Author
The Immigration Office is the authority responsible for the registration of asylum applications and for establishing the Member State responsible for examining the application for international protection. The registration of the asylum application can either be done at the Registration Centre of the Immigration Office in Brussels, at the border upon arrival or in a prison or closed detention facility. On 24 October 2024, the Registration Centre for international protection moved from Pachecolaan 44 to Belliardstraat 68 in Brussels.[1] During the first weeks after the move, the overall security situation for applicants waiting to enter the registration centre raised concerns. The building is situated right next to a four-lane motorway and a cycling lane intensively used by commuters. Combined with the high number of persons wanting to make an application in October and November, this led to tension.[2] Since January 2025 the Immigration Office changed the opening hours (from 07:00 instead of 8:30, until 09:00).[3] This had a positive impact on the entry system. However, the situation at the registration system continues to cause concern, especially after the registration of applications for temporary protection of Ukrainians moved to the same location in July 2025. With an average of over 200 persons cramped on the sidewalk right next to one of Brussels arterial roads, having to organize in several badly indicated lines, the situation is both chaotic and dangerous. Moreover, civil society organizations have frequently raised the issue of inhumane waiting conditions at the registration center. A lack of sanitary facilities or any possibility to sit or seek shelter from the elements particularly affects families with children, elderly people and persons with medical conditions.[4]
The registration process
The law foresees a three-stage registration process:
- The person ’makes’ (présente) their application to the Immigration Office within 8 working days after arrival on the territory.[5] An application at the border is made with the Border Police Section of the Federal Police immediately when the person is apprehended at the border and asked about their motives for entering Belgium.[6] The application can also be made in prison with the prison director or in a closed centre with personnel of the Immigration Office. These authorities refer the application immediately to the Immigration Office. Other applicants (the large majority) make their application directly at the Registration Centre in Belliardstraat 68, Brussels. The asylum applicant receives a ‘certificate of presentation’ (attestation de présentation/bewijs van aanmelding) as soon as the application is made, unless the application is lodged on the same moment in which case they immediately receive an annex 26(quinquies) (step 3).[7]
Under the law, failure to apply for a residence permit after irregularly entering the country or to apply for international protection within the 8-day deadline constitutes a criterion for determining a ‘risk of absconding’.[8] It is not clear if or to what extent these provisions are currently being applied. The CGRS can also consider non-compliance with this deadline as one of the elements in assessing the credibility of the asylum claim.
- The Immigration Office registers the application within 3 working days after it is made.[9] This can be prolonged up to 10 working days when a large number of asylum applicants arrive at the same time, rendering it difficult in practice to register applications within the 3 working days deadline.[10]
- The asylum applicant ‘lodges’ (introduit) their application either immediately on the day it is made and registered, or as soon as possible after it is made but no later than 30 days after the application has been made.[11] This period may exceptionally be prolonged by way of Royal Decree, which has not occurred so far. When the application is lodged, the asylum applicant receives a ‘proof of asylum application’ certifying their status as a first-time applicant (‘Annex 26’) or a subsequent applicant (‘Annex 26 quinquies’). The Immigration Office informs the CGRS of the lodging of the application.[12]
In practice, applicants who apply at the Registration Centre lodge their application at the same moment as they make the application. They instantly receive the Annex 26. The aim is to avoid unnecessary movements of applicants between the different services and to respect the 3-day time limit of Article 50(2) of the Aliens Act even if confinement is necessary. This system is currently still being applied. Consequently, most applications for international protection are registered and lodged on the same day.
Limitations to the right to apply for asylum
Since 2021 limitations on access to the procedure for international protection happened mostly due to limited registration capacity of the Registration Centre.[13] On several occasions since 2021, the Immigration Office, after having reached the maximum registration capacity of the day, has handed out invitations to come back on another day, mostly to single men. This invitation is not individualised and is thus not considered as proof of making an asylum application by any other Belgian government institution, leading to these persons not having access to reception during that waiting time, contrary to the case law of the Court of Justice. In the fall and winter of 2024, a combination of high number of registrations and a decrease of the registration capacity because of long term absentees among registration staff and a high number of staff leaving the Immigration Office, the Immigration Office regularly gave invitations to return two to three weeks later, thus exceeding the legally allowed ten working days. [14] According to unofficial counts done by Vluchtelingenwerk Vlaanderen, 1,811 single men and 210 persons part of a family received an invitation exceeding the legal time limit in November and December of 2024.[15] In 2025, apart from one day in the very beginning of year when applicants received an appointment exceeding the 10 days waiting time, the practice of handing out appointments has been limited to a few days throughout 2025, mostly to come back in the afternoon of the same day.[16]
Procedure after registration
The international protection department of the Immigration Office is responsible for:
- Receiving, registering and lodging the asylum application;
- Registering the asylum applicant in the so-called ‘waiting register’ (wachtregister/registre d’attente), a provisional population register for foreign nationals (this occurs at the stage of the lodging phase);
- Taking fingerprints and a photograph;
- Conducting the Dublin procedure.
After lodging the application, the applicant is invited to the Immigration Office on a later date for a short interview to establish their identity, nationality and travel route. If there are indications that another country is responsible under the Dublin Regulation, the Immigration Office gathers information to examine which Member State is responsible for the asylum application. To this purpose, a ‘Dublin interview’ is organised during which the applicant is asked about the reasons for not applying in or leaving the other Member State, what motivated them to apply in Belgium and other elements that allow to establish the responsible Member State. Since the law does not provide for the presence of a lawyer during interviews at the Immigration Office, lawyers cannot be present during this ‘Dublin interview’.
If Belgium is the responsible country under the Dublin Regulation, the Immigration Office and the asylum applicant, with the help of an interpreter, fill in a questionnaire for the CGRS about the reasons why they fled their country of origin or, in case of a subsequent asylum application, which new elements are being submitted. Afterwards, the file, including this questionnaire, is sent to the CGRS for further examination and a decision. [17] The asylum section of the Immigration Office is furthermore responsible for the follow-up of the asylum applicant’s administrative residence status throughout the procedure as well as the follow-up of the final decision on the asylum application. In case of a negative decision, the Immigration Office will generally issue an order to leave the territory.[18] In case the applicant received a positive decision (granting of refugee status or subsidiary protection status), and unless there is a right of residence on other grounds, they need to register at their municipality of residence with either the decision granting them subsidiary protection or refugee certificate issued by the CGRS. The municipality will register them in the register for aliens and issue a temporary residence card (‘A-card’, valid 5 years for persons with refugee status and 1 year, prolongable with 2 times 2 years for beneficiaries of temporary protection). For the transposition of this temporary residence permit to a ‘stay for an unlimited period’ after 5 years, the municipality, upon request of the beneficiary, needs to ask a prior instruction from the Immigration Office.[19]
For the last few years, there have been significant delays in the asylum procedure at the stage of the Immigration Office due to a high number of cases and understaffing issues. Even though the lodging takes place no later than 30 days after the application has been made, in line with the relevant legal standards, in certain cases the first interview is conducted more than several months later. After a decrease in the backlog of cases at the Immigration Office in 2023, the backlog increased again in 2024, from 7,722 pending applications to 12,888 in December 2024 and further to 14,734 on 31 December 2025.[20] Consequently, waiting times for the first interview at the Immigration Office, especially for cases in which the Dublin procedure is not applied, remain significant, with sometimes a few weeks or even months before the first interview.[21]
[1] Immigration Office, ‘Registration Centre for International Protection: New Location!’, 23 October 2024, available in English here.
[2] Federal Chamber of representatives, Commission of Internal Affairs, Security, Migration and Administrative matters, CRIV 56 COM 046, 27 November 2024, p. 2-4, available here.
[3] Federal Chamber of representatives, Commission of Internal Affairs, Security, Migration and Administrative matters, CRIV 56 COM 068, 15 January 2025, p. 3, available here.
[4] Vluchtelingenwerk Vlaanderen, Quarterly Reports 2024, available in English here.
[5] Article 50(1) Aliens Act. The applicant must make/present the application within 8 working days of arrival in Belgium. Although in the context of the asylum procedure, no sanction is applied if the applicant does not make the application within 8 working days of arrival in Belgium, a long delay may raise questions about the reality of their fear, and they might have to explain in the course of their asylum procedure why they have waited so long to ask for protection.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Article 50(2) Aliens Act.
[8] Articles 1(11) and 1(2)(1) Aliens Act.
[9] Article 50(2) Aliens Act.
[10] Ibid.
[11] Article 50(3) Aliens Act.
[12] Ibid.
[13] See the previous AIDA updates from 2021, 2022 and 2023 for an overview of this situation.
[14] Federal Chamber of representatives, Commission of Internal Affairs, Security, Migration and Administrative matters, CRIV 56 COM 046, 27 November 2024, available here, 5-8.
[15] Based on on-site findings done by the NGO Vluchtelingenwerk Vlaanderen, that is present at the registration centre on a daily basis.
[16] Observations made by Startpunt, a field team of the NGO Vluchtelingenwerk Vlaanderen, in their daily information and monitoring activities at the registration centre Belliard; Startpunt Quarterly Reports 2025, available in English here.
[17] Articles 51/3-51/10 Aliens Act; Articles 10 and 15-17 Royal Decree on Immigration Office Procedure.
[18] Unless the applicant has a residence permit on another basis, other parallel residence procedures are ongoing or other reasons related to art. 3 ECHR stand in the way of issuing an order to leave the territory.
[19] See Immigration Office, ‘Protection Status’, available in Dutch, French and English here.
[20] Information provided by the Immigration Office, March 2026.
Based on observations by Startpunt, a field team of the NGO Vluchtelingenwerk Vlaanderen, in their contacts with applicants in the context of a legal helpdesk where applicants can come for legal information three times a week. Startpunt Quarterly Reports 2025, available in English here.