Criteria and conditions

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Certain family members of beneficiaries of international protection enjoy the right to join the beneficiary in Belgium through family reunification.[1] The legal basis for family reunification is Article 10 Aliens Act.

In 2023 9,358 applications for family reunification with a beneficiary of international protection in Belgium were introduced, covering 38% of all visa applications for family reunification and a significant increase compared to the previous years. 5,752 decisions concerning applications for family reunification with a beneficiary of international protection in Belgium were taken, 60% of which were granted and 40% refused. This data was not yet available for the year 2024 at the time of writing (March 2025).

Source: Immigration Office, Activity report 2023.[2]

In 2022, visas for family reunification with beneficiaries of international protection were mostly granted to Palestinian (1,304), Syrian (705), Turkish (297), Afghan (182) and Burundian (172) applicants. The number of Palestinian beneficiaries doubled for the second year running, and by 2022 they represented 40% of this category.[3] No data about this are available for 2023 and 2024.

For many years, several organisations such as UNHCR and the Federal Migration Centre (Myria) have raised the issue of the multiple obstacles that beneficiaries of international protection in Belgium encounter in their attempts to be reunited with their family.[4] The following obstacles are highlighted:

• obstacles encountered in submitting a visa application, including the obligation for family members to present themselves in-person at the Belgian diplomatic post (see below);
• the narrow definition of the family members of a beneficiary of international protection and the long and uncertain procedure for humanitarian visas;
• the ‘grace period’ of one year during which beneficiaries are exempt from fulfilling certain conditions for family reunification being too short to constitute a complete file including all necessary documents in time, and waiting times for an appointment at the competent diplomatic post are long because of an increasing number of applications and lack of personnel at the diplomatic posts;[5]
• the strict conditions for family reunification where the application could not be submitted within one year of recognition or granting of international protection status,
• the complexity of proving family ties and regular recourse to DNA testing;
• the high financial cost of the procedure; [6]
• the lack of legislative framework on several aspects such as incomplete applications, the identity documents that can be considered etc.;
• the lack of information, advise and professional support for the application procedure.

A recurring issue is the lack of support in the family reunification procedure by professional services. Due to the increasing complexity of the procedure and the many disfunctions of the procedure in practice, the success of an application for family reunification with a beneficiary of international protection depends almost entirely on whether the family receives professional support. This is especially the case for reunification with unaccompanied minors. Due to a lack of sufficient organisations and lawyers who can offer this professional support, many families are unable to realise their right to family reunification.[7]

Focus on specific countries

 Afghanistan

In the 2022 report, Myria indicates the specific issues that are encountered by Afghan family members since the take-over of power by the Taliban. Whereas the need for protection of these family members is often high, it has become almost impossible to gather the necessary documents and travel to the Belgian diplomatic post in Islamabad, Pakistan. Myria has published a specific report, highlighting obstacles and formulating recommendations on this topic.[8]

Palestine

• Prioritisation of demands and visa applications from distance

The Immigration Office processes visa applications from Palestinians in Gaza as a priority but not more leniently than usual.[9] Applicants must prove (as best they can) that they meet all the ordinary conditions. Due to the Afrin judgement, family members of beneficiaries of international protection can present their family reunification visa application via e-mail. In addition, the ministry of Foreign Affairs communicated in December 2023 that this also applies to extended family reunification using humanitarian visa. This concerns family members who have no right to official family reunification but are still related in the 1^st degree. In the case of adult children, they need to be younger than 25 years old. In February 2024, the Brussels Court of First Instance forced the Belgian state to accept an application for a humanitarian visa by email.[10] It stated that the requirement for the family members in Gaza to introduce the application in person could lead to a violation of the right to family life enshrined in Article 8 of the ECHR.[11] In July 2024, federal migration centre Myria issued a press release calling for flexibility in the applications and treatment of requests for visa by persons from Gaza. Myria indicated that despite the possibility to apply for visa via e-mail and the prioritisation of visa requests from people from Gaza, many practical issues remain, inter alia related to the requirements to obtain certain documents and the departure from Gaza.[12]

• Evacuation list[13]

The Consulate-General of Belgium in Jerusalem keeps an evacuation list of persons who can be evacuated to Belgium. Requests must be registered on a waiting list and are treated by the crisis centre of the Foreign Affairs Ministry. Partners and minor children of Belgians or of beneficiaries of refugee status in Belgium can register on the list in case they have the right to access the territory on the basis of a residence permit or a valid visa. For adult dependent children, and for parents and minor siblings of an unaccompanied minor recognised as a refugee in Belgium, who have valid visa, the decision to register on the evacuation list is taken on a case-by-case-basis. Certain other persons with a Belgian residence permit or visa can be allowed to register on the evacuation list, but this is rather a favour than a right. However, in August 2024, the Court of First Instance in Brussels obliged the Belgian State to register the spouse of a beneficiary of subsidiary protection in Belgium who had received a visa for family reunification but was not the evacuation list.[14] This was confirmed by the Brussels Court of Appeal in February 2025.[15] Registration on this list does not guarantee an actual evacuation. In practice, the Belgian authorities will communicate the registered evacuees to the Egyptian and Israeli authorities. Only after they have given their agreement, evacuation can take place. The potential evacuees have to present themselves at the Egyptian side of the border with Gaza, after which the Belgian authorities will conduct an evacuation within 72 hours. By 13 March 2025, a total of 104 persons have been evacuated from Gaza, of which 89 in 2023.[16] Myria receives many questions about evacuations, and has dedicated a special section on this topic in their year report on 2023.[17]

Eligible family members

Four categories of persons may join a beneficiary in Belgium:

• A spouse, equalled partner,[18] or registered partner;
• An underage and unmarried child;
• A child of age with a disability;
• A parent of an unaccompanied child with protection status.

To reunite with a spouse or equalled partner, certain conditions must be fulfilled.[19] Both partners have to be over the age of 21, unless the union took place before arrival in Belgium, in which case the minimum age is reduced to 18. The spouse or equalled partner must come and live with the beneficiary in Belgium. Polygamous marriages are excluded, only one of the spouses can join the beneficiary.[20] In practice an investigation to whether the marriage or equalled registered partnership is a marriage of convenience is often carried out. However, this does not suspend the family reunification procedure. If the investigation shows there is a marriage of convenience, the Immigration Office can revoke the right to residence.[21]

The conditions for a registered partner are largely similar but require proof of a ‘stable and lasting’ relationship.[22] Evidence of this can either be a common child, having lived together in Belgium or abroad for at least 1 year before applying or proof that both partners have known each other for at least 2 years and have regular contact by telephone or have met at least 3 times, amounting to a total of at least 45 days, during the 2 years preceding the application. The registered partners also must be unmarried and not be in a lasting relationship with another person. Couples in a long and stable relationship but who are unmarried or did not have their relationship registered, do not qualify for family reunification. This poses inter alia problems for same-sex couples, who are often unable to marry or register their relationship in their country of origin. Consequently, the same-sex partner of a beneficiary of international protection in Belgium often does not qualify for family reunification and needs to apply for a humanitarian visa, which is not a right, but a favour granted by the Belgian government and the procedure for which is very complex.[23]

Underage children wishing to join their parents residing in Belgium as a beneficiary of international protection have to be unmarried and set to live under the same roof as the parents. If a child wishes to join only one of his parents in Belgium, the situation depends on the custody arrangement. In the event of sole custody, a copy of the judgment granting sole custody will have to be provided. If custody is shared, consent of the one parent that the child can join the other parent in Belgium is required.

Children of age with a disability or handicap have the possibility to join their parent(s) with international protection if they provide a document certifying their state of health. In order be considered disabled, the person concerned has to be unable to provide for his/her own needs as a result of the disability. The child also has to be unmarried and come and live with the beneficiary.

If the beneficiary of international protection is an unaccompanied child, the beneficiary’s parents can enter Belgium through the family reunification mechanism.[24] Since the CJEU ruling A and S v Staatssecretaris van Veiligheid en Justitie family reunification is still possible even if the unaccompanied minor turned 18 during the asylum procedure.[25] On the basis of a CJUE ruling of August 2022 (C-279/20), it is established that a similar system should be applicable to children wishing to join their parents residing in Belgium as a beneficiary of international protection: the minority of the child needs to be determined on the moment of the application for international protection of the parent.[26] On the basis of these rulings, the Council of State had ruled in 2022 that an extra period of 12 months after the granting of international protection could be considered as reasonable.[27] However, following a modification to the rules on family reunification in 2024,[28] the law now grants an extra period of only 3 months after international protection has been granted. Several actors have criticised this legislation, since a period of only 3 months will often be too short to gather all necessary documents and take the necessary steps for the application. Upon the initiative of several civil society organisations, an appeal against this new legislation has been introduced at the Belgian Constitutional Court in January 2025. The appeal is currently (March 2025) pending.

To establish family ties, Belgian law foresees a cascade system.[29] Ties are preferably proven by official documents, other valid proof or an interview or supplementary analysis (i.e., a DNA test). If an applicant is unable to produce official documents, the inability must be ‘real and objective’, meaning contrary to the applicants’ own will, such as Belgium not recognising the country concerned, an inability to enter into contact with the authorities or a specific situation in the country of origin such as not functioning authorities or authorities that no longer exist. If this inability is established, the Immigration Office can take other valid proof into account.[30] In the absence of other valid proof, the Belgian authorities may conduct interviews or any other inquiry deemed necessary, such as a DNA test.[31] In practice the Immigration Office makes little use of this cascade system and will often require expensive DNA-testing.[32]

Deadlines and material conditions

Beneficiaries of international protection are exempt from certain conditions such as adequate housing, health insurance and sufficient, stable, and regular means of subsistence. However, if the application for family reunification is submitted more than 1 year after recognition of the status, these conditions will have to be fulfilled. This does not apply to parents of unaccompanied children wishing to join them in Belgium.[33]

In its recommendations of 2022, the Federal Migration Centre (Myria) indicated that the term of 1 year is in many cases too short due to the specific problems faced by the family of beneficiaries of international protection (e.g. unsafe situation in the country of origin which cause difficulties to travel to the diplomatic post or gather necessary documents, loss of contact with family members in the context of armed conflict, etc.). Myria recommends to permanently exempt beneficiaries of international protection from these material conditions, to allow the effective realisation of their right to family reunification.[34]

Family reunification procedure

The normal procedure requires the applicant to apply for family reunification at the Belgian embassy or consulate in the country where the applicant resides. In practice, family members of recognised refugees and subsidiary protection beneficiaries can alternatively submit the application form in any Belgian embassy which is authorised to apply for long-term visa applications. At the Belgian embassy, they have to apply for a D visa for family reunification and provide certain documents to complete the file.

In the Afrin judgement from 18 April 2023[35], the CJEU compelled Belgian authorities to provide alternative methods of submitting applications for family reunification in case of the impossibility of going to a Belgian diplomatic post to submit the visa application. As a consequence of this judgment, applications for family reunification visa can exceptionally be introduced remotely (by e-mail), if it is proven that it is impossible or very difficult for family members to render themselves to the competent diplomatic post. The law has not yet enshrined this possibility, but it is applied in practice and the Immigration Office has added information on this possibility on its website.[36] Applications to follow this exceptional procedure need to be well-motivated in a writing to the diplomatic post, which decides on the applications on a case-by-case-basis. In October 2024, Myria has published a note on the occasion of the 1-year application of this new measure. The note contains information on the practice, relevant case-law and recommendations. Although Myria considers this new practice as an improvement, allowing for family reunification for certain families for who it used to be practically impossible, it identifies several points of attention, such as the lack of legal framework for this kind of applications and the fact that the family members should still, at one point in the procedure, go to the diplomatic post in-person.[37] It also recommends that this remote method of application should become the rule rather than the exception, in order to ensure effective access to the procedure[38] (see Family reunification – Criteria and conditions).

All applicants require a valid travel document (national passport or equivalent), a visa application form (including proof of payment of the handling fee of € 180),[39] a birth certificate, a copy of the beneficiary’s residence permit in Belgium, a copy of the decision granting protection status, a medical certificate no more than 6 months old and an extract from the criminal record.

In addition to these standard documents, a spouse will have to provide a marriage certificate. A registered partner has to provide a certificate of registered partnership and addition proof of the lasting relationship, such as photos, emails, travel tickets, etc. For minor children applying to reunify with a parent a copy of the judgment granting sole custody will have to be provided. If custody is shared, consent of the one parent that the child can join the other parent in Belgium is required. Where the child is only of the spouse/partner a marriage certificate, divorce certificate or registered partnership contract is required.

Children over 18 with a disability have to provide a medical certificate.

All foreign documents have to be legalised by both the foreign authorities that issued them and the Belgian authorities. Documents provided in another language than German, French, Dutch or English will have to be translated by a sworn translator.

After submitting all the certified and translated documents, the file is complete, and the applicant will receive proof of submission of the application (a so-called ‘Annex 15quinquies’). The file then gets sent to the Immigration Office for examination. When the proof of submission is delivered, a 9-month period starts during which the Immigration Office must take a decision on the visa application. This period can be prolonged with a 3-month extension twice in the event of a complex case or when additional inquiries are necessary.

If the Immigration Office decides that all conditions are fulfilled it will issue a positive decision and the family member will receive a D type visa mentioning ‘family reunification’. This visa is valid for maximum 1 year and allows the applicant to travel to Belgium via other Schengen countries or stay in another Schengen country for a maximum total duration of 3 months within a period of 6 months.

In its year report of 2022, Myria has stressed the difficulties people might encounter to travel to Belgium within the validity period of the visa for family reunification (e.g., closed or insecure borders, difficulties in obtaining travel documents…). In the absence of a European or Belgian legal framework determining the consequences of the expiration of the validity period, it is unclear whether the validity period can be prolonged and in which circumstances, or whether a new visa application needs to be lodged. Myria stresses the need of a clear legal framework in this regard, allowing for a flexible approach by the Belgian asylum instances.[40]

[1] More practical information can be found in: Myria, Le regroupement familial des bénéficiaires de protection internationale en Belgique, September 2019, available in French at: https://bit.ly/2TFM9T1.

[2] Immigration Office, Activity report 2023, available in French here.

[3] Myria, Year report migration 2023, Right to family life, available in French at: https://bit.ly/43AmAVk.

[4] Myria, ‘Family reunification, still many obstacles’, 13 September 2024, available in Dutch here and in French here; UNHCR, Réunification familiale, available in French at: https://bit.ly/4crRseG; Myria, Year report migration 2023, Right to family life, available in French at: https://bit.ly/43AmAVk; Myria, Avis : Faciliter et soutenir les demandes de regroupement familial de réfugiés, April 2022, available in Dutch and French at : https://bit.ly/3m97Bk2.

[5] Myria, ‘Family reunification, still many obstacles’, 13 September 2024, available in Dutch here and in French here.

[6] Myria, Year report migration 2023, Right to family life, available in French at: https://bit.ly/43AmAVk.

[7] Myria, ‘Family reunification, still many obstacles’, 13 September 2024, available in Dutch here and in French here; more in detail: Myria, ‘Lack of assisting services while the family reunification procedure is complex’ in Myria, Year report migration 2023 – Right to a family life, available in French here and Dutch here, p. 20.

[8] Myria, ‘Takeover of power by the Taliban in Afghanistan: absence of facilitation measures for applications for visa for family members’, April 2022, available in French and Dutch at: http://bit.ly/3ma0OGM

[9] Agentschap Integratie en Inburgering, ‘Gaza: assistance and evacuation? Legal stay and rights of persons from Palestine territories’ consulted on 25 March 2024, available in Dutch at https://tinyurl.com/2x329r6n.

[10] Francophone Brussels Court of First Instance, 2023/323/C, 2 February 2024, available in French at: https://tinyurl.com/2arxsswu.

[11] For a legal analysis of this judgement see: ‘LC Brussels: Mandatory remote registration application for humanitarian visa for family members in Gaza of recognized refugees’, 21 February 2024, available in Dutch at: https://tinyurl.com/yeh35fjb.

[12] Myria, ‘Gaza: need for flexibility in the applications and treatment of requests for visa’, 26 July 2024, available in French here and in Dutch here.

[13] For more information on the evacuation list, see: AGII, ‘Gaza: assistance and evacuations? Residence and legal position of persons from the Palestinian territories’, available in Dutch here.

[14] Brussels Court of First Instance, Decision n° 2024/50/C of 14 August 2024, available in Dutch here.

[15] Brussels Court of Appeal, Decision n° 2024/KR/60 of 11 February 2025, available in Dutch here.

[16] VRT, ‘Belgian government evacuates 24 Palestinians from Gaza, persons on their way to Brussels’, 13 March 2024, available in Dutch here.

[17] Myria, ‘Evacuation from Gaza and access to Belgium for Palestinians from Gaza’ in Myria Year report 2024 – Access to the territory, available in Dutch here (p. 10) and in French here.

[18] An equalled partner is a partnership registered in certain countries. These countries are Denmark, Germany, Finland, Iceland, Norway, the United Kingdom and Sweden. Article 12, Royal Decree of 17 May 2007 establishing the implementation modalities of the law of 15 September 2006 changing the law of 15 December 1980 on the regarding the entry, residence, settlement and removal of aliens, 31 May 2007, 2007000527, 29535.

[19] Article 10(1)(4) Aliens Act.

[20] Children from a polygamous marriage are not excluded if they meet the general conditions: Constitutional Court, Decision No 95/2008, 26 June 2008.

[21] Articles 11(2) and 12-bis Aliens Act.

[22] Article 10(1)(5) Aliens Act.

[23] On this and other categories of family members who don’t fall within the scope of the ‘family concept’ of the Belgian family reunification procedure: Vluchtelingenwerk Vlaanderen, Family reunification for people on the move: obstacles and recommendations, June 2022, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/3N0EiaN.

[24] Article 10(1)(7) Aliens Act.

[25] CJEU, Case C-550/16, A and S v Staatssecretaris van Veiligheid en Justitie, 12 April 2018.

[26] CJUE, Case C-279/20, Bundesrepublik Deutschland t. XC, 1 August 2022.

[27] Council of State 23 December 22, nr. 255.380. More information available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/3nMsGkK.

[28] Law of 10 March 2024 modifying the Aliens Act concerning the right to family reunification, available in Dutch here and in French here. For an overview of all the changes by this act, see AGII, ‘Several modification family reunification’, available in Dutch here; and Myria, ‘Modifications following the new law on family reunification’, 10 September 2024, available in French here.

[29] Circular of 17 June 2009 containing certain specifics as well as amending and abrogating provisions regarding family reunification, Belgian Official Gazette, 2 July 2009.

[30] Article 12-bis(5) Aliens Act.

[31] Article 12-bis(6) Aliens Act.

[32] UNHCR and Myria, ‘Gezinshereniging van begunstigden van internationale bescherming in België: vaststellingen en aanbevelingen’, June 2018, available in Dutch here, 19.

[33] Constitutional Court, Decision No 95/2008 of 26 June 2008.

[34] Myria, Avis : Faciliter et soutenir les demandes de regroupement familial de réfugiés, April 2022, available in Dutch and French at : https://bit.ly/3m97Bk2 and Myria, Year report migration 2022 – Right to a family life, available in French and Dutch at: https://bit.ly/3MohPI5.

[35] CJUE, 18 avril 2023, Afrin, C-1/23. Available in French at: https://tinyurl.com/2u8mxeuw.

[36] Immigration Office, ‘Visa D application (Family reunification)’, available in English here (last consulted on 3 April 2025).

[37] Myria, ‘Note: One year Afrin in Belgian practice’, 26 October 2024, available in Dutch here and in French here.

[38] Myria, ‘Family reunification, still many obstacles’, 13 September 2024, available in Dutch here and in French here.

[39] See: https://dofi.ibz.be/en/themes/faq/visa-fees.

[40] Myria, Year report migration 2022 – Right to a family life, available in French and Dutch at: https://bit.ly/3MohPI5, 12-18.