State Secretary for Asylum and Migration Nicole de Moor (CD&V) said in a statement on Friday that she has convened an inter-ministerial conference on “labour migration.”
In her statement, the secretary of State also stressed that a citizenship initiation for migrant workers should be envisaged.
The convening of the inter-ministerial conference is linked to problems with the single permit procedure (work and residence). These applications almost doubled last year, when 9,543 initial permits were issued.
“The system is gaining momentum, which is logical given the tight labour market, but we have to be on the lookout for abuses,” the Christen Democratisch en Vlaams (CD&V) representative stressed in a statement.
Recent cases, such as that of the chemical company Borealis – suspected of exploiting hundreds of foreign workers on a building site in the port of Antwerp – as well as studies “show that the single permit is sometimes abused and that the worker sometimes finds himself in a situation of great dependence on the employer,”de Moor said.
The worker is not always aware of his or her rights or does not have the necessary information to exercise them, according to the minister.
As a result, an introduction to citizenship is needed, in her view. “Today, migrant workers are exempt from this; they are not expected to learn the language or to integrate. But those who are integrated are better able to claim their rights,” Ms. de Moor stressed.
Moreover, practice shows that migrant workers often stay longer in Belgium and therefore have a vested interest in integrating well,”she added.
In addition to citizenship training, the minister would also like to demand guarantees of suitable accommodation, through an explicit condition at the time of application or better information exchange and checks.
She also wants to offer victims of employer offences more time for to find new employers, once the social inspection service has terminated the employment. The 90-day period for finding that new job should be extended to 180 days, according to the secretary of state.
Nicole de Moor also wants to see it written into the law that the cost of the procedure (€138) is to be borne by the employer.
