Obtaining long-term resident status in Belgium is possible under certain cumulative conditions: the applicant must be a national of a non-EU country, have stable, sufficient, and regular resources, be covered by health insurance, not be a threat to public order or national security, and provide proof of five years of legal and uninterrupted residence in Belgium.
Regarding this last condition, the Law of December 15, 1980 on Foreigners stipulates that certain periods of residence are not taken into account in the calculation of the five years. Temporary stays (art. 15bis §1, al. 2, 5°) and stays of individuals holding a legal status under the Vienna Conventions of 1961 and 1963 on Diplomatic and Consular Relations, the 1969 New York Convention on Special Missions, and the 1975 Vienna Convention on the Representation of States to International Organizations of Universal Character (art. 15bis §1, al. 2, 6°) are excluded.
Based on this, many administrations too quickly conclude that all holders of a special card are automatically excluded from access to long-term resident status. However, this interpretation is too restrictive, as some holders of special cards hold them under agreements not covered by these conventions.
A ruling by the Council for Alien Law Litigation on March 25, 2024 (case 302873 – unpublished) annulled an exclusion decision by the Office of Foreigners, stating that the reasoning behind the contested decision did not clarify the basis on which the administration had decided not to take the stay under a special card into account for the calculation of the five years. The Council emphasized that the law only applies to individuals benefiting from a status governed by the aforementioned conventions, and no element in the applicant’s file indicated that they held such a status.
This case law confirms that holding a special card is not sufficient for an automatic exclusion from long-term resident status. Each case requires a thorough analysis to assess the individual situation of the applicant.
Céline Verbrouck
Altea Lawyer
Certified specialist in foreigners' law and private international family law