Vacature magazine devoted a special to why Belgium is such an attractive country for foreign professionals, "11x best of Belgium". We didn't want you to miss this special. You can read the main reasons for choosing Belgium below or download the full article (pdf, 574 kB).

1. Living in Brussels, half as cheap as London

Buying a house in Brussels is also a good and reliable investment.

In Europe, Belgium is one of the cheaper countries for buying real estate. Countries such as France, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Spain and Ireland are all more expensive than Belgium. Even on comparison with the capitals, Belgium scores well: only Berlin is cheaper than Brussels. Worth noting: house prices in Belgium rose in 2006 and the first half of 2007 by some 18.7%. Nonetheless, it is expected that housing prices will not go up as quickly in 2008. For the first half of this year, the growth rate was a mere 8.1% (as per the Federal Department of Finance, Small Business, Commerce and Energy). In addition, there is also a certain real estate bubble which, according to figures from international real estate agents Knight Frank, is causing price drops in Denmark (-9.6%), Great Britain (-3.9%), Germany (-2.5%) and Ireland (-8.1%). Those who regard buying a house as an investment consider the Brussels real estate market to be a good investment.

Although Brussels is smack in the middle of Western Europe, a region that rates pretty highly when it comes to cost of living, life here is not all as expensive it would seem. In the list of cities with the highest cost of living compiled by Mercer consultants in March this year, Brussels comes in at just 39th overall.

Author of article: Dominique Soenens

A labour card after just 10 days

In Belgium, foreign employees are issued with a worker's permit and labour card within ten to fifteen days. As such, the country has one of the fastest and most flexible procedures in Europe

There is a good reason why companies in Belgium seldom have cause to complain about the procedures for attracting foreign employees: the country has one of the fastest and most flexible procedures in Europe. “To start with, Belgium is more flexible towards qualified personnel than our neighbours,” explains Jos Barbé, Head of the Department for Migration in Flanders. “The salary criterion for qualified personnel in Belgium is 34 261 euro per annum, both for seconded employees and employees of a Belgian company or division. In the neighbouring countries, the salary barrier is higher. But that is not the only advantageous condition. Since 2003, expats can acquire a labour card for any profession. That is not the case in most European countries.” Belgium is, moreover, the fastest country when it comes to issuing worker’s permits and labour cards. Barbé: “On average, it takes less than 10 to 15 working days before the permit is issued to the employer and the labour card is sent to the commune. In some cases, the approval period is even shorter. For employees in bottle neck professions, the procedure takes just five days.”

"Belgians put plenty of time, effort and money in cooking and eating"

Indian expat Nirman Arora, academic assistant at the University of Ghent, is a food lover with a special weakness for Belgian chocolate, beer and sprouts. he describes the Belgian cuisine as rich and modest.

As an expat, while deciding to come to Belgium, we envisage a small country in thewest of Europe with a population of approximately 10 million that has a short history starting as a kingdom in 1830. Before that, this country has been a part of the Roman Empire, Germany, France, Spain and also Holland. We can trace the impressions of all these cultures invading Belgium. Belgian food and cuisine is not an exception to that which has started developing its own style only in the 19th century. And still, for me it is difficult to define the real Belgian cuisine because all regions in Belgium have their own traditions and recipes. One thing distinguishing Belgium is that it is a country of big cuisine rather than fine cuisine.

What I like about Belgians is that they like cooking and eating and they tend to put plenty of time, effort and alsomoney in it. People are invited at home for a dinner evening or they go together to a restaurant to spend the evening there. Of course as Belgians like cooking and eating, I found plenty of very typical dishes and recipes. Remembering their names has always been a tough task for me but one cannot forget to relish their taste. These are some of the most popular ones I could find in almost every restaurant: stoofvlees met frieten (pork meat cooked in dark beer, served with a brown sauce and french fries), hesperolletjes (warm ham rolls with cooked chicory and cheese sauce), waterzooi (pieces of chicken meat cooked together with vegetables and potatoes in a white sauce), hutsepot (vegetables and potatoes cooked together, served with sausages or porkmeat). Brussels sprout is my favorite which is also typical for Belgium.

A job for partners within 17 weeks

French native Stéphan Boerhof came to Belgium a year ago in the wake of her Dutch husband. Originally against her better judgement because she thought Belgium was grey and boring. But after one year, she has a wholly different outlook on things. Thanks to the flexible labour card for partners of expats, she had the chance to give her career a whole new direction.

“On average, around 40% of the partners of expats seek employment in their new country of residence,” says Alain Verstandig from Net Expat, a support bureau that works for companies with expatriate employees. Net Expat helps partners compile a realistic ‘partner professional plan’, tests the partner’s skills and knowledge, inquires into personal objectives, provides specific training for applying for jobs, negotiating and networking and helps with job selection on the local market. “Net Expat finds work for 82% of such partners within a period of 17 weeks. In Belgium, the opportunities are somewhat broader than in most other countries because English is usually sufficient.”

Belgium is bubbling with culture

Belgium is a veritable Mecca for international culture fans. Its myriad of historical cities is home to an equally diverse array of top class dance, theatre and music.

For foreigners it is always remarkable that you can see an international quality production here almost every day and that at a very low price. The government provides considerable subsidies for the cultural sector. I do not have the exact figures at hand, but compared with the situation abroad, Belgium scores well in terms of ticket prices. The performances on offer are also top quality. It is Flemish Government policy to attract the better foreign productions to Flanders as well. All the major art institutions in Flanders have an explicitly international charter.”

INTERNATIONAL VISION

Toon Berckmoes from CultuurNet Flanders: “Belgium’s main advantage is that there are many different large, historical cities within a short distance of each other. The cultural landscape in these cities is also highly attractive. For people interested in dance and theatre, Belgium is a virtual paradise. We are a world centre for dance and in the domain of fashion, lifestyle and shopping, Antwerp also enjoys prime of place.” That the international level of the performing arts is not just PR talk can be demonstrated on the basis of a few figures. A study conducted by the Flemish Theatre Institute in 2004 reveals that approximately one third (34%) of all performing arts productions toured internationally. And around half of all Flemish dance productions also included an international play list.