Visa to practise (Belgium, health professionals)

The word visa causes confusion. For Belgium's FPS Public Health (Federal Public Service Health, Food Chain Safety and Environment), the visa is the authorisation that lets you practise a healthcare profession. The FPS says you need it to practise in Belgium with a foreign diploma. It covers doctors, dentists, pharmacists, physiotherapists, clinical psychologists, nurses responsible for general care, midwives, paramedical professions, nursing assistants and others.

It has nothing to do with entering the country. Your right to live and work in Belgium comes separately, usually from a single permit. Once you hold the visa, you can apply for your INAMI-RIZIV number, and doctors register with the Order of Physicians.

1. Get equivalence. Apply to NARIC-Vlaanderen (Dutch), the Service des équivalences of the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles (French) or the German-speaking Community.
2. Get Community recognition if your profession needs it. This applies in particular to physiotherapists, nursing assistants and paramedical professions.
3. Prove your language. See the levels below.
4. Collect a certificate of good professional conduct from the competent authority of every country where you have practised, other than Belgium, no more than three months old.
5. Complete the FPS application form and email it with the attachments to [email protected].

• Master's-level professions (doctor, dentist, pharmacist, physiotherapist, clinical psychologist): C1, with B2 accepted for written expression.
• Bachelor's-level professions (nurse responsible for general care, midwife, most paramedical professions): B2.
• Below bachelor's (licensed nurses, some paramedical professions): B1. Nursing assistants and non-emergency ambulance drivers: A2.

The language must be Dutch, French or German. Proof is a diploma from a school taught in one of those languages or an official certificate less than four years old. It must be a test you took, not course attendance, covering all four skills, each passed at the level. Unsupervised online tests are not accepted. The good-conduct certificate may be called a CCPS or letter of good standing; if you never practised, send proof of non-registration or a sworn statement.

The FPS procedures for non-European diplomas and for EEA diplomas are free of charge, although the Community charges for equivalence. With an EEA or Swiss diploma you request recognition from the Community and the FPS then processes the visa automatically, asking for good conduct certificates and language proof. A non-European doctor coming for supervised clinical training can instead receive a temporary training authorisation of up to two years under article 146, usually coordinated by the host hospital's university.

• Applying to the embassy. The health visa comes from the FPS, not a consulate.
• Old or weak language proof. Certificates over four years old, online tests without supervision or a level reached in only some skills are refused.
• Missing documents. The FPS issues the visa only once every document has arrived.
• Late INAMI registration. If you send the INAMI form more than a month after the visa, your INAMI start date moves later.