Moving to Brussels from the UK (Post-Brexit Guide for Britons)

If you moved to Brussels before 2021, Brexit barely touched you. If you are moving now, everything changed: as a UK national you are a third-country national in the eyes of Belgian law, on the same footing as an American or Indian arrival. That means permission to enter before you travel, plus a longer list of things to sort — licence, healthcare, pension, pets. This guide walks a stressed Briton through the specifics.

First: which category are you in?

There are two completely different UK situations, and confusing them wastes months.

• You already lived in Belgium before 1 January 2021. You are a beneficiary of the Withdrawal Agreement. You should hold an M card (or N card for family members). The application window ran from 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2021 and is now closed; the old EU registration certificates and residence documents expired on 31 March 2022. If this is you, you keep broadly the rights you had as an EU citizen — this guide's visa section does not apply to you, but the driving, healthcare and pet sections still do.
• You are moving now (2021 onwards). You are a third-country national. No special Brexit route exists for you. You go through the ordinary non-EU immigration process below.

If you are in the second group, the rest of this guide is written for you.

Getting the right to live and work: single permit + visa D

For any stay longer than 90 days, you need two things lined up before you fly:

1. An approved single permit (permis unique / gecombineerde vergunning) — the combined work-and-residence authorisation for third-country workers.
2. A long-stay visa D, which you collect at a Belgian consulate once the permit is approved.

The critical point Britons get wrong: your employer files the single permit, not you. In Brussels it goes through the federal One-Stop counter portal, and the Brussels-Capital Region assesses the work side while the federal Immigration Office (Office des Étrangers) assesses residence. You supply the documents — passport, signed contract, diplomas, a criminal-record extract and a medical certificate — and hand them to HR.

Expect roughly four months: a 15-day completeness check, then up to 120 days for the joint decision. If no decision arrives by the legal deadline, the permit is deemed granted. Once approved, you collect your visa D (marked B34 for a single permit) and, after arriving, register at your commune within 8 working days to receive your A card (the physical residence card).

Salary thresholds are regional and indexed. For the highly qualified route in Brussels in 2026 the gross monthly minimum is €3,703.44; the EU Blue Card is €4,748.00. Confirm the current figure with Brussels Economy and Employment before signing — a contract quoting an outdated salary gets refused. Our full breakdown is in the single permit guide.

Reality check: there is no "just turn up and job-hunt for a year" option any more. As a Briton you can visit Belgium visa-free for up to 90 days in any 180 under Schengen, but you cannot work or settle on that basis. The job and the permit come first.

Exchanging your UK driving licence

You can drive on your UK photocard for a while, but not forever. In the City of Brussels you have a maximum of 185 days from the date you register at the commune to exchange it. Good news: GOV.UK confirms UK licence holders can exchange without taking a test.

At the City of Brussels commune counter you'll need:

• Your valid Belgian ID / residence card
• Your original UK driving licence
• A recent passport photo (white background) if your appearance has changed

Costs in the City of Brussels: €38 for the Belgian licence plus a €5 authentication survey. The authentication check takes roughly 2 months, then the card is ordered (about 5 working days). Because Brussels has 19 communes, fees and processing times vary slightly — check your own commune's page.

Exchange early. Your commune surrenders your UK licence to the DVLA during the process, so don't leave it until a trip home.

Healthcare: mutuelle, not the old EHIC

This trips up almost every Briton. The EHIC you may remember only ever covered temporary stays, and it does not make you a covered resident. As a Brussels resident who works and pays Belgian social security, you join the Belgian system like anyone else:

1. Register at your commune and get your national register number.
2. Join a mutuelle (French) / ziekenfonds (Dutch) — a health insurance fund. There are several (Mutualité chrétienne, Solidaris, Partenamut, the neutral and independent funds, and the public HZIV/CAAMI). Membership is compulsory and mostly free at the point of joining.
3. Pay your contributions through payroll; the mutuelle then reimburses part of your medical costs and issues you a health record.

See how the mutuelle works for the mechanics of reimbursement and the small monthly complementary fee most funds charge.

When the S1 form matters. You only need an S1 (issued by HMRC) if you stay under UK social security while living in Belgium — i.e. you're a UK state pensioner, a posted worker, or a frontier worker. In that case HMRC issues the S1 and you hand it to a Belgian mutuelle to unlock Belgian-system healthcare paid for by the UK. A normal employee on a Brussels contract does not use an S1 — you're simply in the Belgian system. If none of this fits and you have a gap before cover starts, hold private cover; SafetyWing is a common stopgap for new arrivals.

Pensions

Post-Brexit, your pension is protected by the EU–UK social security coordination rules. Your UK and Belgian state pensions run independently but with aggregation: the authorities totalise your contribution periods in both countries to decide eligibility, so years worked in the UK count towards qualifying in Belgium and vice versa. You claim each pension separately from the relevant authority when eligible. A UK State Pension paid to a resident of Belgium is uprated annually as it would be in the UK (Belgium is inside the coordination scope). Verify your own record with the official Belgium–UK convention page.

Bringing your pets

Since Brexit, Great Britain is a "Part 2 listed" third country, so the old EU pet passport issued in GB is no longer valid for onward EU travel. For a dog or cat coming from Great Britain to Belgium you need:

• A microchip (fitted before, or at the same time as, the rabies jab)
• A valid rabies vaccination — you must wait at least 21 full days after the first dose before travelling
• An Animal Health Certificate (AHC) signed by an official veterinarian in GB, obtained within 10 days of travel

The AHC is valid for 10 days to enter the EU (and up to 6 months for re-entry to GB and onward EU travel). Belgium does not require tapeworm treatment for entry — that rule only applies to Finland, Ireland, Malta, Norway and Northern Ireland. Enter the EU through a Traveller's Point of Entry where your documents are checked. Full details are on GOV.UK's animal health certificate page.

Common problems and fixes

• "My employer says I can start work while the permit is processed." For a first application you generally cannot work until it's approved. Get written confirmation the file is filed, and don't board a plane to start a job on a tourist stamp.
• "I thought my EHIC/GHIC covered me as a resident." It doesn't. Those cards are for temporary visits. As a resident you must join a mutuelle. Sort it in your first weeks to avoid paying full price at the doctor.
• "I left my UK licence exchange too late." Miss the 185-day window and you may have to sit the Belgian theory and practical tests. Book the commune appointment as soon as you have your residence card.
• "I lived here before Brexit but never applied for the M card." The window closed on 31 December 2021 and your old EU documents expired in March 2022. You can only apply late with proof of reasonable grounds for missing the deadline — contact the Immigration Office urgently rather than assuming you're still covered.
• "My pet's rabies jab was last week — can we travel?" No. You must wait a full 21 days after the first vaccination. Plan the vet timeline backwards from your move date.

Your one next step

If you're moving now, the single thing that unblocks everything else is the single permit — and only your employer can file it. Email your Brussels HR contact today and confirm, in writing, that they've started the One-Stop counter application, then begin gathering your passport, diplomas, criminal-record extract and medical certificate. For the authoritative rules on your post-Brexit status, go straight to the Immigration Office Brexit page (dofi.ibz.be).