General Principles

On this website, you can find the residence permits which are mentioned in annex 22 of the Practical Handbook for the Border Guards.

8 Principles for residence permits for Extra-Schengen travels

  1. If all the following conditions and principles are met, it is possible for a foreigner to undertake a visa-free trip to Belgium using this residence permit:
  • The person has to be in possession of a valid and recognized travel document (see sections “Recognized Travel Documents). During the travel, both the travel document and the residence permit have to be in the possession of the traveler.
  • The following 5 identity parameters have to match 100% between the travel document and the residence permit: Name, First Name, Sex, Date of Birth and Nationality.

If there is not a 100% match than it is not possible to travel with that combination:

  • Example 1: A person has dual nationality X and Y, both of which are third countries[1].   The person concerned cannot travel with the passport issued by third country X and a residence permit stating nationality Y.
  • Example 2: A person has been recognised as a refugee in another Schengen Member State Z. The person concerned must therefore travel with a refugee passport issued by Z.  

The person concerned cannot, therefore, travel on the basis of the national passport of his country of origin A with nationality A, and a residence document issued by Schengen Member State Z, marked 'refugee'.

Refugees and beneficiaries of subsidiary protection status: see section 6 below

  1. Other documents that are not mentioned under the section “Visa-Free residence permits” do not have any value to replace a visa or for travel. For example:
  • Belgium: Attestation d'immatriculation (Attest van immatriculatie), certificate of loss or theft of a residence permit, …
  • France:
    • “Récépissé de demande de carte de séjour - a demandé la délivrance d'un premier titre de séjour.”
    • “Récépissé de demande de carte de séjour - a demandé le duplicata de son titre de séjour.”
    • “Récépissé de demande de carte de séjour - a demandé la modification de son titre de séjour.”
    • “Attestation de prolongation d’instruction d’une demande de renouvellement de titre de séjour.”
  1. Third country nationals who are holders of a valid long-stay visa (visa D) or residence permit issued by one of the Schengen states may travel visa-free to the territory of other Schengen Member states. Such a visa/residence permit also allows them to stay on the territory of the other Schengen states for a maximum of 90 days within a period of 180 days. All this, of course, within the period of validity indicated on the visa/residence permit.[2]

For a long stay in Belgium (= more than 90 days in any 180 day period): a residence permit delivered by Belgium or a D visa delivered by Belgium is always required.

  1. Residence Permits, D visa, or any other visa, delivered by Bulgaria, Romania, Cyprus and Ireland : these documents in principle don’t have any (visa-free) value for the Schengen area. There are only a limited number of exceptions. Do verify the section “Residence Permits delivered by Bulgaria, Romania, Cyprus and Ireland” for detailed information.
  2. In the list of Residence Permits, a distinction is made between:
  • “Residence permits delivered according to the uniform model of the EU” and
  • “All other documents issued to third-country nationals having equivalent value to a residence permit”. The documents are not according to the uniform model of the EU.

This distinction is important to check whether the document has visa-free value or not. Always check under which specific section the document falls.

  • The uniform format of a residence permit is always in the form of a card containing data on the front and back. The uniform format of a residence permit never takes the form of a vignette or sticker.

You can find more information about the uniform format on the EU website

  1. Refugees and beneficiaries of subsidiary protection status

Recognised refugees must travel with a travel document issued by the State offering them protection. They cannot travel on the basis of a travel document issued by their country of origin. Recognised refugees may never travel with the national passport of their country of origin.  Example:

- OK to travel: person travels on the basis of a Refugee Passport issued by another Schengen State X and a residence permit from that Schengen State X stating "refugee".

- NOT OK to travel: A person has been recognised as a refugee in another Schengen Member State Z. In this context, the person concerned must travel with a refugee passport issued by Z. The person concerned cannot therefore travel on the basis of the national passport of his country of origin A with nationality A and a residence document issued by Schengen Member State Z stating "refugee".

Persons with the status of subsidiary protection: retain their national travel document of the country of origin. They can travel in a visa-free manner with this travel document, provided that they are also in possession of a residence permit which is mentioned under the section “Residence Permits” of this website. For example:

- OK to travel: the person has been granted subsidiary protection status by another Schengen Member State Y. He retains the national passport of his country-of-origin A with nationality A. The other Schengen Member State Y will issue him with a residence permit marked 'subsidiary protection', with nationality A. The person concerned can travel visa-free on the basis of his passport from his country-of-origin A and a residence permit issued by Schengen Member State Y, marked 'nationality A’.

The Belgian and European rules on subsidiary protection status only provide for the issue of a specific travel document by Belgium or another EU Member State if the beneficiary of the status cannot obtain a national passport and has to travel abroad for urgent humanitarian reasons.


7.Citizens of an EU Member State or a Schengen Member State may travel on the basis of a valid identity card issued by their country of origin or a valid national passport. They must always be in possession of at least one of these two documents.

They cannot travel on the sole basis of a residence permit (e.g. for Belgium an E, E+, EU or EU+ card) without also being in possession of a valid identity card or passport.

  1. As of 01.01.2021 Residence cards or visa delivered by the United Kingdom don’t have any value to replace a visa for travel to the Schengen area. This both concerns visa for short stay (C visa) as airport transit visa (A visa)

 


[1] Third country is a country which is not part of the Schengen area or the EU.

[2] See document “Guidelines for reading the visa sticker type A, C and D”