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Co-habitation

KarleeJ
May 17, 2013
4
Question

Hello,
Does anyone have any experience with the Cohabitation visa in Belgium? My boyfriend is Belgian and it appears that we meet the qualifications requested (e.g. being together more than 2 years, living together, etc.)

Although I'm sure it's different in each case, do you know about how long the processing time takes (provided that we have all the proper paperwork/documents)? And if this visa would give me an unrestricted work permit for Belgium (or perhaps even in the Schengen area)?

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you!

R

did you live together in Belgium or abroad? In any case keep all bills (plane tickets, hotel bills, letters, photo, utility bills, rental bils or whatever you can think or can help your case).

if you already live in belgium go to your commune to request the list of official documents to be presented to apply for the cohabitation visa. if one of you live abroad you need to check with the local belgian embassy which documents are requested from you and your boyfriend in belgium (like payslips etc).

since he is belgian you do not need a working permit to work in the country but that does not apply outside belgium. if you are abroad and move to this country you might be requested not to go out the border for the first six months until your first residence permit is prepared (even to other schengen countries).

our case took three months to get approved, with one person in the country and one abroad.

consider that the issue might be just a mere salary, so if your boyfriend earns well and can support both the chances might be higher.

May 17, 2013 13:12
KarleeJ

Thank you very much for your answer.

Yes, we lived together for one year in Belgium (however the rental contract was only in my boyfriend's name, as well as all of the utility bills). Not sure if that will pose a problem or not. We have plenty of letters, photographs, plane tickets so we hope that will help our case. We are both currently living in Belgium (however once again we unfortunately don't have a rental contract with both our names on it). Thanks again.

May 17, 2013 15:58
R

i have never lived together with mine before the visa request but all the personal files (plane tickets, photos, mails, hotel bills, etc) were sufficient proof of a valid and continuous relationship.

all the official documents presented were accepted without issues, the only additional request was some more payslips than the three normally required. as mentioned it was just to ensure you were not a burden to the social system.

May 17, 2013 16:05
R

at the time you could follow your case online to know the status. you get a case number and by typing it in the official website you can see if something changes on your application. i do not know if it is still the case as it we applied some years ago

May 17, 2013 16:07