Formalities

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    Access to the labour market (work permit)

    The granting and issuing of work permits fall within the competence of the regional authorities.

    Access to the Belgian territory and stay   

    LIMOSA declaration

    A foreign employer posting gainfully employed workers to Belgium, or his authorised representative, must inform the authorities via the website before the employment of the workers in Belgium.

    The LIMOSA declaration provides for information about the worker and the employer (place of employment, duration of posting, work schedule, etc.).

     A receipt LIMOSA-1 is immediately issued.

    Every posted employee must produce this LIMOSA-1 to his Belgian client or principal. This must be done before the works starts.

    If a posted person cannot produce the LIMOSA-1, the Belgian principal or client will have to report this to the Belgian government (see one of the following links in that regard: https://www.socialsecurity.be/site_fr/employer/applics/meldingsplicht/index.htm# or https://www.socialsecurity.be/site_nl/employer/applics/meldingsplicht/index.htm#), unless this principal or client is a natural person and the workers are employed in that regard for strictly private purposes.

    Some categories of persons are exempt from this LIMOSA declaration.

    NB. : an employer who has filled in a LIMOSA declaration or who enjoys dispensation in this regard is exempt for a period of 12 months from the obligation to draw certains social documents and to respect certains rules.

    Warning ! Such a formality is not applicable to employers posting their drivers in the context of road transport activities !

    In such cases, specific formalities are applicable

    Contact 

    Liaison person

    An employer who is going to post workers in Belgium must communicate to the Belgian Labour Inspectorate the identification and contact details of a liaison person who can be contacted by this Labour Inspectorate.   

    Warning ! Such a formality is not applicable to employers posting their drivers in the context of road transport activities !

    In such cases, specific formalities are applicable

    Documents to be delivered at the request of the Belgian Labour Inspectorate

    The Belgian Labour Inspectorate may, under certain conditions, ask the posting company to deliver documents of the country of origin which are equivalent to the Belgian social records concerning remuneration and other documents referred to in the Belgian Posting Act of 5 March 2002. 

    Warning ! Such a formality is not applicable to employers posting their drivers in the context of road transport activities !

    In such cases, specific formalities are applicable

    With regard to social security

    Posting as defined by labour law must not be confused with Posting within a Social Security context.   

    Posting as defined by labour law relates to the labour law rules to be applied duringthe temporary sending of a worker in Belgium while posting within a Social Security context relates to the Social, Security system to be applied during such a temporary sending.    

    Three situations can arise. 

    Contact

    For more information about posting within a Social Security context, please contact the Belgian National Social Security Office, Directorate International Relations, tel. : (tel. : 0032/2/509.59.59 or, in French language : ContactONSSMigr@onss.fgov.be) and in Dutch language : ContactRSZMigr@rsz.fgov.be).

    With regard to Fiscal Law

    Specific formalities in case of hiring out of workers

    By "hiring out of workers" is meant a situation where a worker is lent out by his employer to a user who makes that worker work within his undertaking and exercises over that worker a part of the employer's authority that is normally exercised by the actual employer. 
    More information.     

    Specific formality in case of temporary agency work

    In Belgium, temporary work agencies are subject to prior authorisation.

    The rules relating to authorisation conditions and procedures exclusively fall within the competence of the different Regions and Communities concerned in that regard (Flemish Region, Walloon Region, Brussels Capital Region and German-speaking Community) which can be contacted in that regard.

    Specific formalities in case of construction works : declaration of works and presence registration (checkinatwork) 

    Where an employer posts workers in Belgium with a view to performing construction works, certain specific formalities may be required, depending on the estimated amount of the works.  
     

    Specific formality concerning certain activities in the meat industry : presence registration (checkinatwork)

    Where an employer posts workers in Belgium with a view to carrying out certain activities in the meat industry, a presence registration (checkinatwork) may be required, depending on the estimated amount of the activities. 

    Specific formalities in case of activities in the context of road transport

    Where an employer posts his/her workers in Belgium with a view to carrying out activities in the context of road transport, specific formalities are applicable.