How to find a job in Belgium: Tips and visa requirements

Land your dream job in Belgium with our practical tips! Learn how and where to look and what it takes to get a job as a foreigner.

Angelina

5 minute read

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Updated on 24 Sep 2024

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Working

Whether you’re about to graduate from a Belgian university or are ready for a new step in your career abroad, finding a job in Belgium isn’t easy. But our guide is a good place to start!

We’ll walk you through:

• What it’s like to work in Belgium
• Job market in Belgium for English speakers
• Where to look for jobs in Belgium
• Tips for landing a job in Belgium
• Visa and qualification requirements to start working in Belgium.

Now, let’s land you that job!

About 63% of the people working in Belgium are passionate about their jobs. But is Belgium a good place to work for you?

It’s best you see for yourself!

1. Expect the average salary to be between €47,600 and €52,299 for a 38-hour work week. However, Belgian tax rates are 25-50%, depending on your income.
2. Belgium is known for its work-life balance. At most companies, you can expect overtime pay for working over 39 hours.
3. Full-time employees in Belgium are typically entitled to 4 weeks of paid annual leave and 10 paid public holidays.
4. Full-time Belgian employees will get their regular salary and a ‘double holiday pay’ every June, which is 92% of the monthly gross salary.
5. Working for a Belgian company, you might get benefits such as a company car, work laptop, private school fees, and membership to a gym.
6. Belgian companies prioritise talent acquisition and retention, dedicating resources to their employees’ growth and development.

Realistically speaking, it can take a good couple of months before you land an English-speaking job in Belgium.

About 90% of the job vacancies in Belgium require knowledge of at least one of the official languages.

If you only speak English, you should aim for larger companies and start-ups with an international culture. Focus on cities like Brussels and Antwerp as there’re more English-speaking job opportunities in larger cities.

Tip: To improve your chances of landing a job in Belgium in the future, consider taking a language course.

Popular jobs in Belgium for foreigners

Most foreigners in Belgium work various jobs at international institutions or in service sectors, such as finance, tourism, and education. The most popular positions for English speakers include sales representatives, software engineers and developers.

What jobs are in high demand in Belgium?

To increase your chances of employment, you can look for a job in one of the shortage occupations in Belgium. These bottleneck professions are positions with a critically low number of qualified professionals, which tend to be covered by importing foreign labour.

Luckily, getting a work permit to work in a shortage profession is relatively simple as your employer doesn’t have to do a labour market test.

Shortage occupations in Belgium include:

• medical doctors and health professionals
• ICT professionals
• technical industrial engineers
• hospitality professionals
• construction professionals
• electrical engineers and installers
• teachers
• nurses

See full lists of shortage occupations:

• in Wallonia
• in Flanders
• in Brussels

Brussels’ employment agency Actiris advises pursuing training or studies in areas such as insurance and risk management, schooling, architecture, and logistics to find work in Belgium easier.

Look to the top companies that hire English speakers.

If you’re in Brussels, look for companies like NATO, Avnet, Electrolux, Sopra Banking. Moving to Antwerp? Check our Wunderman Thomspon, suAzio, Mazda, or Janssen. Those in Ghent can look for companies like StoryMe, Volvo, In the Pocket, etc.

If looking at individual company websites is time consuming, look for job boards such as BrusselsJobs — a board for English-speaking jobs in Brussels and beyond. Others you may not know of include:

• StepStone
• Xpatjobs
• EuroBrussels for jobs in the European Union Affairs
• ICTJob
• Creative Skills for jobs in the creative sector

If you don’t mind working remotely, there’re also online jobs for English speakers in Belgium. You only need a valid residence permit or a professional card to work as a freelancer from Belgium.

To find your next project in Belgium, you can consider:

• UpWork for freelance work in IT, design, marketing, accounting, customer service, writing and translation.
• TEFL jobs for if you’re a native English speaker.
• Airbnb Experiences are a fun way to make money while doing what you love.

It’s time to get down to business! Here are some practical tips for finding a job in Belgium as a foreigner:

1. Update your LinkedIn profile. Many companies scout their candidates on LinkedIn, so it’s important your experiences are up to date and you use keywords relevant to your profession.

2. Tailor your CV and motivation letter to each application. Yeah, that’s a lot of work. But it pays off! Make sure you understand the company’s values and include the keywords used in the job vacancy – larger companies use ATS software that pre-selects resumes before they get to a real human.

3. Send speculative applications. If a company you like doesn’t have a vacancy online that matches your profile, you can try your luck and send an open application. It’s a common way of finding work in Belgium and usually, companies appreciate your initiative and interest in them. You can search for companies online on the Belgian Golden Pages.

4. Sign up with Belgian recruitment agencies. Most of the recruitment agencies specialise in a certain sector such as finance or creative professions. Some of the good agencies in Belgium are Adecco, Hudson, Manpower and Michael Page.

5. Register with the public employment agency in your region. They can provide some guidance or a suitable training course, though they might be unhelpful to those not speaking the local language.

These are the regional employment agencies:

• Dutch-speaking Flanders region: VDAB
• Brussels-Capital Region: ACTIRIS
• French-speaking Wallonia: Le FOREM
• German-speaking community: ADG

If you’re in Brussels, you can pop by Cité des Métiers. They provide employment advice and resources free of charge and without an appointment.

6. Follow a training course, do volunteer work or find an internship at a Belgian company to get the necessary qualifications. Be persistent and don’t give up! The right opportunity will come around, trust us.

Qualifications to work in Belgium

Unless you come from a country that signed the Bologna Process you must get your diploma recognised in Belgium.

If you work in a regulated profession, you might need to have your professional qualifications recognised too.

Visa requirements

Are you a national of an EU country? Then you don’t need a visa or work permit to work in Belgium. You’re free to work in employment or freelance.

If you’re from a country outside the EU, then you need to arrange an entrance visa and work permit before you can start working in Belgium. When you plan to work as an employee in Belgium for longer than 90 days, you get a single permit, which is a work and residence permit combined.

To obtain a work permit, your employer usually needs to perform a labour market test to prove there’re no suitable candidates of EU nationality to fill this position. However, certain categories of workers like highly qualified professionals, technological experts, researchers or those whose profession is on the list of shortage occupations don't require a labour market test.

In case you’d like to freelance in Belgium, you must apply for a professional card.

After you land your dream job in Belgium, it’s time to get ready for your move! Whether you're exploring rental homes in Brussels, Antwerp or Ghent start looking for a place to live] early on and follow our relocation checklist so that you don’t forget any important things like joining a health insurance association or opening a bank account.

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