Student employment

Nationality conditions

The student employment legislation in Belgium is different for nationals of the European Economic Area (EEA) and for non-EEA Nationals.

• EEA nationals: students who are nationals of one of the member states of the European Economic Area (EEA) as well as students with the Swiss nationality, may be employed in Belgium under the same conditions as Belgian students.
  
• Non-EEA nationals: if you are a non EEA student with a right of residence in Belgium on the basis of your study, you have a temporary residence card type A, which mentions on the back ‘arbeidsmarkt: beperkt’ (‘job market: limited’).
  During the validity period of this card, you are allowed to work with a student employment contract for any employer or company in Belgium. It is not necessary to request a separate work permit.
  In case you received an ‘annex 15’ from the city hall while waiting for your actual residence permit card to be issued, you can also use this document to work in Belgium.
  
  With your student residence card or your annex 15, you are entitled to work:
  • during the academic year outside school periods: for maximum 20 hours per week. 
    Bear in mind that studying must always be the main occupation of someone who works as a student employee. It must be possible to combine the job with your studies, therefore you are not allowed to work during mandatory course time.
  • during official school vacations (i.e. winter, spring or summer holidays): the 20 hours limit does not apply and you may work without restrictions.
    If you arrive in Belgium during the summer vacation preceding the academic year you will start your studies, you are not allowed to work during that vacation period.

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Student employment contract

In general, as a student you must be employed with a student employment contract. This type of contract can be used during the academic year and the summer holiday period. The fact that you work more than 650 hours does not change this.

Conditions for a student employment contract:

• It must be a temporary contract for maximum 12 months.
• It must be drawn up in the official language of the region were you are working (Dutch, French, German) to comply with Belgian law.I
• It must be drawn up in duplicate, signed by both parties, with a copy for the student and one for the employer.
• It must be signed before the employment begins.

A student employment contract always includes a trial period of 3 working days, even if this is not specifically mentioned in the contract you sign.
During this period both the student and the employer can breach the contract without further formalities.

If you work without a contract, this is often a job as a self-employed person. Be aware that this involves many hidden costs and complicated formalities.

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Social security contributions

In principle, all employees, including students, must pay social security contributions (13.07 %) to the National Social Security Office (NSSO) in order to finance health insurance, holiday pay, etc. If you pay this contribution, you are entitled to a vacation allowance and in some cases to child benefits.

As a student, you are exempted from these social security contributions and you will pay a “solidarity” premium of 2.71% instead, if certain conditions are met:

• You are employed on a student employment contract.
• You work maximum  650 hours per calendar year (the “650-hour package”).
• Your student job takes place outside the periods of compulsory attendance at your university/university college.

When a student is exempted from social security contributions, the employer is also exempted and pays a solidarity premium of 5.42% instead.

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More about the 650-hour package

As a student, you receive each calendar year a set of 650 hours during which you can work by paying only a solidarity premium instead of the normal social security contributions.

You can check the number of hours left in your package on the website of the Social Security Office Student At Work and print an attestation with the number of hours that remains in your package.
In order to log in, there are several options. The most common one is the e-ID card reader, your Belgian ID card or residence permit card and the pin code of this card. You can also log in with the app ‘Itsme’ that you can install and activate on your smart phone.

For the calculation of the 650 hours, only the effectively worked hours are counted and deducted from your package (e.g. the hours of a paid bank holiday are not deducted from your package, but you receive the wage with deduction of the solidarity premium).

You can work more than 650 hours per calender year. In that case, you and your employer will have to pay the normal social security contribution as of the 651st hour. You can still keep your student status and you must be employed with a student employment contract.
You are not obliged to use the 650 hours: in consultation with your employer, you can decide whether to use your 650 hours or not. If you don’t use your 650 hours, you and your employer will pay the normal social security contributions. You must be employed with a student employment contract.

Under certain conditions you can work additionally as a student in different industries on top of the 650 hours, e.g. as an occasional worker in the hotel and catering industry (in Dutch: ‘horeca’). Those days are also lower in cost for the employer.

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Employment and taxes

If you have worked for maximum 650 hours in a calendar year, you will generally only pay a solidarity premium. In this case no income tax (in Dutch: ‘bedrijfsvoorheffing’) will normally be withheld.
Were taxes deducted, in the form of an advance on the income tax from your wages, called ‘bedrijfsvoorheffing’ ? If you earn less than the tax-free allowance, you will get a refund of this tax via your tax return.

Anyone who lives in Belgium for longer than three months must register at the local authority. You will receive a national registration number and will be entitled to reimbursement of taxes if your taxable income is below the ‘personal tax allowance’.

Special case: students from countries bordering Belgium

If you are a student from the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany and France, you must also register at the local authority, but you can choose to do that as a ‘border student’. You will then receive a so-called “annex 33” (in Dutch: ‘Bijlage 33’) and you will not have a Belgian national number.
If you want to work in Belgium, you will have to apply for a specific national number, called a ‘bisnummer’. This matter is subject to specific tax regulations.

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More information

• Student At Work
• at the Social Services’ office of your campus/Office for Student Affairs

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