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Final stage of registering with commune - attestation sons de santé
Hi all,
After waiting more than 2 months, the Police came yesterday to progress my registration with the Brussels commune. However, they handed me a piece of paper with my registration number etc on but at the bottom it says that, to finish the application, I need to take my attestation sons de santé into the Brussels commune office, where they can then issue me with my ID card. This needs to be done within 1 month from yesterday.
I start working at the end of October where I get health insurance as part of my package, however it now seems that I need to have cover in the interim to meet the commune requirements.
Can anyone please advise? What level of cover do I need etc? I'm a British citizen who currently has BUPA private medical cover in the UK, travel insurance etc, as well of course access to the EHIC health insurance card... will any of these meet the requirements, or do I need something more Belgium specific in the interim?
Thanks so much.
You have applied for residential status in Belgium and you have now had the police control to confirm this. Unless your application is refused (because you fail to produce evidence of health cover) you ARE resident in Belgium from the date of the police control and NO LONGER resident in the UK. You are liable to pay Belgian income tax on ALL your income from that date although they will accept (under the double-taxation treaty) that that portion of your income that you earn in the UK (presumably around 20 days' worth) will be taxed there. HMRC will eventually accept that you are resident in Belgium (you can ask the commune for a Certificate of Residence and HMRC will also want your Belgian tax office to confirm that you are actually paying tax in Belgium), but it will probably take months to sort out.
It's actually possible to be resident in 2 EU countries and even pay tax and social security to both Becasse, it is a very individual thing. I've lived it for 8 years and in fact HMRC have never requested I supply proof of my Belgian income, but they are fully aware, likewise I do supply proof of UK income to Belgium, which increases the amount of tax I pay on my Belgian income, but in fact I've never been obliged to supply the proof of income, it's all been done on honesty.
The EHIC card from the UK will only cover emergency treatment in Belgium, if you remain eligible for the EHIC coverage.
The S1 form is handy, for joining a mutuelle here.
Joining a mutuelle, if accepted for complementary insurance at around 10 euro a month for me is a bargain. I claim back more than I contribute.
PS my mutuelle coverage started IMMEDIATELY when I arrived, one of the kids ended up in hospital in the first few days, all was covered. Don't assume you're on a 6 months probation as someone claims.
Why not go into the commune and speak to them? usually they are helpful as they deal with this all day every day. Mutuelle sheer are the norm and private insurance kicks in only once your mutuelle has paid as a kind of top up. Also have you asked your HR department to assist? they may have someone who can explain your situation better than a bunch of strangers in a forum
Thanks all.
I heard back from the company HR team that I will be joining and they just pointed me towards going with a mutuelle such as Euromut, who now seem to have been taken over by or has joined Partenamut (http://www.partenamut.be/).
I suppose the question I need answering now is whether taking out the 9,49 euro cover on this page with them called "Couverture de base" (Remboursement des dépenses de santé de manière rapide et transparente) will be enough to satisfy the requirements of the commune for registration?
I'm not in Brussels this week now, otherwise I'd go to the commune office.
Proof that you are in the process of affiliating to this or another similar mutuelle is exactly what the commune is looking for.
I've just heard back from one Mutuelle who are suggesting that, as I'm still paying UK taxes and paying UK national insurance (essentially social security payments), I'm not allowed to register with a Belgian mutuelle as you can't be part of social security systems in more than one EU country at a time.
Is this really the case? Surely if you offer to pay tax in two countries you must get the opportunity of social security cover in both places?
Slightly worried that I might be in a position now whereby I can't get cover in Belgium as I have cover through taxes paid in the UK, meaning that it's going to halt and potentially restart my commune registration...
In some ways you have brought these problems on yourself by starting the registration process in Belgium BEFORE you have become properly resident here and I am quite surprised that the police didn't identify this as the case when they did the control.
The fact is that Belgium considers you to be provisionally resident in Belgium (and NOT in the UK) since the date of the police control (which established the fact that you ARE provisionally resident in Belgium). Your income tax AND social security payments (which are different from, and much greater than, the tiny mutuelle subscription) became payable in Belgium from that date.
You need to tell Newcastle that you are now resident in Belgium, albeit that you are still working some days in the UK, and that you need a certificate to show that you have been paying NI in the UK up to that date. You then give that certificate to the mutuelle, it will, inter alia, eliminate the six-month stage.
It is simply not true you CANNOT be paying social security in 2 or more EU countries, it's not the norm but not impossible. I do it and I am obliged to do it too and I've done it for 8 years. My mutuelle don't give a monkeys I am also a UK resident and pay national insurance there and tax too. They just care I am resident in Belgium and pay ss here. You can even get income from just another EU country and live here and fill in an empty Belgian tax return and be eligible for a mutuelle here - in this case it is optional not obligatory and for you until you start earning in Belgium it is also optional but desirable. Your HR is wrong. Just go to Partenamut or any of the other mutuelles, they will be far more used to the truth that you can be a mutuelle member and be paying ss in another EU country too.
Form S1 is probably what you'll need. It's what is used by those who work and pay ss in another EU country. The waiting time for a S1 might be a few weeks. I ordered mine 3 months before arriving.
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