This week, the Belgian interior ministry is sending a letter to all registered British citizen with details of the steps they will be required to take after the Brexit transition period ends at midnight on 31 December 2020.

The letter comes in an envelope as above and the letter is signed by state secretary for migration Sammy Mahdi. It explains your rights under the Withdrawal Agreement and the process you will need to follow during 2021 to safeguard them. A pdf copy of the letter can be accessed here.

Essentially all UK nationals and their family members will have to apply for a special new residence status at their commune between 1 January and 31 December 2021. Throughout 2021, the rights of all UK nationals registered as living in Belgium before the end of the transition period will remain protected.

Once you have applied for the new status, you should receive a certificate confirming that the application and this can be used to prove your residence rights - including unlimited access to the Belgian labour market - until your application is officially approved.

Following approval, a new electronic residence card (M card) will be issued to you that is renewable every five years - or every 10 years if you have already acquired permanent residence here.

All current residence cards (E/E+/F/F+) for British citizens will cease to be valid on 31 March 2022.

The process

More information on the application process can be found here. The application must be made with the commune where you are currently registered as living on the national register. There will be an application form to fill in and you will need to also provide:

• A copy of your valid Belgian residence document (appendices 8, E or E+ card).
• A valid identity card or passport (valid is underlined and may indicate that passports with less than six months validity before the expiry date may not be accepted - this needs to be checked). 
• An extract from the criminal record which is not older than 6 months.

The criminal record extract can be a Belgian extract or an extract from the United Kingdom's criminal record (police records) or the country where you were resident before coming to Belgium. You will also need a legalized translation of this extract if it is not in Dutch, French, German or English.

The supporting documentation should be submitted at the time of application or, at the latest, within 3 months of the date of application. No decision - and therefore no issue of a new card - can be made for incomplete applications and excessive delay may result in your application being declared inadmissible.

Further information on the process and your rights in Belgium under the Withdrawal Agreement can be found on this dedicated Belgian government website.