International recruitment means hiring someone who is not already entitled to work where the job is. In Belgium that splits into three routes depending on nationality and on who employs them, and one of those routes runs through four separate regional authorities. We do this across 11 countries, which is how you find out how differently the same hire is treated across a border.
The processing limit the EU set for a complete single permit application. The Belgian procedure has been running to four months.
The transposition deadline for that limit. It passed, and Belgium had not completed it.
Regional authorities issuing work authorisation. Which one applies follows the workplace.
Route and eligibility check
Nationality, duration, and who employs them.
Single permit preparation
Filed by mandate, or prepared for you to file.
Labour market test handling
Publication, timing, and the exemption.
Shortage list screening
The lists differ in every region.
Diploma recognition
A separate track, and often the slower one.
Posting formalities
Limosa, and the social security document.
Arrival and first weeks
Visa, registration, and a start that holds.
One route decision
Nationality, contract duration and who the legal employer is decide which procedure applies. Those three answers take one conversation, and getting them wrong costs a rejected file and a candidate who has taken another job.
Timelines you can plan on
A start date built on the real sequence: authorisation, then visa, then registration, with diploma recognition running alongside where the profession needs it. Not a start date built on the permit alone.
Nothing discovered at the border
The document that turns out to be missing is almost never the permit. It is the visa, the recognition of a qualification, or a posting declaration nobody filed.
Fewer refusals
Most refusals are administrative rather than substantive: an incomplete file, a publication period not respected, a salary threshold missed by a margin. Those are avoidable, and avoiding them is most of the work.
EU national | Non-EU, hired here | Non-EU, posted | Already resident | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Authorisation | None, free movement | Single permit, over 90 days | Depends on the arrangement | Depends on the current title |
| Who files | Nobody, for the work itself | The employer, or a mandated agent | The foreign employer | Employer, on a change |
| Market test | Not applicable | Yes, unless on a shortage list | Usually not | Sometimes, on a change |
| Realistic timeline | Notice period only | Months, not weeks | Weeks, if documented | Fastest of the four |
| Main obstacle | Registration and housing | The visa and the diploma, not the permit | Limosa and social security cover | Whether the title allows this job |
Nationality, duration and who employs them. Three answers and we can tell you.
Eligibility and route
Nationality, duration, employer of record and workplace, which together decide the procedure.
File preparation
Documents assembled, salary thresholds checked, publication run where the market test applies.
Filing and follow-up
Submitted to the competent regional authority, then chased, with diploma recognition run in parallel.
Arrival and start
Visa where the person is abroad, municipal registration on arrival, and a start date built on both rather than on the permit alone. Where the person is posted rather than hired, the declaration and the coverage document come first.
The processing limit the EU set for a complete single permit application. The Belgian procedure has been running to four months.
The transposition deadline for that limit. It passed, and Belgium had not completed it.
Regional authorities issuing work authorisation. Which one applies follows the workplace.
Cloud, DevOps and SRE
Usually on a shortage list, which removes the market test and shortens everything.
Cybersecurity and risk
A domestic pool too small to serve demand, so cross-border is the normal route rather than the exception.
Mechanical and structural
Frequently posted rather than hired, which is a different procedure entirely.
Process and chemical
Regulated in places, so recognition of qualifications becomes the critical path.
Software and application
The largest volume of non-EU hiring, and the most competition from other countries.
Data and analytics
Often recruited from outside Europe, where the diploma track starts earlier than people expect.
Technology and innovation
Where non-EU hiring is routine, and where a delayed permit loses the candidate outright.
Engineering and construction
Posting is common, which shifts the question from permits to declarations and coverage.
Life sciences and pharma
Regulated roles where recognition of qualifications sets the timeline, not the authorisation.
Tell us the nationality, the duration and who will employ them. You get a written view of which procedure applies, what it realistically takes, and where the timeline will actually be lost.
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