Articles 61/1/4, §2, first paragraph, 6° of the Act of 15 December 1980 and 104 of the Royal Decree of 8 October 1981]
The Immigration Office may terminate the residency authorisation as a student or refuse a submitted application for renewal of such authorisation if the student, taking into account their results, extends their studies abusively, in particular when:
- they were granted residency authorisation to pursue graduate or undergraduate studies and did not obtain at least 45 credits after the first two years of study;
- they were granted residency authorisation to pursue graduate or undergraduate studies and did not obtain at least 90 credits after their third year of study;
- they were granted residency authorisation to pursue undergraduate studies and did not obtain at least 135 credits after the fourth year of study;
- they were granted residency authorisation to pursue a graduate course of 90 or 120 credits and did not successfully complete it after three or four years of study, respectively;
- they were granted residency authorisation to pursue an undergraduate course of 180 or 240 credits and did not successfully complete it after five or six years of study, respectively;
- they were granted residency authorisation to pursue a continuing undergraduate course ("bachelor after bachelor") of 60 credits and did not successfully complete it after two years of study;
- they were granted residency authorisation to follow a master's programme, whether combined with a bridging or preparatory programme or not, and did not obtain at least 60 credits after the second year of study;
- they were granted residency authorisation to follow a master's programme, whether combined with a bridging or preparatory programme or not, and did not obtain at least 120 credits after the third year of study;
- they were granted residency authorisation to follow a master's programme or a continuing master's programme ("master after master's") of 60, 120 or 180 credits, and did not successfully complete it after two, three or four years of study, respectively;
- they were granted residency authorisation to take an aggregate course of higher secondary education and did not successfully complete it after the second year of study.
To assess the number of credits, only credits earned during the current course and credits earned during previous courses for which an exemption was granted during the current course are taken into account.
For the application of points 1 to 9, the terms graduate, bachelor, master, preparatory and transitional programme, and credits must be understood in accordance with the decrees of the competent Community on the regulation of higher education.
For the application of point 9, in case a master's programme is accompanied by a transitional or preparatory programme starting from 30 credits, the period within which their stay can be terminated is extended by one additional academic year.
For the application of points 1 to 9, if the student, where applicable, did not successfully complete their preparatory year, then this preparatory year shall also be counted as a year of study.
For the purposes of points 1 to 9, if the student attended a programme of a higher academic level than the current programme during the previous academic year and did not successfully complete that prior higher programme, then that prior year shall also be counted as a year of study.
Useful info:
The Immigration Office may request from the student or from the institution of higher education at which the student is enrolled or was enrolled any information or documents useful in assessing whether studies are being extended abusively. This information or these documents must be provided within 15 days of being requested. After the deadline has passed, the Immigration Office may make a decision without waiting for the requested information or documents.