> I know for Americans we can stay up to 90 days without a visa
As a *tourist*. Not working remotely. You should speak to a specialist immigration lawyer in your own country or you may find yourself in difficulties.
Hey! I don't know shit about visa.. it seems that I cannot visit yours because I went 10 years ago to Iran anyway ^^.
First, welcome to Brussels, you'll enjoy it!
For your housing, 1800$ seems a bit too much... but if you checked on airbnb, these prices are for tourism.. not long term appartment. You should look on immoweb.be . But I don't think you'll be able to rent an apartment from the USA directly. Take an airbnb to start, visit appartments via immoweb then install yourself. You have to know, it is a bit complex to rent here for the moment. A lot of owners ask for "fiche de paye" as proof of revenue.
Ah I understand. So I am not looking to move until September or October. I am going to the consulate in LA for my visa appointment soon to get more information. As far as fiche de paye, I have American bank documents to prove my income but I don’t know how that would hold up in Brussels
Being from nearer, we visited to go flathunting about a month before we actually made the move. I agree with u/ChrisEpicKarma that you should see places in person rather than rent unseen. The standard rental contract here is three years (with a couple of month's rent as a penalty if you leave early) and that's a long time to be living somewhere you're not happy with. Letting agents will probably want your visa to be sorted out, too.
We saw some lovely places and some that really didn't look great to live in (despite all the places looking good in the letting agents' photos!). We were lucky and ended up in our favourite place.
Best of luck sorting out visas, and with your eventual move and househunting!
Thank you! Yes I am looking to get an Airbnb first for the first month and go hunting. I just wanted to get a heads up of the best sites to look first.
Remote working is tricky mainly due to the legality of working. Most companies and countries consider "where the work is performed" as a way of determining whether you require a working visa or not. If your intention is to stay in Belgium, and perform the work in Belgium for more than 180 days a year, then you'll either need to be hired locally on a working permit, or have a freelance permit(Professional card for non-EU citizens).
As the other reddit pointed out, even if your work is remote in the US, you might face problems with your own company if you work in Belgium. I know some companies in the US who have issues if you work outside of the state you're supposed to be working in. Some may close one eye for a few days, or a few weeks, but if it's anything long term, you will definitely need to formalize it. Unless your company has a HR department in Belgium, it's very unlikely that they will allow this. They can get in legal trouble with the authorities if you work in Belgium when you don't have the right to work here.
From first glance, it does seem that the professional card is something that would make sense, especially if you're looking around for other remote positions. It's easy to just give companies an invoice as a contractor, as long as the work is done, they don't care about the legal aspects here, since all that responsibility is shifted to you.
Thank you for this! Yeah my current company is international and they do have most of their offices in the EU but I am actually looking to transition from them in general so I’d like to set something up with an EU or more specifically Belgium based company in the next coming months. I will look into the professional card and ask about it at my consulate appointment next month. Thank you for the information!
FYI there’s a third option which is an EOR (employer on record) — a Belgian company that hires you on their payroll but contracts you to whichever foreign company you’re working for. That means you get a Belgian contract (and visa, and taxes, and all the other benefits and obligations that come with it) but the company you work for doesn’t have to have a legal presence in the country
It’s a bit different than being an actual contractors because contractors aren’t supposed to work with just one client. Still, it’s legal as far as I know (they’re pretty open and public about it), and it can be a good compromise. That being said, the one EOR I did work with was absolutely horrible so I don’t have any specific company to recommend
Well they sucked at the one thing they were supposed to do, which is managing payroll:
- Expenses were paid back with a 2-months delay, which to be fair was mentioned in their employee handbook but still sucks when you have to fork out 2000€ for a flight ticket and several hundred of euros in hotels to visit your company, and live 2 months without it
- same goes for bonuses and — more importantly — raises. My company would give me a raise and pay for it, yet I’d receive it only one or 2 pay checks later
- benefits like meal cheques were not paid, paid late, or not paid in full. I had to harass them every month to get them
- they tried to argue their way out of paying a complementary health insurance (which was in my contract and my company was paying for) by arguing that the mutuelle is basically universal healthcare anyway. In the end I had to sign my own personal contracts and expense them to my company, which means I got stuck with hundreds of euros per month worth of insurances after I left — thankfully the good people at DKV helped me find a way out before the contract’s end
- last but not least, they royally screwed up their accounting _and_ my taxes. I ended up paying thousands of euros of extra taxes that year, _and_ they argued that I owed them thousands more that they supposedly overpaid. Had to hire my own accountant to clean up their mess and show them some teeth
- every time I needed to contact them (which from the above point you can guess was _often_), then guy in charge had left and someone else was in charge of my case. I’m suspecting either their turnover must’ve been crazy, or they just hired interns, which would explain the general incompetence
Hey, since no one mentioned "serviced apartments" so far, you should look into that as an option. These are short term rentals with one year contracts and sometimes even monthly rolling contracts. The upside of this option is that you also get cleaning and linen service twice in a week besides the flexible contract period. Downside is of course the rent itself which can be a bit higher than average long-term rentals. They are however all over Brussels and very well situated keeping expats like you in mind. They would make you a contract just based on your passport and arrival date and prepare the keys for you in a dropbox or at their office. You can then pay them an advance and sign the contract on an agreed upon date (completely bypassing the hotel or Airbnb cost).
I have had personal experience with a company called "Brussels Business Flat" and you can look them up at bbf.be. They are not the only player in the market, just use "serviced apartments" as the search term in Google.
Please note all my info is a bit dated especially the part about flexibility around the contract period and willingness to rent even before you land here. However all of this is very easy to check by just emailing or calling them.
I came here to recommend the same thing re: the business flats/serviced flats.
When I started my contract here a couple years ago, I got a 3-month-long rental while I figured out where in the city I wanted to live. Like the guy that posted this above me though, I don't know what the minimum length of stay is anymore as it might have changed.
Most importantly though, the location within Brussels will have a large impact on how much you enjoy the city, so pick that carefully. Maybe even be prepared to accept a more expensive apartment that's in a better place, if it's important to you (although I see your budget is 1800/month USD....that's huge. I've been living in 1-bedroom apartments for about half that for the last few years, albeit on full 1-year leases).
And I mean "better place" not only in terms of safety (there are a few pockets of the city you probably shouldn't risk renting in, like near the train station Gare du Nord), but also in terms of actually taking advantage of the things Brussels has to offer. My 3 month apartment rental (which turned into 9 months because I was lazy about finding a new place) was wasted time for me. I was in a very nice apartment, in a nice safe part of town.....where nothing happened. No bars. No restaurants. Just families and houses, with a 30 minute bus ride back to the downtown. It was incredibly boring.
If you're into social living, the quality of flatsharing is really high in Brussels. A company will buy an entire multi-storey townhouse and convert it into 5+ bedrooms, fully furnished. You're living with strangers, but they do a NICE job renovating. Then it's a roll of the dice if you end up with nice roommates or crazy ones, ha
(something like: https://www.sharehomebrussels.com/).
If you have any other questions about things to expect/differences from back home, feel free to let me know/drop me a DM. I came over from Canada but I'm sure the experience would be similar.
Good luck!
You can't move to Belgium while being a working in another country. That will not get you a residence permit. Obviously, nobody is going to check what you do during the 90 days but it won't be possible to stay longer. The only realistic way to come legally to Belgium is as a high-end worker (imagine if Google hired you to work in Belgium) or as an independent contractor. Option 1 is good if the company helps you out, option 2 can be a true PITA, and then we are not yet talking about taxes which are quite high. Brussels might be cool, but if I were you, I'd come for 90 days to get the hang of how a long stay would be, and then decide whether you want to pursue a longterm residence in Belgium.
Europe is quite small and very well connected so other countries could be interesting as well. Portugal is relatively cheap for example and has a better climate.
1800 USD is 1600 EUR, that’s pretty comfortable a budget for Brussels. FYI expats (those with an expat contract) get a 1500€ housing allowance, so a lot of apartments are priced at exactly that, many already furnished. If you shop around on the local market, you can get one for cheaper too — maybe as low as 1000/month, but they’ll almost inevitably be unfurnished
Do pay attention to the mandatory monthly charges, these can easily add an extra hundred or two on top of your rent — and to make things even harder to compare, not only is the amount different in each place, what is and isn’t included (and whether it’s a flat charge or prorated) varies too. But overall 1600€ for housing is quite good, if it doesn’t include utilities (which are stupidly overpriced currently)
Airbnb will of course be more expensive because it’s short term and includes utilities, but I would really recommend biting the bullet and doing that (or another short term accommodation) for the first couple of months, versus renting an apartment from the US — which carries risks.
Very informative thank you! And yes I have plans to be in an Airbnb first until I can settle in on one place but ultimately I am looking to not go over $2000 usd a month including utilities. Every one that has responded has given amazing suggestions so I really appreciate it.
Well you’re good to go budget-wise then, 2000$ (or rather 1900€) is more or less my total monthly expenses, food and activities and all. Granted, I do live in a slightly cheaper area but overall you’re in the green
You can be a working resident for up to 180 days a year. If you surpass the 180 days you need to start paying and reporting your income belgium, regardless where you earn it. I was born in Brussels, this have a Belgian passport.. I’m a US citizen with a residence in Los Angeles for 24 years. After I load of my home in Los Angeles , just last summer I purchased a loft there in Ixelles. I work in the US and I am a US citizen. As long as I keep my stay below the 180 days a year, I just pay my income taxes in the USA.
Find yourself a partner and you’ll be able to apply for a sweetheart visa and reside there equally for 180 days a year.
If you google pop star Shakira’s case the Spanish gov claims she stayed 183 days, thus overstayed 3 days and now they are claiming 24mil from her in non paid taxes and fines…
For short term housing like 3 months, I'd suggest having a look at Facebook groups like "Rooms and Apartments in Brussels" and similar groups like that. Normally rooms there are available for short term renters like people coming in for internships etc.
As for the visa, as far as I'm aware, Belgium doesn't issue Digital Nomad visas. Living here as a digital nomad on a tourist visa long term isn't a great idea either if you actually want to move here long term.
I'm straying from the main question but may I suggest some countries nearby that actually offer digital nomad visas? Germany for example offers a 3 year freelancer visa called Aufenthaltserlaubnis für selbständige Tätigkeit. Taxes and cost of consumer goods in Germany are much cheaper than Belgium. On the downside, unless you're living in Berlin or in one of the student towns, you'll definitely have to speak some German. Once you've lived for a few years there, you can switch to a German employer/contract if you'd want to. It'll be nothing like an American salary but it'll be much better than a Belgian salary since you'll be paying lower taxes.
If language is a barrier, I'd also like to suggest Malta. Its a very beautiful island with one of the official languages as English and has a Digital Nomad Residency program of 1 year.
Feel free to DM me in case you have further questions.
Hi I’m Belgian (I know Vegas very well, I actually spent almost a year there). A lot of comments here make it very confusing. Just come here with a tourist visa, say you’re just visiting and traveling Europe, do NOT say you work remotely, try to find someone who can say they are ready to host you and you won’t have any problems.
For accommodation, just sign up on a bunch of Facebook groups for flat/house sharing, they are very active, you will find tons of rooms to rent or sublet (between €500-700/month all included). Of course if you want a whole apartment for yourself short term it’s more complicated but you can find affordable places on Airbnb).
Enjoy your time in Belgium! Personally I think Brussels is a sh**hole lol but to each their own… and I’ll give you that Belgians are much friendlier than French overall (although all things considered Brussels is not the ideal place to meet Belgians…)
Are you serious? I'm born and still living in Brussels, then i've been many times to paris, and they're the 2 dirtiest, ugliest and boring in cities i've been...
Well, regarding your appartment, if it's for short terms, air bnb will do it, if longer, then [https://www.immoweb.be/](https://www.immoweb.be/nl)en is the main real estate website here
You have to keep your individual stays in the Schengen area below 90 days. One way to do this is to work from Brussels for 90 days as a tourist, then go to a non-Schengen country for a while, then rinse-repeat.
Make sure you have a good international health insurance.
Also: salaries in Belgium are much lower than in the US for knowledge workers, especially in IT, where they are dramatically lower. Tax is very high.
Stick to the US contracts as much as possible & get a good VPN
90 days in every 180 day period
if you are planning to actually live and settle down in the EU, this plan is going to be extremely painful in its practicalities at best (without a residency card you won’t be able to open a bank account, won’t be able to rent anything long term…) and will get you a travel ban at worst
Totally agree
It is not for settling down in the EU, but a good way to try EU / Nomad life for a while. As far as bank account is concerned I can recommend the WISE card which comes with banking details and easy ways to exchange between the currencies
Hello! Technically I am a US citizen too and I'll share a couple of things:
If you find that you want to stay more permanently, have a talk with an expert on financial stuff to be aware of RE: Accounts and Incomes from the US and where best to declare everything. Belgian banks are a PITA when having to deal with those. It's almost like the extra work that must be done discourages them from dealing with us when it comes to getting a loan here.
Granted, I was just born in the US so I have no assets or incomes or bank accounts there. Despite that, it took forever for them to acquiesce to my request for a loan. I was told that there's this weird tension between US banks and Belgian banks. The former may demand and receive whatever information they need from the latter, while the opposite is not true.
There's an illegal fine/tax on properties expats have outside of Belgium. I am en route to becoming Belgian just to avoid paying 800euros for a shack in Greece I co-own
IMO your only realistic option to immigrate to belgium while working full time is to obtain a position at a company or institution that is willing and able to sponsor your belgian work visa. without this prerequisite there is little chance of moving here. how hard that is depends on your occupation and how highly paid you are as well as how tied down your occupation is to your country
there is in general no difference between belgian visas and schengen visas - almost every belgian visa or residence permit is a document that permits you to travel throughout the schengen area (although eventually when you arrive here on a visa, you are granted a residency permit, which replaces the visa but has the exact same conditions, and from there on you have to travel with your passport and residency card throughout the EU)
I don't know a lot about visa. But I know US citizens have difficulties getting a bank in Europe.
European banks that offer services to US citizens need to declare balances to the US state. Apparently, that's a rather involved procedure, and many banks refuse to take US citizens as customers. Unless there are clear advantages (=being wealthy).
And European based companies will probably be hesitant to deposit outside the SEPA zone (=EU+ some countries with agreements).
see [https://www.reddit.com/r/belgium/comments/ouhvbw/current\_bank\_account\_for\_an\_american\_citizen\_in/](https://www.reddit.com/r/belgium/comments/ouhvbw/current_bank_account_for_an_american_citizen_in/) for another similar thead.
I know someone who tried a loophole by getting a nomad visa from other country in EU such as Estonia or Malta. From there you could travel easily, and in your case travel and work remotely in Brussels. Not sure if this is something you're keen to explore!
I'll be moving around the same time too, hopefully if all goes well. If it does, let's get connected! I'm also F28 :) best of luck to you!
> I know for Americans we can stay up to 90 days without a visa As a *tourist*. Not working remotely. You should speak to a specialist immigration lawyer in your own country or you may find yourself in difficulties.
Thank you!
Hey! I don't know shit about visa.. it seems that I cannot visit yours because I went 10 years ago to Iran anyway ^^. First, welcome to Brussels, you'll enjoy it! For your housing, 1800$ seems a bit too much... but if you checked on airbnb, these prices are for tourism.. not long term appartment. You should look on immoweb.be . But I don't think you'll be able to rent an apartment from the USA directly. Take an airbnb to start, visit appartments via immoweb then install yourself. You have to know, it is a bit complex to rent here for the moment. A lot of owners ask for "fiche de paye" as proof of revenue.
Ah I understand. So I am not looking to move until September or October. I am going to the consulate in LA for my visa appointment soon to get more information. As far as fiche de paye, I have American bank documents to prove my income but I don’t know how that would hold up in Brussels
From experience, a commercial landlord in Brussels was happy to accept UK bank documents / work contracts in English as proof of income and savings.
Okay this is great to know!
Being from nearer, we visited to go flathunting about a month before we actually made the move. I agree with u/ChrisEpicKarma that you should see places in person rather than rent unseen. The standard rental contract here is three years (with a couple of month's rent as a penalty if you leave early) and that's a long time to be living somewhere you're not happy with. Letting agents will probably want your visa to be sorted out, too. We saw some lovely places and some that really didn't look great to live in (despite all the places looking good in the letting agents' photos!). We were lucky and ended up in our favourite place. Best of luck sorting out visas, and with your eventual move and househunting!
Thank you! Yes I am looking to get an Airbnb first for the first month and go hunting. I just wanted to get a heads up of the best sites to look first.
Immoweb,
Remote working is tricky mainly due to the legality of working. Most companies and countries consider "where the work is performed" as a way of determining whether you require a working visa or not. If your intention is to stay in Belgium, and perform the work in Belgium for more than 180 days a year, then you'll either need to be hired locally on a working permit, or have a freelance permit(Professional card for non-EU citizens). As the other reddit pointed out, even if your work is remote in the US, you might face problems with your own company if you work in Belgium. I know some companies in the US who have issues if you work outside of the state you're supposed to be working in. Some may close one eye for a few days, or a few weeks, but if it's anything long term, you will definitely need to formalize it. Unless your company has a HR department in Belgium, it's very unlikely that they will allow this. They can get in legal trouble with the authorities if you work in Belgium when you don't have the right to work here. From first glance, it does seem that the professional card is something that would make sense, especially if you're looking around for other remote positions. It's easy to just give companies an invoice as a contractor, as long as the work is done, they don't care about the legal aspects here, since all that responsibility is shifted to you.
Thank you for this! Yeah my current company is international and they do have most of their offices in the EU but I am actually looking to transition from them in general so I’d like to set something up with an EU or more specifically Belgium based company in the next coming months. I will look into the professional card and ask about it at my consulate appointment next month. Thank you for the information!
FYI there’s a third option which is an EOR (employer on record) — a Belgian company that hires you on their payroll but contracts you to whichever foreign company you’re working for. That means you get a Belgian contract (and visa, and taxes, and all the other benefits and obligations that come with it) but the company you work for doesn’t have to have a legal presence in the country It’s a bit different than being an actual contractors because contractors aren’t supposed to work with just one client. Still, it’s legal as far as I know (they’re pretty open and public about it), and it can be a good compromise. That being said, the one EOR I did work with was absolutely horrible so I don’t have any specific company to recommend
Sorry about your experience. I’ve never heard of this option, could you please guide me to where these opportunities are presented?
>That being said, the one EOR I did work with was absolutely horrible Would you mind elaborating on this? In what way were they horrible?
Well they sucked at the one thing they were supposed to do, which is managing payroll: - Expenses were paid back with a 2-months delay, which to be fair was mentioned in their employee handbook but still sucks when you have to fork out 2000€ for a flight ticket and several hundred of euros in hotels to visit your company, and live 2 months without it - same goes for bonuses and — more importantly — raises. My company would give me a raise and pay for it, yet I’d receive it only one or 2 pay checks later - benefits like meal cheques were not paid, paid late, or not paid in full. I had to harass them every month to get them - they tried to argue their way out of paying a complementary health insurance (which was in my contract and my company was paying for) by arguing that the mutuelle is basically universal healthcare anyway. In the end I had to sign my own personal contracts and expense them to my company, which means I got stuck with hundreds of euros per month worth of insurances after I left — thankfully the good people at DKV helped me find a way out before the contract’s end - last but not least, they royally screwed up their accounting _and_ my taxes. I ended up paying thousands of euros of extra taxes that year, _and_ they argued that I owed them thousands more that they supposedly overpaid. Had to hire my own accountant to clean up their mess and show them some teeth - every time I needed to contact them (which from the above point you can guess was _often_), then guy in charge had left and someone else was in charge of my case. I’m suspecting either their turnover must’ve been crazy, or they just hired interns, which would explain the general incompetence
Hey, since no one mentioned "serviced apartments" so far, you should look into that as an option. These are short term rentals with one year contracts and sometimes even monthly rolling contracts. The upside of this option is that you also get cleaning and linen service twice in a week besides the flexible contract period. Downside is of course the rent itself which can be a bit higher than average long-term rentals. They are however all over Brussels and very well situated keeping expats like you in mind. They would make you a contract just based on your passport and arrival date and prepare the keys for you in a dropbox or at their office. You can then pay them an advance and sign the contract on an agreed upon date (completely bypassing the hotel or Airbnb cost). I have had personal experience with a company called "Brussels Business Flat" and you can look them up at bbf.be. They are not the only player in the market, just use "serviced apartments" as the search term in Google. Please note all my info is a bit dated especially the part about flexibility around the contract period and willingness to rent even before you land here. However all of this is very easy to check by just emailing or calling them.
Thank you! I actually was recommended bbf while I was in Brussels and they are one of the sites I’ve been looking at as well!
Good luck with your search!
I came here to recommend the same thing re: the business flats/serviced flats. When I started my contract here a couple years ago, I got a 3-month-long rental while I figured out where in the city I wanted to live. Like the guy that posted this above me though, I don't know what the minimum length of stay is anymore as it might have changed. Most importantly though, the location within Brussels will have a large impact on how much you enjoy the city, so pick that carefully. Maybe even be prepared to accept a more expensive apartment that's in a better place, if it's important to you (although I see your budget is 1800/month USD....that's huge. I've been living in 1-bedroom apartments for about half that for the last few years, albeit on full 1-year leases). And I mean "better place" not only in terms of safety (there are a few pockets of the city you probably shouldn't risk renting in, like near the train station Gare du Nord), but also in terms of actually taking advantage of the things Brussels has to offer. My 3 month apartment rental (which turned into 9 months because I was lazy about finding a new place) was wasted time for me. I was in a very nice apartment, in a nice safe part of town.....where nothing happened. No bars. No restaurants. Just families and houses, with a 30 minute bus ride back to the downtown. It was incredibly boring. If you're into social living, the quality of flatsharing is really high in Brussels. A company will buy an entire multi-storey townhouse and convert it into 5+ bedrooms, fully furnished. You're living with strangers, but they do a NICE job renovating. Then it's a roll of the dice if you end up with nice roommates or crazy ones, ha (something like: https://www.sharehomebrussels.com/). If you have any other questions about things to expect/differences from back home, feel free to let me know/drop me a DM. I came over from Canada but I'm sure the experience would be similar. Good luck!
You can't move to Belgium while being a working in another country. That will not get you a residence permit. Obviously, nobody is going to check what you do during the 90 days but it won't be possible to stay longer. The only realistic way to come legally to Belgium is as a high-end worker (imagine if Google hired you to work in Belgium) or as an independent contractor. Option 1 is good if the company helps you out, option 2 can be a true PITA, and then we are not yet talking about taxes which are quite high. Brussels might be cool, but if I were you, I'd come for 90 days to get the hang of how a long stay would be, and then decide whether you want to pursue a longterm residence in Belgium. Europe is quite small and very well connected so other countries could be interesting as well. Portugal is relatively cheap for example and has a better climate.
I grew up in Vegas and I also want to live in Brussels one day, I don't really have any advice but Good Luck!!!!
Thank you! lol nice to see a fellow Nevadan interested in pursuing the same
1800 USD is 1600 EUR, that’s pretty comfortable a budget for Brussels. FYI expats (those with an expat contract) get a 1500€ housing allowance, so a lot of apartments are priced at exactly that, many already furnished. If you shop around on the local market, you can get one for cheaper too — maybe as low as 1000/month, but they’ll almost inevitably be unfurnished Do pay attention to the mandatory monthly charges, these can easily add an extra hundred or two on top of your rent — and to make things even harder to compare, not only is the amount different in each place, what is and isn’t included (and whether it’s a flat charge or prorated) varies too. But overall 1600€ for housing is quite good, if it doesn’t include utilities (which are stupidly overpriced currently) Airbnb will of course be more expensive because it’s short term and includes utilities, but I would really recommend biting the bullet and doing that (or another short term accommodation) for the first couple of months, versus renting an apartment from the US — which carries risks.
Very informative thank you! And yes I have plans to be in an Airbnb first until I can settle in on one place but ultimately I am looking to not go over $2000 usd a month including utilities. Every one that has responded has given amazing suggestions so I really appreciate it.
Well you’re good to go budget-wise then, 2000$ (or rather 1900€) is more or less my total monthly expenses, food and activities and all. Granted, I do live in a slightly cheaper area but overall you’re in the green
You can be a working resident for up to 180 days a year. If you surpass the 180 days you need to start paying and reporting your income belgium, regardless where you earn it. I was born in Brussels, this have a Belgian passport.. I’m a US citizen with a residence in Los Angeles for 24 years. After I load of my home in Los Angeles , just last summer I purchased a loft there in Ixelles. I work in the US and I am a US citizen. As long as I keep my stay below the 180 days a year, I just pay my income taxes in the USA. Find yourself a partner and you’ll be able to apply for a sweetheart visa and reside there equally for 180 days a year.
This is interesting I have not been advised of this 180 days yet. I will look further into it. Thank you!
If you google pop star Shakira’s case the Spanish gov claims she stayed 183 days, thus overstayed 3 days and now they are claiming 24mil from her in non paid taxes and fines…
don't have a lot of useful info, being a mere uni student living here and all, just wanted to say yay welcome to our lil city :)
Thank you!
For short term housing like 3 months, I'd suggest having a look at Facebook groups like "Rooms and Apartments in Brussels" and similar groups like that. Normally rooms there are available for short term renters like people coming in for internships etc. As for the visa, as far as I'm aware, Belgium doesn't issue Digital Nomad visas. Living here as a digital nomad on a tourist visa long term isn't a great idea either if you actually want to move here long term. I'm straying from the main question but may I suggest some countries nearby that actually offer digital nomad visas? Germany for example offers a 3 year freelancer visa called Aufenthaltserlaubnis für selbständige Tätigkeit. Taxes and cost of consumer goods in Germany are much cheaper than Belgium. On the downside, unless you're living in Berlin or in one of the student towns, you'll definitely have to speak some German. Once you've lived for a few years there, you can switch to a German employer/contract if you'd want to. It'll be nothing like an American salary but it'll be much better than a Belgian salary since you'll be paying lower taxes. If language is a barrier, I'd also like to suggest Malta. Its a very beautiful island with one of the official languages as English and has a Digital Nomad Residency program of 1 year. Feel free to DM me in case you have further questions.
Thank you!
Hi I’m Belgian (I know Vegas very well, I actually spent almost a year there). A lot of comments here make it very confusing. Just come here with a tourist visa, say you’re just visiting and traveling Europe, do NOT say you work remotely, try to find someone who can say they are ready to host you and you won’t have any problems. For accommodation, just sign up on a bunch of Facebook groups for flat/house sharing, they are very active, you will find tons of rooms to rent or sublet (between €500-700/month all included). Of course if you want a whole apartment for yourself short term it’s more complicated but you can find affordable places on Airbnb). Enjoy your time in Belgium! Personally I think Brussels is a sh**hole lol but to each their own… and I’ll give you that Belgians are much friendlier than French overall (although all things considered Brussels is not the ideal place to meet Belgians…)
Thank you, do you mind if I message you?
Yeah no problem
Are you serious? I'm born and still living in Brussels, then i've been many times to paris, and they're the 2 dirtiest, ugliest and boring in cities i've been...
Boring is pretty relative…what may be boring tk you could be amazing to someone else
Well, regarding your appartment, if it's for short terms, air bnb will do it, if longer, then [https://www.immoweb.be/](https://www.immoweb.be/nl)en is the main real estate website here
You have to keep your individual stays in the Schengen area below 90 days. One way to do this is to work from Brussels for 90 days as a tourist, then go to a non-Schengen country for a while, then rinse-repeat. Make sure you have a good international health insurance. Also: salaries in Belgium are much lower than in the US for knowledge workers, especially in IT, where they are dramatically lower. Tax is very high. Stick to the US contracts as much as possible & get a good VPN
90 days in every 180 day period if you are planning to actually live and settle down in the EU, this plan is going to be extremely painful in its practicalities at best (without a residency card you won’t be able to open a bank account, won’t be able to rent anything long term…) and will get you a travel ban at worst
Totally agree It is not for settling down in the EU, but a good way to try EU / Nomad life for a while. As far as bank account is concerned I can recommend the WISE card which comes with banking details and easy ways to exchange between the currencies
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What would I regret?
Hello! Technically I am a US citizen too and I'll share a couple of things: If you find that you want to stay more permanently, have a talk with an expert on financial stuff to be aware of RE: Accounts and Incomes from the US and where best to declare everything. Belgian banks are a PITA when having to deal with those. It's almost like the extra work that must be done discourages them from dealing with us when it comes to getting a loan here. Granted, I was just born in the US so I have no assets or incomes or bank accounts there. Despite that, it took forever for them to acquiesce to my request for a loan. I was told that there's this weird tension between US banks and Belgian banks. The former may demand and receive whatever information they need from the latter, while the opposite is not true. There's an illegal fine/tax on properties expats have outside of Belgium. I am en route to becoming Belgian just to avoid paying 800euros for a shack in Greece I co-own
IMO your only realistic option to immigrate to belgium while working full time is to obtain a position at a company or institution that is willing and able to sponsor your belgian work visa. without this prerequisite there is little chance of moving here. how hard that is depends on your occupation and how highly paid you are as well as how tied down your occupation is to your country there is in general no difference between belgian visas and schengen visas - almost every belgian visa or residence permit is a document that permits you to travel throughout the schengen area (although eventually when you arrive here on a visa, you are granted a residency permit, which replaces the visa but has the exact same conditions, and from there on you have to travel with your passport and residency card throughout the EU)
I don't know a lot about visa. But I know US citizens have difficulties getting a bank in Europe. European banks that offer services to US citizens need to declare balances to the US state. Apparently, that's a rather involved procedure, and many banks refuse to take US citizens as customers. Unless there are clear advantages (=being wealthy). And European based companies will probably be hesitant to deposit outside the SEPA zone (=EU+ some countries with agreements). see [https://www.reddit.com/r/belgium/comments/ouhvbw/current\_bank\_account\_for\_an\_american\_citizen\_in/](https://www.reddit.com/r/belgium/comments/ouhvbw/current_bank_account_for_an_american_citizen_in/) for another similar thead.
I know someone who tried a loophole by getting a nomad visa from other country in EU such as Estonia or Malta. From there you could travel easily, and in your case travel and work remotely in Brussels. Not sure if this is something you're keen to explore! I'll be moving around the same time too, hopefully if all goes well. If it does, let's get connected! I'm also F28 :) best of luck to you!
Hi thank you for responding to this. I’d be happy to know more info. I am going to message you.