The administrative fee, payable when filing a visa D application (national long stay visa) or a local residence application (for residence of more than 3 months), was introduced by law in 2015 to cover the cost for the processing of these applications by the Belgian federal immigration office. Full payment of the administrative fee was/is an admissibility requirement. The amount of the fee depends on the type of application. The fee must be paid per application and per person (including accompanying family members), unless an exemption can be invoked.
Implementing Royal Decrees by the government were annulled by the Council of State (administrative court): the Council of State opined that the Belgian government could not justify the reasonable link between the amounts of the administrative fee and the cost of the underlying services.
In practice the Belgian federal immigration continued to request full payment as admissibility requirement.
A new Royal Decree of 9 February 2022 now sets new and lower amounts applicable as of 26 May 2022: these amounts are based on a calculation of actual costs.
Below you can find an overview of the new fees for the most common applications.
| Fees until 25 May 2022 | Fees as of 26 May 2022 | |
| Single permit application | 366 EUR | 126 EUR |
| Blue Card | 366 EUR | 126 EUR |
| Residence permit application for more than 90 days (seasonal worker/intracorporate transferee/researcher) | 366 EUR | 126 EUR |
| Residence application for family member | 209 EUR | 181 EUR |
| Professional card | 366 EUR | 201 EUR |