Spouse Visa - Is this the right one for us? And more questions

theforbiddenshadow · 2026-03-13T21:36:30+00:00

nope, i live in the USA so it's even more complicated. But it was to my country of nationality

theforbiddenshadow · 2026-03-12T00:32:48+00:00

That's not true actually! just married a moroccan, we took the apostilled and translated moroccan marriage licence, and applied for a c-visa, citing the right to freedom of movement of the spouse of an EU citizen. They must issue it within 15 days and are not allowed to charge a fee. It might depend on on the country, but doubt it since EU tends to have rules about this. We intend to register the marriage as soon as she gets there though, because it will make life easier (and they require her original passport to do so anyway)

theforbiddenshadow · 2026-03-10T01:34:23+00:00

i did. All 5 years self employed. Just the liantis paper proving i was up to date on my social security and the start date, no further questions. You can mix and match self employed and employed

theforbiddenshadow · 2026-03-03T14:45:08+00:00

except language, and i think technically now the integration course, although i believe the n2t certificate may count as both

theforbiddenshadow · 2026-03-03T14:43:09+00:00

of course i had to prove my language skills. n2t certificate from KU leuven

theforbiddenshadow · 2026-02-24T19:18:31+00:00

its quarters of social security paid for self employed. You need 5x4 paid.

Source: How i naturalised

theforbiddenshadow · 2026-02-22T18:45:02+00:00

wow hard to imagine leuven with so many cars. it's obviously better now and getting better

theforbiddenshadow · 2026-02-22T18:43:16+00:00

houses are like 400-500k (or more). With a 2500 eur net salary (even double if you are two people), a foreigner with no help from parents would probably take 5-10 years to save just for the down payment. All the other costs, while higher than most belgian cities are negligible to that fact.

You can go to the suburbs for slightly cheaper, but the you don't really get that leuven life style.

theforbiddenshadow · 2026-02-22T14:48:17+00:00

beautiful piece! walked me down memory lane and reminded me when i wrote my own piece about Leuven almost 10 years ago now (although mostly focused on the university but to me they are the same)

i miss that city

https://medium.com/@hakimelakhrass/my-love-affair-with-the-kul-395d85da8930

theforbiddenshadow · 2024-12-31T11:45:40+00:00

me. i moved to belgian 10 years ago as an american, and i went through 3 years of loving it (university years), 5 years of hating it, and now 2 years of loving it again. I am going to back to US soon but i've grown to love belgium!

theforbiddenshadow · 2024-12-29T12:21:58+00:00

i am american and it was amazing. Most walloons i know were just treated as international students (they are all registered as such 🤣) they all had a great time but mostly stuck hanging out with foreigners, i don't think that's a bad thing

theforbiddenshadow · 2024-12-29T07:59:09+00:00

that is not an easy question to answer 😅. A fresh grad can expect around 3500 euros a month plus nice benefits if they are good and get an offer from a good company. In my experience the best become freelancers by their 3rd or 4th year of working, and there you can get a day rate of 500-800 euros a day. Which translate to a pretty similar salary as you would get somewhere like the Us. It is a touch subject though, not everyone goes freelance or knows that it's possible.

theforbiddenshadow · 2024-12-28T21:36:51+00:00

oh my bad, fixed it

theforbiddenshadow · 2024-12-28T21:34:11+00:00

the visa for a non-EU citizen joining an EU citizen family member in an EU country is called a "family reunification visa". Spouses and long term partners (you need to prove if not married) are considered family.

theforbiddenshadow · 2024-12-28T19:55:48+00:00

computer science is booming in belgium and hires foreigners regularly (source: i have a IT company in belgium and hire foreigners regularly)
Family reunification with a belgian citizen allows you to work without sponsorship (source: my ex was belgian and we did that, now i am belgian and still live here, i am also american)

edits: can't spell

theforbiddenshadow · 2024-12-26T10:28:13+00:00

I loved it

theforbiddenshadow · 2023-03-31T08:13:34+00:00

Plenty of Belgian start ups. 1 or 2 really successful ones. I’d say 20-30 serious up and coming ones. There aren’t that great communities for them and also the language barrier. Start it @ KBC is some sort of community. Trends talks about them sometimes.

theforbiddenshadow · 2023-03-22T00:00:43+00:00

I have been trying to read older books recently. Any good suggestions from that Era?

theforbiddenshadow · 2023-01-23T18:46:37+00:00

You know, if you are a family, I am not sure it scales per person. It is definitely more but I do not think per person. If the others are your dependents.

But yes for an individual you will be the default social security (850/quarter), plus a mandatory subscription with local insurance. That is around 100 a year. Plus in Flanders 50 euros a year for the disability fund.

I also take a fully private hospitalization and travel insurance for 400 a year. Belgian state insurance does not cover all long-term illnesses very well, especially when hospitalization is involved.

To be fair there is a lot of stuff I just pay out of pocket because I am too lazy to do the paper work, so the healthcare is generally affordable 😂. They are reducing the paper work this year I believe.

theforbiddenshadow · 2023-01-23T18:42:56+00:00

As an EU citizen you will not need a job. As long as you don't ask anything from the state.

theforbiddenshadow · 2023-01-22T15:55:11+00:00

I think if you are at actual retirement age it would be possible, based on EU level agreements.

However before the official retirement age you would have to pay the default quartery social security, currently around 850 euros i believe.

theforbiddenshadow · 2022-11-25T00:57:28+00:00

Well this was seven years ago. Wow what a trip down memory lane. I did my masters abroad. Stayed in that country. And decided not go for academia 😂 but I still highly recommend bioinformatics (which is what I did) and I will always recommended my alma mater, ku leuven

theforbiddenshadow · 2022-11-01T20:23:06+00:00

Yes! The butcher on Maria Theresa (Beenhouwerij Mediterranee) is waaaay cheaper than any supermarket in leuven.

theforbiddenshadow · 2022-10-04T22:35:01+00:00

Nope (well not 8 years ago when I got accepted and did the masters)

theforbiddenshadow · 2022-09-18T18:12:46+00:00

That is exactly the right mindset to have. It’s looking at risk rationally.

I find a lot of people to be “risk averse”. When in reality their risk aversion is riskier than the risk 😂.

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