Unlimited Work Permit
Asha MenonCommunity desk
Brussels · Belgium · 28 February 2024 · 2 min read
A single permit ties you to one employer. The A Card Illimité does not — you can change jobs, or go self-employed, without your right to be here depending on the decision. You apply for it yourself, and the qualifying period depends entirely on your region.
At a glance
What it changes
On a single permit, your right to work is attached to a named employer — which is why changing jobs is its own process, and why a redundancy is more frightening than it should be. The A Card Illimité separates the two: you hold the right to work and reside, and where you work becomes your business.
That includes going self-employed, which the single permit does not allow.
Who qualifies, by region
| Region | Legal residence | Employment required |
|---|---|---|
| Brussels | 4 years | 3 years on a single or work permit — and if your family lives here with you, 3 years in total |
| Flanders | 4 years | No specific employment duration |
The Brussels rules are set out on the Brussels Economy and Employment site. Wallonia operates its own scheme — check with the regional authority if you are registered there.
The family clause in Brussels is worth reading twice. Where your family resides with you, the employment requirement is three years in total rather than three years of endorsed permits. For families who arrived together, that can bring the application forward considerably.
The practicalities
- You apply yourself. No employer sponsorship, unlike the single permit — which is the point of it.
- Initially valid for one year, renewed annually on the same rhythm as the single permit it replaces.
- Some cards already carry these rights. B, D and L cards confer unlimited work and residence; if you hold one, you do not need this.
- Open-ended contracts may prompt the commune to issue a one-year residence permit aligned to the card, renewed alongside it.
Regional rules here move
The three regions administer this separately and have each changed their terms in recent years. Anecdotally there are exceptions to the published Brussels requirements — which is a reason to ask the regional authority about your own case rather than to assume you are outside it. Confirm before you conclude you do not qualify.
Meanwhile, on a single permit
If you are not there yet and are thinking about a move, the process for switching employers while still on a single permit is a separate one: see changing jobs on a single permit.
Written in 2024 and general guidance rather than immigration advice. Regional requirements change — confirm the current position with your region’s employment authority, and for a complicated history take professional advice.
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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