Translation of Residence and Family Documents for Belgium

Settle the language region first, the document second

A family reunification application in Belgium is assessed by the Dienst Vreemdelingenzaken, but most of the day-to-day business runs through the municipality where the family lives. What makes Belgium distinctive is that it has three language regions: Dutch is used in the Flemish region, French in the Walloon region and German in a small region in the east. Brussels is bilingual. Which language your papers are translated into is determined by the municipality where your spouse or your parent lives. A translation made into the wrong language is not accepted, and it is the most easily avoided mistake there is in a Belgian file.

The second distinction is the legal form of the relationship. Alongside marriage, Belgium also recognises registered legal cohabitation, and the two routes call for different sets of documents. On the cohabitation route, additional evidence of the continuity of the relationship comes to the fore; on the marriage route, civil status documents sit at the centre.

The stage that runs at the municipality

If you are marrying in Belgium, the marriage file is submitted to the municipality and contains a birth certificate, a civil registry record showing marital status and a certificate confirming that there is no impediment to marriage. The registrar also assesses whether the marriage rests on a genuine intention to found a family; this assessment is an established practice in Belgium, and where necessary the couple are interviewed separately. That is why supporting evidence of the history of the relationship earns its place in the file even though it appears on no official list.

Route	Document at the centre	Supporting evidence
Marriage	Certificate of capacity to marry and birth certificate	Income and housing documents
Legal cohabitation	Civil status certificate	Evidence of the continuity of the relationship
Reunification with a child	Birth certificate	Custody judgment and consent

The commonest ground for refusal

The reason family reunification files in Belgium most often end badly is doubt about whether the relationship is genuine. A marriage contracted after a short acquaintance, the absence of a shared language, or the parties not knowing basic things about one another will each set off a further examination. Second on the list is the sponsor’s income not being regarded as stable; fixed-term contracts and a history of social assistance are assessed separately. Third is the form of the papers: a translation without an apostille, or without the stamp of a sworn court translator, does not go into the file. With documents coming from Türkiye, how current their dates are is also strictly checked.

Translation, apostille and the multilingual extract

The sequence runs like this: the document is obtained, the apostille is completed in Türkiye, and it is then translated into the language of the region by a sworn translator. Belgium is among the countries that recognise the multilingual international extract; obtaining birth and marriage records in that form can reduce the need for translation at the municipal stage. Court judgments and income documents, by contrast, need translating in every case. For detail document by document you can turn to our document page, and for a comparison with other countries to our country guide.

The custody file in reunification with a child

The set of documents asked of a parent who wants to bring a child to Belgium differs from the one for a spouse. The birth certificate establishes parentage; the real argument, however, turns on custody. The court judgment settling custody after a divorce is expected to be submitted together with a document showing that the other parent consents to the child settling abroad. Where that consent is missing, the file runs into an examination of the best interests of the child and the decision is delayed.

Translating court judgments is both longer and more delicate work than translating civil status documents. The judgment is translated in full: the reasoning, the operative part and the finality endorsement are all carried across together. Translating the operative part alone is treated as incomplete by the Belgian authorities, because the date on which the judgment became final, and which right was granted to which parent, are read out of the reasoning.

Once the child has arrived in the country, the birth certificate and any earlier school records are asked for again, in the language of the region, at enrolment. That request is independent of the immigration file and follows the school’s own calendar; papers that are not ready when the enrolment period opens can cost a whole year. For families moving with children, it is therefore sensible to prepare the school documents at the same time as the immigration file.

After arrival: municipal registration and the card

Once you have entered Belgium you must register with the municipality within a set period. After registration an official verifies the address in person, and until that visit has taken place the residence card procedure does not move forward. Nor should it be forgotten, once the card has been collected, that residence remains conditional in the early years; if the grounds for reunification fall away, the card may not be renewed.

One practical suggestion: preparing two sets of both the originals and the translations of the documents brought from Türkiye saves time if the municipality and the immigration authority each ask for originals of their own. Given names and surnames also have to match the passport exactly; a single letter of difference produces a correction request at the registration stage. To pin down which language your papers need to be translated into, you can upload them and request a quotation, and see the cost per page on our pricing page.

This content is for information only; a country’s practice on apostilles or consular legalisation may change. The requirements in force on the date of the procedure are what count.