Registration with the commune is compulsory for stays of more than three months.
1. If you are not an EU national:
Within eight days of your arrival in Belgium, you must begin the process of registering with the municipality, or commune, in which you reside. Report to the commune’s Foreigners Department (Service des Étrangers) with:
- your identification card or passport and visa;
- your accommodation lease;
- one passport-type photo.
In the days that follow the police will visit you at your residence to verify your address. You will then return to the Foreigners Department with documents specified by your commune in order to complete the registration process, for which the commune will charge €18.
When the commune completes the registration process, it sends you a Registered Foreigner Certificate (Certificat d’Inscription au Registre des Étrangers).
2. If you are an EU national:
Within eight days of your arrival in Belgium, you must register with the local government administration of the commune in which you reside, by reporting to its Foreigners Department (Service des Étrangers) with documents specified by the commune, which will charge a fee. In the days that follow the police will visit you at your residence to verify your address.
When the commune completes the registration process, it sends you a Registered Foreigner Certificate (Certificat d’Inscription au Registre des Étrangers).