Two Years Before a Spouse May Follow, and the Money Is Measured Against a Collective Agreement From 1988
Family reunification with a third-country national in Belgium is in article 10 of the Act of 15 December 1980, and it is conditional in four separate ways. The sponsor must hold an unlimited right of residence and have been admitted or authorised to stay for at least two years - one year if the family ties already existed before the sponsor arrived, and no waiting at all where only children are joining. Both spouses must be over twenty-one. The sponsor must show sickness insurance, housing considered normal for a family of comparable size, and stable, regular, sufficient means, which article 10, § 5 fixes at 110 per cent of the guaranteed average minimum monthly income under article 3 of collective agreement no. 43 of 2 May 1988, plus ten per cent for each further dependent. The family of a Belgian is not in this article at all: article 40ter puts them in the Union chapter, and which half of that article applies turns on whether the Belgian has lived in another member state.
At a glance
- How long the sponsor must already have been here
- Two years, or one if the family ties predate the sponsor's arrival, or none if only children are joining
Article 10, § 1er, first paragraph, 6°, of the Act of 15 December 1980.
- Minimum age of both spouses
- Over twenty-one
Article 10, § 1er, first paragraph, 6°, a).
- Income threshold
- 110 per cent of the guaranteed average minimum monthly income, plus ten per cent for each further dependent
Article 10, § 5, first paragraph. The reference is to article 3 of collective labour agreement no. 43 of 2 May 1988, which the Act does not reproduce.
- What does not count as income
- Integration income, the family allowance supplement, social assistance and family allowances
Article 10, § 5, second paragraph, 2°. Unemployment benefit counts only if the sponsor can show they are actively looking for work.
- A spouse who arrived as a spouse, sponsoring in turn
- Two years of regular residence first
Article 10, § 3, which exists to stop reunification chaining.
- A polygamous sponsor
- No second spouse while another is already in Belgium
Article 10, § 4.
- When the stay stops being limited
- After five years, if the article 10 conditions are still met
Article 13, § 1er, third paragraph. If they are not, a new limited stay is granted instead, renewable only on means and sickness insurance.
- Family of a Belgian
- Article 40ter, not article 10
Whether the Union rules or the national ones apply turns on whether the Belgian has exercised free movement.
Requirements
- A sponsor with an unlimited right of residence, admitted or authorised to stay for at least two years
- Both spouses over twenty-one
- Sickness insurance covering the risks in Belgium for the sponsor and the family
- Housing considered normal for a family of comparable size, meeting the safety and health criteria in force
- Stable, regular and sufficient means at 110 per cent of the guaranteed average minimum monthly income, plus ten per cent per further dependent
Exceptions by origin
No exceptions recorded
Nothing we have read treats any nationality differently for this topic. The rule above applies to everyone.
What the law says
«6° les membres de la famille suivants d'un étranger qui dispose d'un droit de séjour d'une durée illimitée et qui est admis ou autorisé à séjourner dans le Royaume depuis au moins deux ans. Ce dernier délai est ramené à un an lorsque les liens familiaux existaient déjà avant l'arrivée dans le Royaume de l'étranger rejoint ou est supprimé si l'étranger se fait uniquement rejoindre par les membres de sa famille visés aux c) à e):»The waiting period and its two reductions, in the sponsor's own terms rather than the applicant's.
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Belgium's consolidated federal legislation, served from the Moniteur belge site at two stable address forms: an ELI of the shape /eli/<type>/<yyyy>/<mm>/<dd>/<numac>/justel, and the older /cgi_loi/change_lg.pl query carrying the dossier number. Each record prints the date the consolidation is updated to, lists its archived versions, and marks in the body which amending Act inserted which words, with the Act identified in footnotes under the article.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The site is behind a web application firewall. A direct request from this project is answered with a JavaScript challenge page and a support ID, never the document, and the Bright Data proxy is refused at the CONNECT stage; only the extraction service returns text, and even then it refused two records outright - the French text of the Wetboek van economisch recht and the Code des impôts sur les revenus by its dossier number - while serving the Dutch and ELI forms of the same instruments. It may not be cited for the income tax code at all: the record for the Code des impôts sur les revenus 1992 states that updating was suspended in 2002, shows the text as at 9 April 2010, and carries no text of the Code. Dutch and French are both authentic and a Justel record serves one of them; a quotation from one says nothing about the wording of the other. Several instruments are printed as parallel regional versions of the same article - federal, Flemish, Walloon, Brussels, German-speaking Community - so an article number alone does not identify a text. The consolidations are unofficial: the Moniteur belge as published governs. Nothing regional is here: decrees and ordinances of the Regions and Communities, which decide work authorisations and self-employment, are published elsewhere.
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«a) le conjoint étranger qui vient vivre avec lui, à condition qu'ils soient tous les deux âgés de plus de vingt-et-un ans;»The age condition, and it is on both of them.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Belgium's consolidated federal legislation, served from the Moniteur belge site at two stable address forms: an ELI of the shape /eli/<type>/<yyyy>/<mm>/<dd>/<numac>/justel, and the older /cgi_loi/change_lg.pl query carrying the dossier number. Each record prints the date the consolidation is updated to, lists its archived versions, and marks in the body which amending Act inserted which words, with the Act identified in footnotes under the article.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The site is behind a web application firewall. A direct request from this project is answered with a JavaScript challenge page and a support ID, never the document, and the Bright Data proxy is refused at the CONNECT stage; only the extraction service returns text, and even then it refused two records outright - the French text of the Wetboek van economisch recht and the Code des impôts sur les revenus by its dossier number - while serving the Dutch and ELI forms of the same instruments. It may not be cited for the income tax code at all: the record for the Code des impôts sur les revenus 1992 states that updating was suspended in 2002, shows the text as at 9 April 2010, and carries no text of the Code. Dutch and French are both authentic and a Justel record serves one of them; a quotation from one says nothing about the wording of the other. Several instruments are printed as parallel regional versions of the same article - federal, Flemish, Walloon, Brussels, German-speaking Community - so an article number alone does not identify a text. The consolidations are unofficial: the Moniteur belge as published governs. Nothing regional is here: decrees and ordinances of the Regions and Communities, which decide work authorisations and self-employment, are published elsewhere.
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«Les membres de la famille visés au paragraphe 1er, alinéa 1er, 5°, a) à e), et 6°, a) à e), doivent apporter la preuve que l'étranger rejoint dispose d'une assurance maladie couvrant les risques en Belgique pour lui-même et les membres de sa famille, ainsi que d'un logement suffisant considéré comme normal pour une famille de taille comparable et qui répond aux critères légaux en vigueur en matière de sécurité et de salubrité. Le Roi détermine, par arrêté délibéré en Conseil des ministres, les critères auxquels l'immeuble doit répondre ainsi que la manière dont l'étranger prouve que l'immeuble répond aux conditions fixées.»Insurance and housing, with the housing criteria left to a royal decree deliberated in Council of Ministers.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Belgium's consolidated federal legislation, served from the Moniteur belge site at two stable address forms: an ELI of the shape /eli/<type>/<yyyy>/<mm>/<dd>/<numac>/justel, and the older /cgi_loi/change_lg.pl query carrying the dossier number. Each record prints the date the consolidation is updated to, lists its archived versions, and marks in the body which amending Act inserted which words, with the Act identified in footnotes under the article.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The site is behind a web application firewall. A direct request from this project is answered with a JavaScript challenge page and a support ID, never the document, and the Bright Data proxy is refused at the CONNECT stage; only the extraction service returns text, and even then it refused two records outright - the French text of the Wetboek van economisch recht and the Code des impôts sur les revenus by its dossier number - while serving the Dutch and ELI forms of the same instruments. It may not be cited for the income tax code at all: the record for the Code des impôts sur les revenus 1992 states that updating was suspended in 2002, shows the text as at 9 April 2010, and carries no text of the Code. Dutch and French are both authentic and a Justel record serves one of them; a quotation from one says nothing about the wording of the other. Several instruments are printed as parallel regional versions of the same article - federal, Flemish, Walloon, Brussels, German-speaking Community - so an article number alone does not identify a text. The consolidations are unofficial: the Moniteur belge as published governs. Nothing regional is here: decrees and ordinances of the Regions and Communities, which decide work authorisations and self-employment, are published elsewhere.
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«Le montant net des moyens de subsistance visés au paragraphe 2 doivent être au moins équivalents à cent-dix pour cent du revenu minimum mensuel moyen garanti tel que prévu par l'article 3 de la convention collective de travail n° 43 du 2 mai 1988 relative à la garantie d'un revenu minimum mensuel moyen. Ce montant est augmenté de dix pour cent pour chaque membre de la famille supplémentaire à charge de l'étranger rejoint.»The figure, expressed as a percentage of an instrument the Act does not reproduce, which is why no euro amount appears on this record.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Belgium's consolidated federal legislation, served from the Moniteur belge site at two stable address forms: an ELI of the shape /eli/<type>/<yyyy>/<mm>/<dd>/<numac>/justel, and the older /cgi_loi/change_lg.pl query carrying the dossier number. Each record prints the date the consolidation is updated to, lists its archived versions, and marks in the body which amending Act inserted which words, with the Act identified in footnotes under the article.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The site is behind a web application firewall. A direct request from this project is answered with a JavaScript challenge page and a support ID, never the document, and the Bright Data proxy is refused at the CONNECT stage; only the extraction service returns text, and even then it refused two records outright - the French text of the Wetboek van economisch recht and the Code des impôts sur les revenus by its dossier number - while serving the Dutch and ELI forms of the same instruments. It may not be cited for the income tax code at all: the record for the Code des impôts sur les revenus 1992 states that updating was suspended in 2002, shows the text as at 9 April 2010, and carries no text of the Code. Dutch and French are both authentic and a Justel record serves one of them; a quotation from one says nothing about the wording of the other. Several instruments are printed as parallel regional versions of the same article - federal, Flemish, Walloon, Brussels, German-speaking Community - so an article number alone does not identify a text. The consolidations are unofficial: the Moniteur belge as published governs. Nothing regional is here: decrees and ordinances of the Regions and Communities, which decide work authorisations and self-employment, are published elsewhere.
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«2° ne tient pas compte des moyens provenant de régimes d'assistance complémentaires, à savoir le revenu d'intégration et le supplément d'allocations familiales, ni de l'aide sociale financière et des allocations familiales;»What is struck out of the calculation.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Belgium's consolidated federal legislation, served from the Moniteur belge site at two stable address forms: an ELI of the shape /eli/<type>/<yyyy>/<mm>/<dd>/<numac>/justel, and the older /cgi_loi/change_lg.pl query carrying the dossier number. Each record prints the date the consolidation is updated to, lists its archived versions, and marks in the body which amending Act inserted which words, with the Act identified in footnotes under the article.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The site is behind a web application firewall. A direct request from this project is answered with a JavaScript challenge page and a support ID, never the document, and the Bright Data proxy is refused at the CONNECT stage; only the extraction service returns text, and even then it refused two records outright - the French text of the Wetboek van economisch recht and the Code des impôts sur les revenus by its dossier number - while serving the Dutch and ELI forms of the same instruments. It may not be cited for the income tax code at all: the record for the Code des impôts sur les revenus 1992 states that updating was suspended in 2002, shows the text as at 9 April 2010, and carries no text of the Code. Dutch and French are both authentic and a Justel record serves one of them; a quotation from one says nothing about the wording of the other. Several instruments are printed as parallel regional versions of the same article - federal, Flemish, Walloon, Brussels, German-speaking Community - so an article number alone does not identify a text. The consolidations are unofficial: the Moniteur belge as published governs. Nothing regional is here: decrees and ordinances of the Regions and Communities, which decide work authorisations and self-employment, are published elsewhere.
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«Sous réserve de l'article 11, § 2, et des dispositions de l'article 42quater, lorsqu'un ressortissant de pays tiers a lui-même été admis ou autorisé à séjourner en qualité de conjoint ou partenaire non marié conformément aux articles 10, 10bis, 40bis, 40ter ou 47/2, 1°, le droit de le rejoindre sur la base d'un mariage ou d'un partenariat ne peut être accordé que s'il peut prouver qu'il réside régulièrement dans le Royaume depuis deux ans et pour autant que les conditions du regroupement familial soient remplies.»The anti-chaining rule.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Belgium's consolidated federal legislation, served from the Moniteur belge site at two stable address forms: an ELI of the shape /eli/<type>/<yyyy>/<mm>/<dd>/<numac>/justel, and the older /cgi_loi/change_lg.pl query carrying the dossier number. Each record prints the date the consolidation is updated to, lists its archived versions, and marks in the body which amending Act inserted which words, with the Act identified in footnotes under the article.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The site is behind a web application firewall. A direct request from this project is answered with a JavaScript challenge page and a support ID, never the document, and the Bright Data proxy is refused at the CONNECT stage; only the extraction service returns text, and even then it refused two records outright - the French text of the Wetboek van economisch recht and the Code des impôts sur les revenus by its dossier number - while serving the Dutch and ELI forms of the same instruments. It may not be cited for the income tax code at all: the record for the Code des impôts sur les revenus 1992 states that updating was suspended in 2002, shows the text as at 9 April 2010, and carries no text of the Code. Dutch and French are both authentic and a Justel record serves one of them; a quotation from one says nothing about the wording of the other. Several instruments are printed as parallel regional versions of the same article - federal, Flemish, Walloon, Brussels, German-speaking Community - so an article number alone does not identify a text. The consolidations are unofficial: the Moniteur belge as published governs. Nothing regional is here: decrees and ordinances of the Regions and Communities, which decide work authorisations and self-employment, are published elsewhere.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«Un étranger polygame ne peut pas être rejoint \[2 par son conjoint visé au paragraphe 1er, alinéa 1er, 4°, 5°, a) ou 6°, a),\]2 lorsqu'un autre conjoint séjourne déjà dans le Royaume.»Polygamy, addressed in one sentence.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Belgium's consolidated federal legislation, served from the Moniteur belge site at two stable address forms: an ELI of the shape /eli/<type>/<yyyy>/<mm>/<dd>/<numac>/justel, and the older /cgi_loi/change_lg.pl query carrying the dossier number. Each record prints the date the consolidation is updated to, lists its archived versions, and marks in the body which amending Act inserted which words, with the Act identified in footnotes under the article.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The site is behind a web application firewall. A direct request from this project is answered with a JavaScript challenge page and a support ID, never the document, and the Bright Data proxy is refused at the CONNECT stage; only the extraction service returns text, and even then it refused two records outright - the French text of the Wetboek van economisch recht and the Code des impôts sur les revenus by its dossier number - while serving the Dutch and ELI forms of the same instruments. It may not be cited for the income tax code at all: the record for the Code des impôts sur les revenus 1992 states that updating was suspended in 2002, shows the text as at 9 April 2010, and carries no text of the Code. Dutch and French are both authentic and a Justel record serves one of them; a quotation from one says nothing about the wording of the other. Several instruments are printed as parallel regional versions of the same article - federal, Flemish, Walloon, Brussels, German-speaking Community - so an article number alone does not identify a text. The consolidations are unofficial: the Moniteur belge as published governs. Nothing regional is here: decrees and ordinances of the Regions and Communities, which decide work authorisations and self-employment, are published elsewhere.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«L'admission au séjour en vertu de l'article 10 est reconnue pour une durée limitée pendant la \[4 période de cinq ans\]4 suivant la délivrance du titre de séjour ou, dans les cas visés à l'\[2 article 12bis, §§ 3, 3bis ou 4\]2, suivant la délivrance du document attestant que la demande a été introduite, à l'expiration de laquelle elle devient illimitée, pour autant que l'étranger remplisse encore les conditions de l'article 10.»What happens at five years, and what happens if the conditions have lapsed by then.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Belgium's consolidated federal legislation, served from the Moniteur belge site at two stable address forms: an ELI of the shape /eli/<type>/<yyyy>/<mm>/<dd>/<numac>/justel, and the older /cgi_loi/change_lg.pl query carrying the dossier number. Each record prints the date the consolidation is updated to, lists its archived versions, and marks in the body which amending Act inserted which words, with the Act identified in footnotes under the article.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The site is behind a web application firewall. A direct request from this project is answered with a JavaScript challenge page and a support ID, never the document, and the Bright Data proxy is refused at the CONNECT stage; only the extraction service returns text, and even then it refused two records outright - the French text of the Wetboek van economisch recht and the Code des impôts sur les revenus by its dossier number - while serving the Dutch and ELI forms of the same instruments. It may not be cited for the income tax code at all: the record for the Code des impôts sur les revenus 1992 states that updating was suspended in 2002, shows the text as at 9 April 2010, and carries no text of the Code. Dutch and French are both authentic and a Justel record serves one of them; a quotation from one says nothing about the wording of the other. Several instruments are printed as parallel regional versions of the same article - federal, Flemish, Walloon, Brussels, German-speaking Community - so an article number alone does not identify a text. The consolidations are unofficial: the Moniteur belge as published governs. Nothing regional is here: decrees and ordinances of the Regions and Communities, which decide work authorisations and self-employment, are published elsewhere.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«Est considéré comme un Belge ayant fait usage de son droit de libre circulation et de séjour: le Belge qui, après avoir séjourné effectivement dans un autre Etat membre de l'Union européenne conformément à l'article 21 du Traité sur le fonctionnement de l'Union européenne, revient s'établir sur le territoire du Royaume.»The definition that decides which half of article 40ter you are in.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Belgium's consolidated federal legislation, served from the Moniteur belge site at two stable address forms: an ELI of the shape /eli/<type>/<yyyy>/<mm>/<dd>/<numac>/justel, and the older /cgi_loi/change_lg.pl query carrying the dossier number. Each record prints the date the consolidation is updated to, lists its archived versions, and marks in the body which amending Act inserted which words, with the Act identified in footnotes under the article.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The site is behind a web application firewall. A direct request from this project is answered with a JavaScript challenge page and a support ID, never the document, and the Bright Data proxy is refused at the CONNECT stage; only the extraction service returns text, and even then it refused two records outright - the French text of the Wetboek van economisch recht and the Code des impôts sur les revenus by its dossier number - while serving the Dutch and ELI forms of the same instruments. It may not be cited for the income tax code at all: the record for the Code des impôts sur les revenus 1992 states that updating was suspended in 2002, shows the text as at 9 April 2010, and carries no text of the Code. Dutch and French are both authentic and a Justel record serves one of them; a quotation from one says nothing about the wording of the other. Several instruments are printed as parallel regional versions of the same article - federal, Flemish, Walloon, Brussels, German-speaking Community - so an article number alone does not identify a text. The consolidations are unofficial: the Moniteur belge as published governs. Nothing regional is here: decrees and ordinances of the Regions and Communities, which decide work authorisations and self-employment, are published elsewhere.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«Les dispositions de ce chapitre s'appliquent aux membres de la famille suivants d'un Belge qui n'a pas exercé son droit de libre circulation et de séjour conformément à l'article 21 du Traité sur le fonctionnement de l'Union européenne ou qui ne remplissent pas les conditions prévues au § 1er:»And the other half, for the family of a Belgian who never left.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Belgium's consolidated federal legislation, served from the Moniteur belge site at two stable address forms: an ELI of the shape /eli/<type>/<yyyy>/<mm>/<dd>/<numac>/justel, and the older /cgi_loi/change_lg.pl query carrying the dossier number. Each record prints the date the consolidation is updated to, lists its archived versions, and marks in the body which amending Act inserted which words, with the Act identified in footnotes under the article.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The site is behind a web application firewall. A direct request from this project is answered with a JavaScript challenge page and a support ID, never the document, and the Bright Data proxy is refused at the CONNECT stage; only the extraction service returns text, and even then it refused two records outright - the French text of the Wetboek van economisch recht and the Code des impôts sur les revenus by its dossier number - while serving the Dutch and ELI forms of the same instruments. It may not be cited for the income tax code at all: the record for the Code des impôts sur les revenus 1992 states that updating was suspended in 2002, shows the text as at 9 April 2010, and carries no text of the Code. Dutch and French are both authentic and a Justel record serves one of them; a quotation from one says nothing about the wording of the other. Several instruments are printed as parallel regional versions of the same article - federal, Flemish, Walloon, Brussels, German-speaking Community - so an article number alone does not identify a text. The consolidations are unofficial: the Moniteur belge as published governs. Nothing regional is here: decrees and ordinances of the Regions and Communities, which decide work authorisations and self-employment, are published elsewhere.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
Practical notes
The threshold is a percentage of a figure set by a collective labour agreement, so it moves when that agreement moves and without the Act being amended. No euro amount is stated here because the Act states none.
Article 10 was replaced in its entirety by the Act of 18 July 2025 with effect from 18 August 2025 and amended again by the Act of 16 June 2026. The text read here is the resulting article, not either amending Act.
- consolidatesLoi du 15 décembre 1980 sur les étrangers, consolidated text
Justel, Service public fédéral Justice (Moniteur belge) · consolidated to 2026-06-24
About this source
Belgium's consolidated federal legislation, served from the Moniteur belge site at two stable address forms: an ELI of the shape /eli/<type>/<yyyy>/<mm>/<dd>/<numac>/justel, and the older /cgi_loi/change_lg.pl query carrying the dossier number. Each record prints the date the consolidation is updated to, lists its archived versions, and marks in the body which amending Act inserted which words, with the Act identified in footnotes under the article.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The site is behind a web application firewall. A direct request from this project is answered with a JavaScript challenge page and a support ID, never the document, and the Bright Data proxy is refused at the CONNECT stage; only the extraction service returns text, and even then it refused two records outright - the French text of the Wetboek van economisch recht and the Code des impôts sur les revenus by its dossier number - while serving the Dutch and ELI forms of the same instruments. It may not be cited for the income tax code at all: the record for the Code des impôts sur les revenus 1992 states that updating was suspended in 2002, shows the text as at 9 April 2010, and carries no text of the Code. Dutch and French are both authentic and a Justel record serves one of them; a quotation from one says nothing about the wording of the other. Several instruments are printed as parallel regional versions of the same article - federal, Flemish, Walloon, Brussels, German-speaking Community - so an article number alone does not identify a text. The consolidations are unofficial: the Moniteur belge as published governs. Nothing regional is here: decrees and ordinances of the Regions and Communities, which decide work authorisations and self-employment, are published elsewhere.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source