Belgium’s most populous region is in the middle of a paradox. Government statistics released on 13 February show that Flanders issued more single (combined work-and-residence) permits to non-EU nationals in 2025 than in any previous year. Approvals for foreign workers rose 53 % compared with 2023 and have more than doubled since before the pandemic, driven largely by acute skills shortages in construction, logistics, health care and food production.
Yet the same day, Flemish Employment Minister Zuhal Demir (N-VA) confirmed that a package of restrictive measures she first flagged in late-2025 has now entered into force. The reforms remove dozens of medium-skilled occupations—including truck drivers, bakers and butchers—from the region’s fast-track migration list; require employers to conduct longer, better-documented searches in Belgium and the wider EU before recruiting abroad; and lengthen labour-market tests for most ‘other’ categories. Low- and mid-skilled vacancies can still be filled by third-country nationals, but companies must prove exhaustive efforts to hire locally first. High-skilled profiles, Blue-Card applicants and researchers keep streamlined routes.
For employers scrambling to decode these abrupt shifts, global visa facilitator VisaHQ offers real-time advice and filing support. Its Belgium portal (https://www.visahq.com/belgium/) summarises the latest permit categories, documentation requirements and processing timelines, and can even recommend alternative pathways in Brussels and Wallonia when Flanders tightens the tap.
![Flanders Tightens Work-Permit Rules Even as Labour Migration Hits New High]()
Demir argues that, with some 200,000 job-seekers still registered in Flanders, “migration can never be the easy default.” Her ministry has set ambitious targets to activate unemployed residents, especially long-term job-seekers and young people. Business federations disagree. Construction lobby Embuild Vlaanderen warns that the stricter rules will aggravate bottlenecks and push companies towards temporary posting arrangements with less oversight. Agoria, the technology federation, fears slower permit processing will hurt Belgium’s competitiveness in the battle for IT talent.
For global mobility managers the message is clear: 1) anticipate longer lead-times for single-permit filings in Flanders; 2) expect closer scrutiny of recruitment evidence and salary benchmarks; and 3) re-check whether a role still appears on the updated migration list before promising start dates. Employers facing urgent gaps may need to explore alternative Belgian regions—Brussels and Wallonia have not (yet) copied Demir’s restrictions—or consider intra-EU assignments under the Vander Elst or ICT Directive regimes.
In the medium term, observers will watch whether the tougher stance translates into a measurable dip in approvals or merely shifts applications to neighbouring regions. Either way, the political signal is unmistakable: Belgian sub-national authorities are prepared to recalibrate economic-migration channels quickly when domestic labour-market pressures rise.
Yet the same day, Flemish Employment Minister Zuhal Demir (N-VA) confirmed that a package of restrictive measures she first flagged in late-2025 has now entered into force. The reforms remove dozens of medium-skilled occupations—including truck drivers, bakers and butchers—from the region’s fast-track migration list; require employers to conduct longer, better-documented searches in Belgium and the wider EU before recruiting abroad; and lengthen labour-market tests for most ‘other’ categories. Low- and mid-skilled vacancies can still be filled by third-country nationals, but companies must prove exhaustive efforts to hire locally first. High-skilled profiles, Blue-Card applicants and researchers keep streamlined routes.
For employers scrambling to decode these abrupt shifts, global visa facilitator VisaHQ offers real-time advice and filing support. Its Belgium portal (https://www.visahq.com/belgium/) summarises the latest permit categories, documentation requirements and processing timelines, and can even recommend alternative pathways in Brussels and Wallonia when Flanders tightens the tap.
Demir argues that, with some 200,000 job-seekers still registered in Flanders, “migration can never be the easy default.” Her ministry has set ambitious targets to activate unemployed residents, especially long-term job-seekers and young people. Business federations disagree. Construction lobby Embuild Vlaanderen warns that the stricter rules will aggravate bottlenecks and push companies towards temporary posting arrangements with less oversight. Agoria, the technology federation, fears slower permit processing will hurt Belgium’s competitiveness in the battle for IT talent.
For global mobility managers the message is clear: 1) anticipate longer lead-times for single-permit filings in Flanders; 2) expect closer scrutiny of recruitment evidence and salary benchmarks; and 3) re-check whether a role still appears on the updated migration list before promising start dates. Employers facing urgent gaps may need to explore alternative Belgian regions—Brussels and Wallonia have not (yet) copied Demir’s restrictions—or consider intra-EU assignments under the Vander Elst or ICT Directive regimes.
In the medium term, observers will watch whether the tougher stance translates into a measurable dip in approvals or merely shifts applications to neighbouring regions. Either way, the political signal is unmistakable: Belgian sub-national authorities are prepared to recalibrate economic-migration channels quickly when domestic labour-market pressures rise.
