EU ambassadors have endorsed a **provisional agreement with the European Parliament that rewrites the bloc’s social-security coordination rules**, extending how long people can export unemployment benefits while looking for work in another member state. Under the deal, Belgians who lose their job can now receive Belgian unemployment payments for **26 weeks instead of the current 13 weeks** while they search for a post elsewhere in the EU, with national authorities allowed to prolong payments to the end of the entitlement period.
![EU deal lets Belgian jobseekers keep unemployment benefit abroad for up to six months]()
For Belgian employers and workers who also need to handle visas, work permits, or residence paperwork alongside these new social-security rules, VisaHQ offers an end-to-end support service that can take much of the administrative weight off your shoulders. Their local team in Brussels helps prepare and file applications, keeps tabs on changing EU notification requirements, and can coordinate documentation for multi-country assignments—visit https://www.visahq.com/belgium/ for details on how they can streamline your mobility programme.
The text also clarifies which country pays benefits for cross-border and multi-state workers, introduces prior-notification rules for detached staff, and for the first time lists long-term-care benefits that must remain portable. Why it matters for mobility programmes: Belgian multinationals that routinely redeploy staff across EU borders – whether for project work, short-term rotation or remote “work-from-any-where” arrangements – will gain greater clarity on which payroll should carry social-security costs if a contract ends unexpectedly. **Extended benefit portability could make short assignment contracts more attractive to employees**, reducing the perceived risk of moving abroad. The final regulation still needs a plenary vote and legal-linguistic checks, but Belgian HR teams should already revisit secondment policies, especially the sections covering end-of-assignment support and job-search assistance. They will also need processes to issue the new A1 prior-notification for postings longer than three consecutive days (construction excluded).
For Belgian employers and workers who also need to handle visas, work permits, or residence paperwork alongside these new social-security rules, VisaHQ offers an end-to-end support service that can take much of the administrative weight off your shoulders. Their local team in Brussels helps prepare and file applications, keeps tabs on changing EU notification requirements, and can coordinate documentation for multi-country assignments—visit https://www.visahq.com/belgium/ for details on how they can streamline your mobility programme.
The text also clarifies which country pays benefits for cross-border and multi-state workers, introduces prior-notification rules for detached staff, and for the first time lists long-term-care benefits that must remain portable. Why it matters for mobility programmes: Belgian multinationals that routinely redeploy staff across EU borders – whether for project work, short-term rotation or remote “work-from-any-where” arrangements – will gain greater clarity on which payroll should carry social-security costs if a contract ends unexpectedly. **Extended benefit portability could make short assignment contracts more attractive to employees**, reducing the perceived risk of moving abroad. The final regulation still needs a plenary vote and legal-linguistic checks, but Belgian HR teams should already revisit secondment policies, especially the sections covering end-of-assignment support and job-search assistance. They will also need processes to issue the new A1 prior-notification for postings longer than three consecutive days (construction excluded).
