Work Toward Greater Mobility and Flexibility

International mobility and Flexibility have become key factors in today’s business climate. However, immigration procedures in Europe are continually changing, while remaining complex and stringent in most countries. Moreover, compliance with local employment and social security rules is strictly controlled, and severe sanctions are imposed for non-compliance.

In order for businesses to employ staff from abroad in Belgium, international recruits are required to follow strict guidelines for migration. At present, employees from abroad must apply for work permits, produce E-documents, hold satisfactory social documentation that can be adapted properly to contracts and payroll requirements, and comply with migration rules. The entire process seems complex and stringent for both the employer and foreign employee, but when compared to the processes in neighboring countries, the Belgian migration rules are not the most difficult to comply with.

The Laga law Firm has the largest immigration practice in Belgium, and the biggest hurdle in our immigration practice is the absence of an elaborate immigration policy on a larger European level. This is further compounded by the shortage of highly skilled professionals in the European labor market. EU member states have entered into a battle for brainpower and are trying to attract as many third country professionals as possible by easing their immigration rules for these professionals over the past few years.

This mêlée for brainpower has resulted in more and more changes, making the ability of immigration professionals attempting to advise clients on EU immigration increasingly difficult. It is for this reason, that Laga organized a European Immigration Survey.

Published on a biannual basis, this survey is the result of co-operation between Laga and its foreign member firms. It aims to provide an objective overview of the immigration processes to be complied with following the employment of third-country highly skilled workers in Belgium, the UK, Germany, Italy, France, the Netherlands, and Spain.

In the first part of the study, a brief overview of the immigration processes in the different countries is provided, and then a comparison of the necessary requirements is given in the second part. The comparison shows that the Belgian migration (work permit) process is by far the fastest and easiest in terms of compliance. Looking at the time it takes to process a work permit application in Belgium (about 2 weeks), and what the conditions are in order to obtain a work permit for a highly skilled employee (earning at least 36.355 EUR gross on a yearly basis in 2009), we can conclude it has become easier for foreign professionals to secure employment in Belgium in comparison to neighboring nations.

Belgian immigration authorities (Ministry of Employment and Ministry of Internal Affairs) are constantly looking for means to facilitate the immigration processes, especially for highly skilled employees of large corporations with European headquarters in Belgium, and for individuals coming from investing countries.

Recent developments, such as the fast-track visa service, the work permit exemption for managers employed with EU headquarters, and the installation of the service for economic migration, have resulted in an easier and faster migration process for foreign expats.

Matthias Lommers, + 32.2.800.70.69, mlommers@laga.be