Acquisition of Belgian nationality as an adult

From the age of 18, it is possible to obtain Belgian nationality through a nationality declaration. The conditions for obtaining vary depending on your specific situation. Read our blog post for further information or make an appointment at our office.

All possible situations are explained below. In general, it is required that you have already had legal residence in Belgium for five years and that you have an unlimited right of residence at the time of your application. In this case, you can become Belgian if you fall under one of the situations below:

1.      You were born in Belgium

And you have had legal residence in Belgium since birth.

2. You are integrated

And you can provide evidence of (I) knowledge of one of the three national languages, (II) social integration and (III) economic participation.*

3. You are married to a Belgian national

And you can prove that you have lived together with your spouse in Belgium for at least three years. Your spouse must be Belgian only at the time of the declaration, not during the period of cohabitation. In addition, proof of (I) knowledge of one of the three national languages and (II) social integration is required.*

4. You are a parent of a Belgian minor child

And you can submit proof of (I) knowledge of one of the three national languages and of (II) social integration.*

5. You cannot work due to a disability or impairment

And you provide proof that you are unable to engage in economic activity because of your disability or impairment.

6. You have reached the retirement age of 65 years

There is also an exception to the general conditions. This is the case if you have already had legal residence in Belgium for 10 years. Then you can obtain Belgian nationality if you can provide proof of (I) knowledge of one of the three national languages and (II) participation in the life of your host community.*

*If you would like more information on how to obtain these proofs, please make an appointment at our office.

You should submit your complete file with all the above documents to the civil registry of the Municipality where you live. There you will also pay the registration fee (EUR 150.00).

Afterwards, the registrar will check the completeness of your file within 30 days.

• If the file incomplete is you are given a two-month recovery period to complete it.
• If your file does complete is you will receive a receipt and the registrar will forward the file to the Prosecutor's Office of the Court of First Instance, Immigration Department and State Security.

The Prosecutor's Office then issues a binding opinion within four months.

• If the Parquet is resistance the nationality declaration is denied.
• If the Parquet only gives an acknowledgement of receipt or explicitly not resistance against Belgian nationality, the registrar of births, marriages and deaths will register your declaration and notify you accordingly. From the day of registration, you are Belgian.

You have the option of appealing a negative opinion of the Prosecutor's Office within 15 days. The court then issues a reasoned decision on the merits of the negative opinion.

If you do not agree with the decision of the Court of First Instance, you can appeal, again within 15 days. Filing an appeal can be extremely time-consuming and cost a lot of money in the end. Therefore, get assistance and advice from a specialist to avoid unnecessary costs.

If you would like assistance or legal advice in connection with these proceedings, please contact our office to make an appointment. We will be happy to guide you through the entire procedure.