legal and social conditions for asylum seekers and refugees in ...

Work
Asylum seekers in the admissibility procedure are not allowed to work.
Provided that their prospective employer submits a request, applicants in the normal
determination procedure may be granted a work permit, valid until the final decision recognising
or rejecting refugee status.
Language tuition
There are several programmes for the provision of language courses in Dutch or French to
asylum seekers. However, due to the limited number of places available, attendance to these
classes is subject to a long waiting time.
School attendance/education
Child care
Children of asylum seekers have access to Belgian schools without any discrimination. They are
exempted from the registration fees which foreigners usually have to pay in order to follow
courses in Belgium.
The Belgian school system offers special reception classes for children who do not speak Dutch
or French. However, these classes are overloaded, particularly in big cities, and therefore subject
to long waiting lists.
Asylum seekers have access to universities under the same conditions as other aliens. This
means that, under certain circumstances, they may have to pay an additional registration fee
(“Minerval”).
Some child care arrangements are normally available in most centres. Asylum seekers who do
not live in the reception centres could, in principle, apply for child care as Belgian citizens. In
practice, very few do due to high costs.
Unaccompanied minors
Unaccompanied minors who apply for asylum on arrival are usually accommodated in Centre 127
during the admissibility procedure. Those who apply once in the country may initially be
accommodated in the Petit Château reception centre in Brussels and then transferred to another
centre, or may also live with friends or relatives. Although the CPAS is legally responsible for
unaccompanied minors, there is often a lack of effective protection for children.
In some cases, a guardian may be appointed. The Belgian government plans to introduce a new
system, according to which all unaccompanied minors would be allocated a guardian, but this has
not been adopted yet.
Health/sickness
During the admissibility procedure, health care is provided by the organisation where the asylum
seeker is registered, i.e. the reception centre or the CPAS.
During the normal determination procedure, subscription of a health insurance (“Mutuelle”) is
possible, In such case, medical costs will be paid by the mutuelle under the same conditions as
for Belgian nationals. Asylum seekers who do not work can register with the mutuelle without any
costs or waiting period. For those who work, the costs are paid by the employer.
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Belgium