Expat Essentials

Polya Pencheva: Surviving the Brussels Commune registration

Registering at the municipality (Gemeente) – or as they call it in Brussels, “the commune” – is a
lengthy process. It can be rather tedious. Hopefully, by the end of registering and receiving your documents, you will not be frustrated with the bureaucracy.

This post aims to explain in detail the registration process at the municipality for newcomers to Brussels and what to expect from it.

Since Brussels is such a big city, there are different communes that divide it into smaller districts. Brussels has 19 districts, each with their own administrative center/Gemeente. And just because this is one city doesn’t mean everyone speaks the same language. While the three official languages in Belgium are Flemish, French and German, there are districts where Flemish is dominant, and districts where French is dominant.

So far so good. This, I thought, should make the whole thing faster and more efficient, which is not the whole picture. However, the process of registering at the commune here can be quite an adventure.

Importance of Registration

Now, this process is crucial for every expat and is necessary regardless of which country or city you relocate to. You need this registration to be able to apply for health insurance and sign a legal job contract.

Essentially, this is the most important thing you have to do upon arrival. And I am not exaggerating here.

Process

First things first.

Each commune in Brussels has a website where you have to sign up in order to start the process digitally. This is quite straightforward. You have to upload a scan of your ID, your rental contact and fill in some personal data such as birthday, nationality, contact information and some additional details depending on your commune’s requirements.

All good.

Everything is pretty easy and clear.

Sometime after you do this (in my case it was around two-to-three weeks), you will receive an email to go to the municipality. However, you cannot choose when or what time – they do this automatically for you.

I see it more as being summoned.

For instance, I had to go there at 8:15 in the morning. One convenient thing about this is then you can change the appointment via the email you have received if the time is not convenient. Once you receive an invitation with date and time that is approximately two weeks in the future, you will find instructions about what kind of documents you have to bring with you. Certainly, do not go there without your ID.

You will have to bring two headshot photos on a white background, as well. (This is a bit specific, but they need them for issuing your Belgian ID.) And yes, you have to bring two physical photos – they will not take digital. Then you will have to have a printed version of your work contract and your rental contract.

List of things I was required to bring

  • Identification
  • Headshot on a white background
  • Lease contract
  • Work contract

Once you have gathered all the necessary papers, it is time to go to the commune. Regardless of what time is your appointment is, it is highly likely that you will have to wait. A piece of advice is to block about 90 minutes-to-two-hours for this. I spent about 30 minutes waiting, while the registration with the municipality officer took around 20 minutes. Overall, this would depend both on your waiting time and the communication with the municipality officers.

Now that I mentioned municipality officers – prepare for them to not always be fluent in English. I cannot talk about other communes but where I went, most people speak French. Be patient and hope that you will bump into a person who is willing to help you.

For instance, although the person I had to go to did not really speak English, they understood what I was saying and used Google Translate on their screen to tell me things and make everything clear. This is how they communicated with me that within three months, I have to provide some documents which I did not have at that moment.

Evenings or, you know, whenever ….

As surprising as that may be, even though Brussels is the capital of the European Union, there are things that are a bit outdated such as carrying all these documents physically. At the end of your appointment at the municipality, you will be asked when you want the police to visit you. This is a standard Belgian procedure for the commune to make sure that you live at the registration address.

You can choose between morning, midday, and afternoon.

I chose evening for obvious reasons. During the weekends I would like to go outside and spend some time exploring Brussels and Belgium, while during the weekdays, I am working.

Of course, I assumed that whatever I picked as my time slot would be accommodated. However, the police officer showed up at my door on a Saturday morning at 10. This was not ideal as we were not at home and my partner received an email that we had missed the inspection. What happened is that for some reason I expected them to visit the next day at the same time. My gut feeling did not betray me. The police showed up on Sunday at 10 a.m.

The inspection went smoothly. We only had to show ID documents and the rental contract for our apartment.

The police officer was genuinely nice and even gave us their phone number in case we had any trouble with something or if we needed further information about something.

Still waiting ….

After this inspection, it usually takes approximately three weeks for the commune to process your registration and get back to you with your Belgian ID. The inspection took place four weeks ago and I still have not heard back from the municipality confirming my registration. Considering I arrived in Brussels on 7 May, I still have not completed the municipality registration.

As I write this post, I wonder how much longer it would take because my health insurance and my work contract are automatically tied to the municipality registration. But job hunting in Brussels and health insurance will be the focus of other posts.

There is quite a lot to talk about because the health system here is quite different from the Netherlands, where I lived for the past eight years.

The job market in Brussels is also different because the city is so international. In fact, there are many more English-speaking jobs here than in The Netherlands because the city is so international and there is a high number of English-speaking organizations and companies. But this story is too long to tell now.

To conclude, registering at the municipality is something of utmost importance that is potentially time-consuming. Understanding the process and preparing will give you the chance to navigate the journey with patience and avoid some of the issues I encountered.

–––––––––

Read more about Brussels here in Dispatches’ archives.

See more from Polya here.

Polya Pencheva
+ posts

Polya Plamenova Pencheva is a young Bulgarian journalist based in Brussels, Belgium. Polya holds a Master's degree in journalism from Rijksuniversiteit Groningen and loves writing and telling the untold stories of interesting people. You can find her dining at cute café, shopping at markets, scouting second-hand shops or just chillin' at home with something great to read.

To Top

Subscribe to our newsletter

Receive the latest news and updates from Dispatches Europe. Get lifestyle & culture, startup & tech, jobs and travel news dispatched to your inbox each week.

You have Successfully Subscribed!