Last September, the Council of the EU issued Recommendations for phasing out the temporary protection status, months after extending the Temporary Protection Directive (TPD) to March 2027. For more than 93,000 Ukrainians living in Belgium, the prospects of staying in Belgium beyond temporary protection remain uncertain.
Before Russia launched a full-scale war against Ukraine in February 2022, Ukrainians fell under the national immigration law as third-country nationals. Those who wish to remain in Belgium after the temporary protection ends will need to apply for long-stay residence permits.
Not a path to long-term residence status
Under current Belgian immigration law, years of living under temporary protection status are not considered reckonable residence, meaning they do not count towards the requirements for a B-card - a residence permit for non-EU citizens allowing an unlimited and permanent right to stay - nor for citizenship.
As for asylum, Ukrainians in Belgium are not prevented from submitting an asylum application, but their consideration is suspended, meaning the asylum applications will not be considered until the temporary protection directive expires.
The most common migration routes that provide a path towards an unlimited stay permit are through work or family reunification.
The employment-based residence can get complicated
Third-country nationals who wish to live and work in Belgium require a single permit (combined work and residence permit). "A person cannot apply for a single permit themselves; it is an employer who asks for a single permit for the future employee,” Elisa De Corte, an Immigration lawyer at the Flemish Agency for Integration & Civic Integration, told The Brussels Times.
In general, the employer must prove through a ‘labour market survey' that they cannot find an worker on the existing labour market. However, some categories, such as highly skilled workers, are exempt from it.
The conditions depend on the region and include salary thresholds. In Brussels, to qualify a person needs to earn at least 78% of the average gross monthly salary in the Brussels-Capital Region ( € 3,703.44 gross per month for 2025); In Flanders, at least the average gross annual salary in Belgium (€48,912 gross per year for 2025), with an exception for people under 30, who must earn at least 80% of that. In Wallonia, the minimum gross annual salary is €51,613, with the same exception for those under 30.
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Professions that have a labour shortage are also exempt from the ‘labour market survey'. For the Brussels capital region, the list of such jobs is published yearly by Actiris. Here is the most recent ‘migration list of medium-skilled positions’ for Flanders. Here is the list for Wallonia (2025). Information on the other exempt categories can be found on the Flemish Agency for Integration & Civic Integration website (Flanders and Brussels region).
The employment permit must be regularly renewed. "Most often, it is granted for a year, depending on the contract. Of course, if your contract is for less than a year, your permit will also be for less than a year. There are also different procedures if a person changes employers. After four years, in most cases, they can transition to a status that allows them to easily switch employers."
Those with high qualifications may also apply for an EU Blue Card, which offers a similar pathway to long-term residence status.
For self-employment: TP holders are exempt from the requirement to have a ‘professional card’. If a person wishes to switch to residence based on self-employment, they must apply for a professional card and meet the conditions. You will have to prove the economic value of your work, again depending on the region, De Corte says. After receiving the ‘professional card', a person must register with the municipality and update the residence status from an employee or student to self-employed.
Be aware that procedures take time: “There are exceptions, but for most permits you will have apply them while in legal stay in Belgium, taking into account the months that it takes to get it - for example for a work permit it takes about four months, meaning you must apply at least four months before the end of temporary protection, to avoid a gap," says De Corte.
Nothing is certain
The discussions about Belgium's position regarding the EU Recommendation are still continuing, the Belgian Immigration Office has confirmed. The Brussels Times also contacted the Belgian Minister of Asylum and Migration, Anneleen Van Bossuyt(N-V/A), but did not receive a response.
Besides the strategy for sustainable returns and reintegration of Ukrainians, the recommendations advise Member States to promote access to national statuses.
However, “all the grounds that the EU has mentioned are already possible in Belgium," says De Corte. "We do not know if there will be any changes. At this point, any procedure that is open to third-country nationals is open to Ukrainians or to people with temporary protection if they meet the conditions. There are no exceptions (in the conditions) for now."
The International Rescue Committee, which advocates protection-focused migration policies on the European level, has also expressed its concerns regarding the TPD phase-out.
“There might be quite a few people who would fall under certain categories of education or work, but a lot of people will not fit into these categories," says IRC’s Senior EU Advocacy Advisor Meron Ameha Knikman. "There is no clarity on what will happen to people from Ukraine who come from the currently occupied territories and cannot return, or to third-country nationals under Temporary Protection. And since Ukraine will still need to recover economically and rebuild itself, sustainable return and reintegration are not a given."
In addition, the government has not been proactive in facilitating transitions so far. “People mainly have to search for the information themselves, rather than the government proactively informing them step-by-step on the process," says Knikman. "People do not actually realise how complex and complicated the system is.”
