Things to do during your first week in Belgium
Asha MenonCommunity desk
Brussels · Belgium · 28 July 2024 · 3 min read
Your first week here is not really about settling in. It is about starting a chain of dependencies: the commune needs a lease, the bank needs the commune, the mutuelle needs the bank. Doing them in the wrong order is how a fortnight turns into two months.
At a glance
The dependency chain, in one line. Lease → commune registration → national number → bank account → health insurance and everything else. Each one is asked for by the next. There is no way to run them in parallel, which is why the order matters more than the speed.
1. Somewhere to live
We assume you are in temporary accommodation — a serviced apartment, an Airbnb or a hotel. The job this week is the lease, because the commune will ask for it.
The long version is in our guide to finding a rental home. If you would rather not rush the decision, a serviced apartment on a three-month contract is normally accepted as proof of address and buys you time to search properly.
2. Register with your commune
Anyone staying more than three months must register with their local municipality — the maison communale or gemeentehuis. Officially you report within eight days of arrival.
In practice, go once your lease is signed and in your hand. Turning up without it achieves nothing, and the eight days are applied with more sense than the wording suggests. This is what puts you on the Foreigner Register and starts your residence card.
Expect a visit from the police
After you register, a local officer calls at the address to confirm you actually live there. It is routine and brief, but it is unannounced — and if nobody answers repeatedly, the registration stalls. Tell your neighbours or concierge to expect it, and make sure your name is on the letterbox.
3. Open a bank account
Salary, rent and the deposit account all need one. Most banks want your registration or national number, which is why this comes after the commune rather than before it. Our guide to banking here covers which banks are realistic for a newcomer and what they ask for.
4. Health insurance
Belgian health cover is compulsory and runs through a mutualité / ziekenfonds that you choose and join yourself — it does not happen automatically with a job. See how the mandatory insurance works. Do it early: reimbursement only runs from the point you are affiliated.
5. A local SIM
Needed sooner than you would think, because banks, the commune and delivery drivers all want a Belgian number. Prepaid works from day one; a contract usually wants a bank account. Options and current pricing are in choosing a mobile provider.
6. Public transport
Work out your combination early. STIB/MIVB covers Brussels, De Lijn Flanders, TEC Wallonia, and SNCB/NMBS the trains between them. Annual passes are far cheaper than monthly ones, and many employers reimburse commuting costs in full — ask HR before you buy anything.
If you plan to drive, the licence exchange is its own project: see the step-by-step guide to a Belgian driving licence.
7. Schools, if you have children
Enrolment is the one task here that does not wait politely. Popular schools in Brussels fill up early and some run registration windows months ahead, so start asking in week one even if everything else is still unsettled.
And the thing that actually helps most
Almost every question in this list has been answered by somebody who did it three months ago. The Namaste Community app is where that conversation happens now — which commune is quick, which bank said yes to a newcomer, which school still has places. Written in 2024; procedures at individual communes vary and do change.
From our desk, not official advice
Written by the Namaste Community desk under our standing byline, from the questions this community asks most often — not a single person's own account. Rules change and offices differ — check anything that matters with the people who decide it.
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