not an EU/EEA citizen, you need a residence permit and, for most jobs, permission to work. Work permits are a regional matter – Flanders, for example, introduced new rules on 1 January 2026. The main routes:

• Search year after studies: if you graduated from higher education in Belgium, you can get up to 12 months to look for a job or start a business. During this year you have unrestricted access to the labour market. Apply at least 15 days before your student card (A card) expires.
• Highly skilled workers (Flanders): you need a bachelor’s or master’s degree of at least 3 years, and your salary must be at least the average gross annual salary in Belgium – or 80% of it if you are under 30, a nurse or a teacher.
• EU Blue Card (Flanders): for graduates of at least 3-year higher education programmes with a contract of at least 6 months and a salary of at least 130% of the average gross annual salary in Belgium. The regional page still showed the 2025 amounts when we checked.

Details: Immigration Office – search year and Flanders – employing foreign workers (in Dutch). Brussels and Wallonia have their own procedures.

⇑Sources and useful links

• Eurostat – population on 1 January, unemployment by age, employment rate (data for 2025 and 2026), monthly minimum wages,
• EURES – Living and working conditions: Belgium, labour market information: Belgium,
• VDAB – shortage occupations 2026, job search,
• Le Forem – 144 shortage occupations in 2026, job offers; Wallonia – shortage occupations 2026,
• Actiris – job offers, occupations that are recruiting; ADG – adg.be,
• National Office for Annual Holidays (RJV/ONVA) – number of holiday days, holiday pay,
• vlaanderen.be – working as a student, pay scales, highly skilled workers, EU Blue Card, NARIC-Vlaanderen,
• Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles – diploma equivalence,
• Immigration Office – EU citizens: stay of more than 3 months, search year after studies,
• City of Brussels – registration of an EU employee,
• EU Immigration Portal – students in Belgium,
• Your Europe – working abroad.

Updated: October 2026.