Spend the first morning of your first 30 days in Belgium finding the town hall responsible for the address where you slept. A hotel near your new office and a flat ten minutes away can fall in different municipalities. That detail decides who handles your residence file and where the police may come to confirm your address.
Before you travel
Put your passport or national identity card in your hand luggage. Add your work contract, enrolment letter or family documents, depending on why you are moving. Ask the municipality which originals it needs and whether a translation or legalisation is necessary before paying for either. Keep copies somewhere you can reach without your work laptop.
If you are taking temporary accommodation, send the address, dates and type of booking to the municipality. Ask how you should report your arrival and what evidence it will accept. An agent’s promise that you can receive post settles only the postal question. Registration depends on where you actually live. How Belgium determines a principal residence.
Days one to seven: start the right residence procedure
For an EU citizen settling for more than three months, the usual deadline to apply for registration is within three months of arrival. Start earlier. The rules in force since September 2025 require the supporting documents for your status when you apply. A jobseeker and a salaried employee therefore need different paperwork. EU residence guidance · Belgian registration decree.
If you entered on a Belgian D visa, contact your municipality straight away. Belgian consular guidance tells visa holders to present themselves within eight days of entry. Follow the local instructions on submitting a file, and keep the acknowledgement. If the first available appointment falls outside the deadline, ask in writing how to file on time. Belgian consular guidance for D visa holders.
Week two: settle the address and the bills
At the handover, photograph the meters, record the readings with the landlord and count the keys. Ask which bills arrive in your name. In a building with shared heating, check whether the monthly charge is an advance that will later be reconciled. Keep the lease, inventory and utility handover together. Brussels guidance on signing a lease.
Now give payroll the information it still needs. Ask for the first payment date and an estimate for the part-month if you started mid-month. This is the figure that matters when the deposit, first rent and moving costs all fall due together.
Weeks three and four: close the open files
Contact a Belgian health fund, or your existing insurer if you remain covered abroad. Ask for the date your cover starts and what to show a doctor in the meantime. Before the month ends, check your residence correspondence, confirm your name is visible on the doorbell and note any outstanding card appointment. Belgian guidance on healthcare cover.
For the broader picture before you pack, read Together’s guide to moving to Belgium.
More in this series Your commune appointment · Your first Belgian lease · Three household budgets · Your first GP visit.
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