Letter of recommendation
If you would like to obtain a letter of recommendation for your CV or as a reference for future employers, ask your supervisor at the host institution to provide you with one before you leave.
Certificate of Services Rendered
If there is a bilateral social security agreement between your home country and Belgium, you should ask the Human Resources Department at your host institution for a Certificate of Services Rendered (showng your pension contributions).
Residence permit
If you return your residence permit to the town hall prior to departure, you will receive a ‘Model 8’ form confirming that you have deregistered. The customs authorities may ask to see this document when you leave Belgium. If you do not return your residence permit to the town hall prior to departure, you need to write to the town hall (enclosing a copy of your residence permit) and ask to be deregistered. Make sure that you inform the town hall of your new address and of your permanent address in your home country.
Welfare rights
It is important that your social welfare rights are maintained while you move from one country to another, in particular regarding unemployment, healthcare, etc.
The following organisations and tools are available to help you:
- for general information: Europe Direct ☎+ 800 6789 10 11 http://europa.eu/europedirect/index_en.htm
- to resolve problems with a national administration (SOLVIT) http://ec.europa.eu/solvit/index_en.htm
- to get legal advice from Your Europehttp://europa.eu/youreurope/advice/enquiry_en.htm
Unemployment benefits
If there is a bilateral social security agreement between your home country and Belgium, you should obtain a U1 document from ONEM/RVA (the Belgian National Employment Office), so that you can try to claim unemployment benefits in your home country. In order to obtain the U1 document, you will need a C4 document issued by the Human Resources Department at your host university.
Mutuality
Do not forget to terminate your affiliation to the mutuality with which you were registered.
Income tax
It is possible for you to complete your tax return in advance, prior to your departure from Belgium.
In order to do so, you must:
- contact the Human Resources Department at your host university and request a provisional remuneration certificate. The definitive individual detailed account will be sent to you by email at the latest at the end of May with a summary of salary payments for the preceding year.
- contact the local tax office for your municipality of residence and request an ‘exercice spécial Revenus de 20xx’ (Special tax return for 20xx). The form will be sent to your home address in Belgium and you will have 1 month to complete and return it.
If you do not complete your tax form in advance, it will be sent around May by post to the address you gave to the town hall when you deregistered.
Bank account
If you wish to keep your bank account in Belgium provisionally open after your departure, contact your branch and ask for an email address at which you can contact them when you wish to close your account.
Housing arrangements
Make sure that you give notice of your intention to leave your apartment well in time! In Belgium, notice must generally be given by registered letter 3 months before the expected departure date or the end of rental contract. It is essential to inform the landlord of your intention to leave the apartment even if you have a 1 year rental contract. If you do not do so, your contract will be automatically renewed. Schedule the exit inspection with your landlord and transfer water, gas and electricity meters to the landlord’s name or the new tenant’s name. Cancel TV, phone and internet contracts.
For Belgians who are going abroad
You will find useful advice on the website of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs:
http://diplomatie.belgium.be/en/services/services_abroad/registration/moving_abroad
For information about social security,see:
http://www.leavingbelgium.be/
Children
If your children are going abroad with you, check that you are in order as regards compulsory education regulations. Children are subject to compulsory education in Belgium between the ages of 6 and 18, whether they are attending school in Belgium or abroad. You must be able to prove that your children have received schooling.