The European Directive 2014/66/EU (the so-called “ICT-Directive”) has finally been implemented in Belgian legislation. Following the entry into force of the Law of 31 July 2020 amending the Law of 15 December 1980 introducing the legal framework of intra-corporate transfers (hereinafter “ICT”), the Royal Decree of 26 November 2021 has been published in the Belgian Official Journal of 6 December 2021. This means that as of 16 December 2021 foreign employers can apply for an ICT permit for their foreign non-EU nationals in Belgium.
Intra-corporate transfer is defined as follows: “temporary secondment for occupational or training purposes of a third-country national who, at the time of application for an intra-corporate transferee permit, resides outside the territory of the member states, from an undertaking established outside the territory of a member state, and to which the third country national is bound by a work contract prior to and during the transfer, to an entity belonging to the undertaking or to the same group of undertakings which is established in that member state, and, where applicable, the mobility between host entities established in one or several second member states”.
There are 2 types of permits:
- Intra-corporate transferee permit: this is a permit for third country nationals who reside outside the territory of the EU member states and who are transferred to Belgium in the context of an intra-corporate transfer for more than 90 days;
- Permit for long-term mobility: this is a permit for third country nationals who already hold an intra-corporate transferee permit in another EU member state and who come to Belgium as second member state invoking their long-term mobility right.
Other conditions, procedural rules and/or document requirements may depend on the different regions and type of permit.