Things to Plan Before Moving to Belgium

The decisions that are hardest to undo are the ones you make before you arrive: the visa route, the city, the first three months’ accommodation. Everything else can be fixed from here. This is the short list of what genuinely has to happen while you are still at home.

1. Research past the tourist version

Belgium markets well. What you actually need before committing is duller: what a week’s groceries costs, what you keep of a gross salary, what schools near your likely office have places, and how long the commute really takes in February.

Two useful starting points from this collection: what people are actually paid in IT here, and the first-week checklist, which tells you what the first fortnight will demand of you.

2. Choose a city, then an area

Pick for the commute and the connection, not the postcard. Get the city right first — Brussels, Antwerp, Ghent, Leuven all feel genuinely different — then the commune within it.

3. Visa and immigration

Start earlier than feels necessary. Whether it is a single permit, an EU Blue Card or a dependant visa, the timeline is set by the slowest of several offices, and the region processing your permit — Brussels, Flanders or Wallonia — has its own rules and its own queue.

Have your documents legalised before you leave. Degree certificates, birth and marriage certificates all tend to need an apostille, and getting one from abroad after you have moved is far harder than doing it at home. See the apostille process and contacts.

4. If a pet is coming, start now

This is the longest lead time on the list by a distance: microchip, rabies vaccination, a 30-day wait, a titer test sent abroad, then a further 90 days. Four months minimum, and the steps only count in order. The full sequence is in relocating your pet to Belgium.

5. Book temporary accommodation, not permanent

Book somewhere for the first weeks and no longer. A serviced apartment on a three-month contract is the usual choice because it doubles as the proof of address your commune will ask for.

What to bring, briefly

• Documents — passports, apostilled certificates, your employment contract, vaccination records, and driving licence plus an official translation.
• Money — enough to cover a deposit of two to three months’ rent plus the first month, before your Belgian account exists.
• Medication — a few months’ supply and a prescription in generic terms; brand names differ here.
• Not furniture. Shipping it rarely pays, and the second-hand market plus a few IKEA runs will cost less than the container.