Jobs in Belgium
for foreigners 2026:
salaries, visas and how to apply.

If you want to live and work in Belgium, one of the first things you need to do is find a job. This is our comprehensive guide to how to get a job in Belgium.

In this article, we will take you through everything you need to know. We will start with who can work in Belgium and what visas are required, the types of jobs that are available, and the kinds of skills and experience that you will need to be competitive in the Belgian job market. We will also discuss where to look for jobs, including English-speaking jobs, and tips on how to format your CV for the market.

Before you apply, check how your CV reads to a Belgian recruiter with our free CV check.

Belgium sits at the center of a triangle between the big economies of Germany 🇩🇪, France 🇫🇷, and the UK 🇬🇧, and the Belgian capital of Brussels (or Bruxelles) serves as the capital of the European Union. This has made Belgium an attractive home for NGOs and big international businesses, and an attractive and competitive job market for international workers.

Working conditions in Belgium are good. The unemployment rate was 6.1% in the second quarter of 2026, according to Statbel. That is in line with the EU average of 6.1% (Eurostat, July 2026). Salaries are high: the average full-time gross salary is €4,076 a month, with a median of €3,728 (Statbel, October 2022, latest available). Top-paying sectors such as petrochemicals, head-office consultancy and finance run from about €5,500 to €6,400 a month.

You can expect a standard 38-hour working week on an annual basis, with 20 days of paid annual leave for a full-time five-day week plus 10 paid public holidays. Many employers and sectors offer more. The work culture in Belgium is one of productivity and pride in your work, but work-life balance is also prioritized. Naturally, competition for jobs is stiff, and in most cases, you need to be at least bilingual.

Belgium is also a relatively expensive place to call home. It has high tax rates: income-tax brackets run from 25% up to 50%, and for 2026 income the 50% rate applies above €51,070 of taxable income. Rent is the biggest cost for most newcomers, especially in Brussels, so price it before you accept an offer.

What Changed for 2026: New Rules in All Three Regions

Belgium runs three parallel work-permit systems, Flanders, Brussels and Wallonia each set their own thresholds and lists, and all three moved in 2026:

• Flanders tightened economic migration from 1 January 2026. Highly skilled permits are now reserved for genuinely highly qualified functions (with diploma-authenticity checks), low-skilled roles are excluded from labour migration entirely, and mid-skilled hiring outside the bottleneck list is only possible for jobs on the wider VDAB shortage list, with the vacancy published on VDAB for at least nine weeks. Flanders has also announced a regional fee for work-permit applications, due to start during 2026. Check the current amount before you file.
• The main salary thresholds froze everywhere except Wallonia. Flanders and Brussels carried their 2025 thresholds into 2026 unchanged, because Statbel published no new average-wage statistics. Wallonia indexed as usual on 1 January 2026: highly qualified up from €51,613 to €53,220, EU Blue Card from €66,738 to €68,815.
• Applications went digital. Since 4 May 2026, Brussels accepts work-authorisation applications only through the federal “Working in Belgium” single portal, no more PDF forms or email. Wallonia also takes permit B and single-permit applications online only, through the same portal.
• The wage floor rose on 1 July 2026. The guaranteed minimum monthly income, the floor for permits without a category-specific threshold, is now €2,233.61 gross per month.

To see how Belgium’s bars compare with the rest of Europe, check our 2026 work visa salary thresholds overview (16 countries).

Who Can Work in Belgium? Do You Need A Visa?

Citizens of the European Union and the European Economic Area (EEA), which includes Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway, as well as Swiss 🇨🇭 nationals are all free to live and work in Belgium without a work visa.

Citizens from other countries will need to obtain a visa to work in Belgium. If you plan to pursue a work visa, you first need to find an employer that offers visa sponsorship jobs. They will need to submit a work permit request, and once this is approved, you can apply for your visa. If you are American and also weighing up the UK, read how Americans can find a job in the UK.

In order for that permit to be approved, your Belgian employer will need to perform a labour market test to demonstrate that there are no suitable candidates of EU nationality to fill the position. Highly qualified and EU Blue Card hires skip this test. So do jobs on a regional shortage list, such as the Brussels list of professions with a labour shortage.

Minimum salary thresholds for non-EU skilled workers (2026)

If you apply as a highly skilled worker, your employer must pay you at least a set minimum salary, and the threshold depends on the region where you will work. These are the 2026 figures.

Lower tiers exist, but they differ by region: Flanders drops to €39,129.60 for under-30s; Wallonia applies a junior rate of €42,576 for under-30s (and €55,052 for Blue Card applicants with less than three years’ experience); Brussels has no reduced tier at all. Executive roles need more again: €79,766 a year in Brussels and €88,790 in Wallonia. Two more things worth knowing. ICT managers and specialists can get the EU Blue Card in Flanders and Brussels without a degree, with three years of relevant experience in the last seven. And processing takes time: Brussels commits to a maximum of 120 days for a highly qualified single permit (90 for the Blue Card), while Flanders publishes indicative waiting times on its website (in June 2025: about two weeks before a highly qualified file is examined, then about 10 to 11 weeks at the federal Immigration Office). File well before your planned start date.

Non-EU citizens wishing to apply for a work visa should apply via the visa application portal.

If you intend to work on a self-employed or freelance basis in Belgium, you must register for a professional card before making a visa application. The required documentation depends on the region in which you intend to function, with different application forms and rules used in Wallonia, Flanders, and Brussels.

If you are in Belgium on a student visa, you can work up to 20 hours a week during the semester and full-time outside of the semester, as long as your work does not interfere with your studies. You can pursue this type of employment on your student visa and do not need an additional work permit.

Unskilled Jobs in Belgium for Foreigners: What Is Realistic Without a Degree?

Plenty of people search for unskilled jobs in Belgium with visa sponsorship, so let’s be honest about what exists. For non-EU citizens there is no general low-skilled work visa, Flanders explicitly excluded low-skilled roles from labour migration in its January 2026 reform, and a job that is on neither the highly-qualified track nor a shortage list is, in Flanders, not eligible at all. Three doors are real:

• Mid-skilled shortage occupations, often without a university degree. Flanders lists 25 mid-skilled functions for 2026, none of which requires a higher-education diploma, including vehicle and machine mechanics, electrotechnicians, heating and refrigeration technicians, pipefitters, data and network technicians, masons, roofers, formwork-concreters, CNC setters, chemical process operators, care assistants, asbestos removers, diamond workers, crane and earthmoving operators, and inland-shipping crew. These roles skip the labour market test; the salary floor is the national minimum (or the sector scale if higher) and the contract must be at least 80% of full-time. Wallonia runs its own list of 56 shortage occupations (valid 1 October 2025 to 30 September 2026, so check for the new list), construction trades, welders, HGV and bus drivers, care assistants, teachers. In Brussels, the Actiris shortage list (updated 1 July 2026) removes the labour-market-test hurdle for listed roles.
• Seasonal work. Capped at five months in any 12-month period. In Flanders it covers agriculture, horticulture and hospitality roles that appear on the VDAB shortage list, simplified since January 2026. In Brussels, agriculture only.
• The student route. Non-EU students can work up to 20 hours a week in term time, with no cap during official holidays. Graduates of Belgian institutions can then stay up to 12 months on a search-year permit, and during that year they can work without a work permit. They must show adequate means of subsistence.

If you are skilled but your offer sits below the highly-qualified bars, check the regional shortage lists first, being listed, not a lower threshold, is usually the realistic route in.

What You Need to Find A Job In Belgium

One of the most important things to consider when preparing to find a job in Belgium is language. It is a multilingual country, and the dominant language depends on which region of the country you intend to settle.

Dutch is spoken in the Flanders region in the north, French is spoken in Wallonia in the south, and German is spoken in a small area in the east. Both Flemish and French are spoken in Brussels, and English is also widely used. Many international companies have offices in Brussels and use English as their official business language.

It is highly beneficial to you to speak the languages commonly used in Belgium. Even if you are applying for a job that specifies English, you will be competing with multilingual candidates. If you speak a language other than those officially used in Belgium, this can also be an attractive characteristic for employers.

Always list the languages that you speak on your CV including your level of fluency.

When submitting a job application, you should compose your CV and cover letter in the same language as the job advertisement if no preferred language is specified.

If you have a foreign diploma, you will need to gain equivalency recognition to have your qualification recognized in Belgium. This can take several months, so start it early in your job search. The NARIC office of the Flemish or French-speaking Community handles it.

How Much Can You Earn in Belgium? Salaries in 2026

The average full-time worker in Belgium earns €4,076 gross per month, and the median is €3,728, per the latest available Statbel structural data (2022). Pay is high by EU standards, but so are taxes. Belgium has the highest tax wedge in the OECD, 52.5% of labour costs for a single average earner in 2025, so a single worker on the average wage keeps about 60% of their gross pay after income tax and social security.

Some sectors pay far above the national average. Here is how gross monthly pay compares across a few of them.

Sources: Statbel structure of earnings survey, October 2022 (average gross monthly pay of full-time employees), for sector, regional and national pay. Guaranteed minimum monthly income from 1 July 2026, per the Walloon employment portal.

Brussels is the highest-paying region, lifted by the EU institutions, international head offices and finance. EU institution salaries follow a fixed grid that EPSO publishes, and entry-level administrator (AD5) pay sits well above the Belgian average.

What Types of Jobs Are Available in Belgium?

Like all countries, Belgium has a diverse employment market, and you could find a job doing almost anything. But most foreigners employed in Belgium tend to work for the big international institutions based there, or in service sectors such as finance, education, and tourism.

Shortage occupations are most accessible to foreigners as your potential employer does not need to perform a labour market test before applying for a work permit for a foreign worker.

The lists are regional and change every year. The 2026 lists include construction trades, electricians and technicians, mechanics and care assistants. Wallonia also lists drivers, accountants and teachers.

Follow these links to find complete lists of shortage occupations for Wallonia, Flanders, and Brussels.

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Where To Search For Jobs in Belgium

There are scores of places where you can search for available job opportunities in Belgium, and you should cast your net widely and use multiple resources. Realistically, expect the search to take several months.

Below we will go through some of the best resources for finding employment in Belgium based on the type of jobs you are looking for.

EU, EEA, and Swiss Citizens

EU and EEA citizens as well as Swiss nationals can search for jobs on the EURES website, the European job mobility portal. The site lists job vacancies in Belgium for foreigners that already have the right to work in Belgium, and include both skilled and unskilled jobs.

You can search for a job based on a country, and you can also upload a CV, which can be seen by employers who register vacancies on the site.

Most vacancies listed for Belgium require Dutch or French.

European Union Jobs

Brussels hosts the main EU institutions, NATO, hundreds of embassies and a large lobbying community, which together make it a major international employer.
If you are looking for a job within the organization of the European Union, you can search for opportunities on the European Personnel Selection Office website. Bear in mind that one of the requirements to work for the EU is that you are an EU national, and you must be fluent in at least two European languages.

NGO Jobs

NATO has its headquarters in Brussels, and so do many international NGOs. You can search for NGOs that are based in Belgium on the WANGO directory and see if they have any international jobs in Belgium.

There is a LinkedIn page for NGO jobs in Brussels, EuroBrussels specializes in NGO and Political jobs, and UNJobs lists United Nations jobs in Brussels as one of its duty stations.

Regional Jobs

Because each region of Belgium is very different, each region has its own public employment office and services. These organizations provide job listings and also services such as legal advice on working in Belgium.

This means that your job search is best conducted on a regional basis. If you are looking for a job in a specific region, it is a good idea to register with the employment office there and use their resources to find regional jobs. You can also visit the site for the National Office of Employment for further links.

To work in Brussels, search for jobs using the Actiris website. In addition to EU institutions, NATO, and NGOs, there are many international businesses based in Brussels and the surrounding region, from software firms such as Collibra to finance, consultancy and pharmaceutical companies.

To work in Flanders, register with VDAB. The Antwerp region is strong in logistics, the port, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and diamonds, with employers such as Katoen Natie and Janssen. Ghent has large car and technology employers, including Volvo Cars and Esko.

To work in Wallonia, register with Le Forem. Wallonia is strong in pharmaceuticals and biotech, aerospace, and defence manufacturing.

Recruitment Agencies

Many Belgium companies work with recruitment agencies to find the talent that they need to fill positions and it is worth registering with multiple agencies to improve your likelihood of finding a valid match.

Before you register, check that the agency is a member of the trade federation Federgon. Michael Page is probably the biggest recruitment agency in Brussels.

Some of the best recruitment agencies include:

• Actief
• Adecco
• Ago
• Daoust
• Hays
• Konvert
• Manpower
• Randstad
• Square City
• Synergie
• Vivaldis

English Jobs

If you are specifically looking for jobs in Belgium for English speakers, there are a number of websites dedicated to these vacancies. You can start with the following four websites, but then expand your search based on the types of jobs that you are looking for. Most English speaking jobs are in Brussels.

• BrusselsJobs
• EnglishJobs
• Euractiv Jobs
• LinkedIn

Other Job Websites in Belgium

Companies in Belgium list their job vacancies on many of the big job listing websites. You will be able to find jobs in Belgium on the following websites.

• AWDC (Diamond Industry)
• Creative Skills (Creative Sector)
• Hosco (Hospitality)
• ICTJob (ICT)
• Indeed
• JobAt
• Job Kitchen (Hospitality)
• Monster
• Port Antwerp (Port Jobs)
• StepStone

Student Jobs

If you are a student in Belgium, you can find student jobs in Brussels and the rest of Belgium on Student.BE, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, and the Facebook group Brussels Student Jobs.

Tips for Composing your Belgium CV

Every country has its own customs when it comes to formatting a CV and preparing a job application. (For wording that actually sells your experience, see our 100 CV achievement examples.) In Belgium it is customary to use the Europass format for your CV for uploading to recruitment websites. You can create your one easily using this official online template tool.

Below are some other important tips for optimizing your CV for the Belgian market.

• Use your preferred name; you don’t have to list your name as it appears on your passport.
• Include a photo if you wish; while it is not common on English CVs, this is standard for German and Flemish CVs.
• Include the languages you speak and your level of fluency.
• Include whether you have permission to work in Belgium.
• Include a profile summary tailored to the specific job and highlighting the elements of your CV that are most relevant to the job you are applying for.
• List work experience before education; highlight responsibilities relevant to the current role.
• Move education to the top of your CV if you have fewer than two years of professional experience.
• Keep the CV clean with minimal design elements to make it easy to skim.

To see how your CV reads to a Belgian recruiter, run our free CV check.

Start Your Belgium Job Search Today

Finding a great job anywhere in the world can be a daunting challenge. While the Belgian job market is full of rich exciting opportunities with the EU, NATO, NGOs, big international businesses, and even the diamond industry, it is also a highly competitive market. If you are weighing neighbouring options too, our guides to finding a job in the Netherlands and remote jobs in Europe are good next reads.

When looking for a job in Belgium, it is important to stand out from the crowd and get matched with opportunities that match your skills and experience and that you will enjoy doing.

Most people aren’t expert at looking and applying for jobs, since it is not something you need to do all that often. A good first step is a CV that works for Belgian recruiters. You can check yours for free.

Planning your next career move? How EP Advisory can help

A visa is only one part of moving your career abroad. You also need a job offer, a CV that works for the local market, and a clear search strategy. That is exactly what we do: we have helped 5,000+ international professionals land roles abroad, from CV and LinkedIn positioning to interview preparation and salary negotiation.

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