Article 8, § 1, 2°, b), of the Belgian Nationality Code grants Belgian nationality to a child born abroad of a Belgian parent, provided that parent files, within a five-year deadline from the birth, a declaration claiming that nationality for the child. Once that five-year deadline has passed, the law in principle offers no way to catch up. Recent case law, and now the Constitutional Court, temper that strictness.

Update of 23 July 2026

Since this article was published on 15 April 2026, two developments have occurred. The bill was passed, and the Court of Justice of the European Union answered the question on which the analysis depended.

The bill was adopted without change. The text voted is identical to the articles adopted in first reading by the committee (DOC 56 1377/005), and the six articles were passed without amendment in second reading (DOC 56 1377/004). The Act of 30 April 2026 amending the Act of 15 December 1980 on access to the territory, residence, establishment and removal of foreign nationals was promulgated and published in the Belgian Official Gazette. None of the Council of State's reservations (Opinion No. 78.486/4 of 15 December 2025) was addressed by any change to the text. The lifetime entry ban therefore enters Belgian law exactly as tabled.

In a judgment of 25 June 2026 (case no. 2025/FQ/16, registry no. 2026/4792), the 43rd chamber (family) of the Brussels Court of Appeal ordered the rectification of a birth certificate for a dual Italian-Portuguese national born in Belgium. The court held that two birth certificates assigning two different names to the same individual were irreconcilable with the universal and unique character of a person's name. The judgment, obtained by Altea, is relevant to any person whose official identity differs from one country to another as a result of conflicting rules on the attribution of names at birth.

In June 2026 the Federal Ombudsman published its Report on the Migration Services, devoted to the handling of visa and residence permit applications by the Immigration Office and the FPS Foreign Affairs (104 pages). The findings are nothing new. The report restates, sometimes word for word, recommendations made for years and left without follow-up. What stands out is the accumulation. The Federal Ombudsman describes a system that has become illegible, slow and, in places, contrary to European Union law, whose first victims are people already in a precarious situation. Throughout, it raises once again the question of residence through work.

The Royal Decree of 7 May 2026 replacing Article 104 of the Royal Decree of 8 October 1981 on access to the territory, residence, establishment and removal of foreign nationals as regards excessive prolongation of studies (Official Gazette, 21 May 2026, p. 27772) entered into force on 31 May 2026 and will apply from the 2026-2027 academic year.

The decree raises credit thresholds, tightens reorientation conditions and caps at two the number of different orientations possible during the first three years of residence.

1. Country Overview

Political context : Belgium's migration and asylum policy underwent a significant shift following the federal and regional elections of June 2024. After seven months of negotiations, a five-party centre-right coalition – known as the "Arizona" coalition (N-VA, MR, Les Engagés, CD&V and Vooruit) – took office on 31 January 2025. Both the Prime Minister, Bart De Wever, and the Minister of Asylum and Migration, Anneleen Van Bossuyt, are members of the Flemish nationalist party N-VA (Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie). The coalition agreement commits to the strictest migration policy in Belgian history.

Our publication of 5 April 2026 analysed a document adopted by the Steering Committee for Human Rights (CDDH) on 20 March 2026 and warned of the risks raised by the draft Chișinău Declaration then in preparation. The declaration having been adopted on 15 May 2026, the time has come to set out its context, content and the criticisms it warrants.

A new law enters into force on 12 June 2026, replacing the entire procedural framework before the Council for Alien Law Litigation (CCE). Some provisions streamline a body of rules that needed updating. Others raise substantive questions under EU law and the European Convention on Human Rights that courts at both the European and Belgian constitutional level will likely be asked to resolve.

Constitutional Court, Judgment No. 51/2026 of 23 April 2026, Article 8, § 1, paragraph 1, 2°, b), of the Belgian Nationality Code

By Judgment No. 51/2026 of 23 April 2026, the Belgian Constitutional Court held that Article 8, § 1, paragraph 1, 2°, b), of the Belgian Nationality Code violates Articles 10, 11 and 22bis of the Constitution insofar as it does not allow the declaration claiming the attribution of Belgian nationality for a child born abroad to be made when the Belgian parent, who was also born abroad, has died within five years of that child's birth without having made such declaration.

In Judgment No. 38/2026 of 2 April 2026, the Belgian Constitutional Court strikes down a restrictive reading of Articles 40ter, § 2, paragraph 2, 1°, and 42, § 1, paragraph 2, of the Law of 15 December 1980. When assessing the means-of-subsistence requirement for family reunification with a "sedentary" Belgian, the Immigration Office had been taking into account only the Belgian sponsor's personal income. The Court holds that this interpretation violates Articles 10 and 11 of the Constitution, read in conjunction with Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.