Dienst Vreemdelingenzaken: Belgium's Immigration Office

Also known as Office des étrangers, part of the FPS Home Affairs

If a visa decision, a residence refusal or a fee instruction carries the name Dienst Vreemdelingenzaken, it comes from the federal authority that applies Belgium's rules on entry and stay. Knowing what it decides, and what your municipality, the Regions and the CGRS handle instead, helps you see who made a decision and where to turn next.

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As written locally

Dienst Vreemdelingenzaken

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The federal authority behind residence decisions

Who the Immigration Office is

Why the name Dienst Vreemdelingenzaken appears on Belgian visa and residence decisions, and what that tells you.

The Immigration Office (Dienst Vreemdelingenzaken in Dutch, Office des étrangers in French) is the part of the Federal Public Service Home Affairs that applies Belgium's law on the entry, stay, settlement and removal of foreign nationals. It decides on short- and long-stay visas and most residence applications, while municipalities receive many applications and issue the residence cards.

The Immigration Office is the largest directorate-general of the Federal Public Service (FPS) Home Affairs. It applies the Law of 15 December 1980 on the entry, residence, settlement and removal of foreign nationals. In practice it is the authority behind most decisions on whether a non-Belgian can come to or stay in Belgium: short-stay (Schengen) and long-stay (D) visas, residence for study, work, family reunification and other purposes, residence rights of EU citizens and their families, and procedures for people staying irregularly.

You often deal with it indirectly. If you are abroad, you usually apply for a D visa at a Belgian embassy or consulate, and the file goes to the Immigration Office for a decision. If you already live legally in Belgium, many applications are handed in at the municipality (gemeente / commune) where you live; the municipality checks your address and documents, sends the file on, and later tells you when your residence card is ready. To extend a residence card, you normally apply at the municipality between the 60th and 30th day before it expires. Most applications also require proof that the Immigration Office contribution (fee) has been paid, unless you are exempt.

Other bodies handle parts of the process. Work permits and the work part of the single permit are decided by the competent Region. Asylum applications are registered by the Immigration Office, but the Office of the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons (CGRS / CGVS / CGRA) decides whether someone needs protection. Appeals against Immigration Office decisions go to the Council for Alien Law Litigation (Raad voor Vreemdelingenbetwistingen / Conseil du Contentieux des Étrangers).

From 28 September 2026, the paper certificate of registration often called the "orange card" (attest van immatriculatie) is being replaced by a booklet; documents already issued stay valid until they expire.

Key takeaways

The Immigration Office belongs to the FPS Home Affairs and decides most visa and residence applications.
Applications from abroad go through an embassy; applications inside Belgium usually start at the municipality.
Many applications require proof of payment of the Immigration Office contribution.
Regions decide work permits, and the CGRS decides asylum claims.
Appeals go to the Council for Alien Law Litigation.

Usually indirectly, through an embassy or your municipality

When you deal with Belgium's Immigration Office

Most people never visit the Immigration Office in person. Its role shows up when a long-stay visa or residence application is examined, when the commune forwards a family reunification file, or when a decision letter arrives. The examples below show where its name appears and why that matters.

You meet the Immigration Office whenever you apply for a long-stay visa, a first residence permit, an extension or change of status, family reunification, or permanent residence, and when you check the status of a pending visa file. Its name appears on decisions, fee instructions and refusals, so knowing its role helps you see who decided and where to appeal.

Example situations

A student admitted to a Belgian university applies for a D visa at the embassy and tracks the file number while the Immigration Office examines it.
A resident hands in a family reunification application at the commune, which forwards it to the Immigration Office and later registers the family member once the decision is positive.
An applicant receives a refusal from the Immigration Office and checks the deadline for an appeal to the Council for Alien Law Litigation.

Where you apply is not always who decides

Municipality or Immigration Office?

Why handing in papers at the commune is not the decision, and which matters belong to the Regions or the CGRS instead.

The municipality is often where you hand in papers and collect your card, but it usually does not decide residence applications. The Immigration Office also does not decide work permits, which belong to the Regions, or the merits of asylum claims, which belong to the CGRS.

Residence vocabulary to browse after the Immigration Office

More Belgian residence and immigration terms

After Dienst Vreemdelingenzaken, these cards explain other Belgian terms from immigration and residence, including registers, permits and cards you may see in letters or at the commune. They share this broad area of life, so each card covers its own term rather than a step in one procedure.

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