Forms and levels of material reception conditions

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Material or financial aid?

Since the adoption of the Reception Act, the system of reception conditions for asylum seekers has shifted completely from financial assistance to purely material assistance. This includes accommodation, food, clothing, medical, social and psychological help, access to interpretation services and legal representation, access to training, a voluntary return programme, and a small daily allowance (so-called pocket money). Nevertheless, as discussed below, the help can be partially delivered in cash, as is the case in the Local Reception Initiatives (LRI). The Federal Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (Fedasil) coordinates the whole reception structure. Fedasil regularly issues internal instructions on implementing specific rights provided for in the Reception Act, as referred to throughout this report.

Only in exceptional cases the social welfare services provided by the PCSW deliver financial aid to asylum seekers.[1] For example, this could be the case when the asylum seeker wants to live with their partner who already has a legal stay in Belgium. However, this is only exceptional and can only be the case after the explicit permission of Fedasil. To obtain this permission, the asylum seeker should ask for an abrogation of the designated reception place (“Code 207”).[2]

In the context of the reception crisis, destitute applicants for international protection start appeal procedures at Labour Courts based on the violation of the right to reception. In some cases, destitute applicants have asked the Labour Court to suspend this code 207. In several judgements, the Court condemned Fedasil and forced them in first instance to provide a reception place. If the reception place is not provided, the Court orders the suspension of the code 207 in second instance. With this suspension, the destitute applicant can go to the PCSW and apply for financial aid. Some Labour courts have recently ruled establishing they do not have competence over the suspension of the code 207, but that in the situation where Fedasil does not assume its responsibility of providing material aid (which is systematically the case in the context of the reception crisis), the PCSW cannot refuse to grant financial aid.[3]

In 2020, Fedasil issued an instruction on ‘voluntary departure with support via meal vouchers’, aiming to encourage persons with a reception solution outside the reception network (e.g. with friends or family) to leave the centre, all the while supporting them financially through meal vouchers (see Allowances in case of no material reception).[4]

Collective or individual?

The reception model, of which the implementation started in 2016, generally assigns people to collective reception centres. Only asylum seekers with very specific vulnerabilities or reception needs are directly assigned to specialised ‘individual places’ in NGO reception structures or Local Reception Initiatives (LRI) managed by the PCSW’s in municipalities.[5] Collective centres are spread over the Belgian territory in different types of infrastructure (old military buildings or hospitals or schools, prefabricate buildings, etc.) and vary in terms of capacity (from less than 100 to over 500 places). In collective centres, most reception conditions are delivered in-kind: meals, clothing, access to sanitary facilities, socio-legal support, medical and psychological care, daily allowance (‘pocket money’), trainings… In individual reception places, persons are hosted in smaller living units, alone or with a few other persons. Certain services are provided by the NGO or PCSW (socio-legal support, medical and psychological care, information about education or access to training…), and the living unit provides the facilities allowing the person to provide for their own basic daily needs, for which the person gets a weekly allowance.

For the assignment to a specific centre, Fedasil should legally consider the centre’s occupation rate, the asylum seeker’s family situation, age, health condition,[6] vulnerability and the procedural language of their asylum case. There are no monitoring or evaluation reports about the effective assessment of all these elements in practice. Albeit legally binding criteria, these do not seem to always be taken into consideration. In theory, an asylum seeker or their social assistants can ask to change centre at any given time during the procedure, based on these criteria. Fedasil itself can also decide to change the location of reception, based on these criteria. Currently, the possibilities to change centre on the asylum seeker’s request are limited to the situations enlisted by Fedasil in its internal instructions (see below Transfers to suitable reception ).

According to the law, all asylum seekers can apply to be transferred to an individual accommodation structure after 6 months in a collective centre.[7] Where the person’s asylum application has already been refused at first instance procedure by the CGRS, the transfer will be refused or postponed. However, due to the high occupancy rate of the reception system, transfer applications of applicants whose procedure is still ongoing cannot systematically be answered favourably either.[8] This means that asylum seekers stay much longer in collective structures (see Conditions in Reception Facilities).

Specific rules concerning transfer to individual reception structures apply to the following categories:

• Persons with a high chance of recognition (nationality with recognition rate above 80%) who are still awaiting a decision of the CGRS can ask to be assigned to LRI after a 2-month stay in collective reception centres. At the time of writing nationals of the following countries had a high chance of recognition:[9]
  • Burundi
  • Eritrea
  • Yemen
  • Syria
  • Libya
• Persons staying in collective structures when granted a legal stay of more than 3 months (for example, refugee status) have the choice between moving to an individual reception structure for 2 months (can be extended) or leaving the collective structure with support of a meal voucher with a value of €560 per adult and €240 per minor (one-time payment) (see End of the right to reception).

Persons reaching Belgium through the resettlement scheme and apply for asylum upon arrival are sheltered in one of the 5 collective centres who have places for resettled refugees. In September 2023, a new centre with 115 places exclusively for resettled refugees opened in Alveringem, the first of its kind. The opening of this centre aims to ensure that the resettlement programme is not hindered by the (lack of) availability of reception places in the regular reception network.[10] Once persons arrived through the resettlement scheme obtain international protection, they need to stay in a collective structure for 3 to 6 weeks before they can apply for an individual reception place. They can stay in the individual reception place for a transition period of 6 months, which is longer than the general transition period (see End of the right to reception).

The Belgian government aims to create a reception network with 60% collective and 40% individual reception places. In 2023, only 14% of the reception network consisted of individual places.[11] The reason for this is twofold: the number of LRI has lowered significantly over the past years, and some of the existing LRI are not available because the persons living there cannot leave due to the saturated housing market. Although the government has recently taken measures to encourage local administrations to create more local reception places (including an increase of the allowance with 5%), there is very little willingness on the local level to create new LRIs. The Association of Flemish cities and communes (VVSG) expressed the opinion that the measures taken by the government, although positive, will not suffice to have a real impact on the amount of LRIs.[12]

The Court of Auditors (Rekenhof / Cour des comptes) conducted a financial and qualitative audit of the functioning of Fedasil in 2017.[13] It found that the average duration of stay in collective reception centres was too long and that refusals to transfer asylum seekers after 6 months not only has negative consequences to the well-being and psychological health of the individuals concerned but also for the management and personnel of centres, as it causes tensions and conflicts. The Court of Auditors also found that reception in collective centres is more expensive than individual accommodation, although many more individual accommodation places were empty at the time of the report. It recommended that the government consider other criteria such as cost-effectiveness and quality in prospective closures of reception places. To this end, and according to the Court of Auditors, Fedasil should continue its efforts in developing common quality norms and audit mechanisms, collect more data on duration of stay in the centres, duration of procedures, numbers of transfers, numbers of vulnerable persons and so forth.

NGOs have requested for an evaluation of the current reception model. An evaluation of the reception model was planned in 2021, but due to the sanitary situation related to COVID-19 and the reception crisis, these plans were not yet concretised.[14]

Transfers to suitable reception facilities

Within 30 days after the arrival in the assigned reception place, an evaluation should be made to see if the individual reception needs of the asylum seeker are met. After that, a regular assessment is made – at least every six months – during the entire stay of the asylum seeker in the reception system.[15] The Reception Act allows changing an asylum seeker’s reception place if the assigned place turns out to be not adapted to the individual needs.[16] Two instructions of Fedasil enlist specific criteria to be met before a transfer to another, more adapted (individual or collective) place can be allowed.[17]  The request for a transfer can be done either by the asylum seeker or by the reception facility in agreement with the asylum seeker, but the actual application always needs to be done by the reception facility.

A transfer based on medical reasons can be requested if the place is not adapted to the medical needs of the asylum seeker. This includes when the asylum seeker:

1. has a severe handicap which is incompatible with the assigned place;
2. has limited mobility and there is no possibility to adapt the infrastructure or to get help from family members;
3. has a severe pathology which requires having a hospital nearby;
4. loses their autonomy and has no family member that can help;
5. has a specific medical need;
6. needs to live with a very strict diet (e.g. coeliac, no salt etc.);
7. is in danger because of certain diseases present in the centre, e.g. has a weak immune system;
8. has an addiction and does substitute therapy which necessitates the presence of a pharmacy close-by;
9. has psychiatric problems which are not compatible with the everyday life of a collective reception centre;
10. needs to support a first-degree family member who is in the hospital;
11. is in need of continuous care and needs to be transferred to a care institution.

A transfer based on other grounds than medical reasons can be requested if it is not possible to adapt the assigned place to the individual needs of the asylum seeker and if they meet one of the following criteria:

• Language of the school of the children: their children went to school in a region speaking a different language for at least three months or they have gained sufficient knowledge of that other language to be able to be taught in that language;
• A close family member (e.g. partner or minor children) lives in another reception centre on the Belgian territory. The term “family member” can be broadened if the asylum seeker is categorised as vulnerable;
• Employment: the asylum seekers has been employed (at least a half-time position and not a student job) for at least one month and has paid contributions. They should not have been excluded from shelter;
• Training or education: the asylum seeker has subscribed to higher education or to a training provided by VDAB or Forem;
• The asylum seeker feels isolated because they are the only person in the centre belonging to a certain nationality, or they are the only one speaking a certain language, which clearly impacts their psychological wellbeing.

Fedasil considers the asylum seeker’s procedural situation when deciding on such requests. Decisions refusing a transfer can be challenged in front of the Labour Court within 3 months.

Financial allowances 

Pocket money

All asylum seekers, whether in collective or individual reception places, receive a fixed daily amount of pocket money in cash.[18] In 2024, adults and all children from 12 years on who attend school receive 9.7€ a week, younger children and children 12 years of age or older who do not attend school receive 5.7€ a week, and unaccompanied children during the first phase of shelter (in the “observation and orientation centres”) receive 6.9€ a week.[19]

Allowances in individual reception facilities (NGO or LRI)

Asylum seekers in individual NGO or LRI places all receive a weekly amount in cash or in meal vouchers, to provide for material needs autonomously; this ‘weekly allowance’ includes a budget for food[20] and personal hygiene and the pocket money. It does not include budget for costs related to e.g. school, public transport, cleaning products, leisure, etc. For 2024, the amounts are as follows on a monthly (4-week) basis:[21]

Besides this, the organising authority of the accommodation remains in charge of certain material needs such as transport, clothing, school costs, interpreters, etc. Since the LRI have a lot of autonomy as regards the way they are organised, they can choose if and how they distribute material aid themselves. This means that asylum seekers might exceptionally receive a financial allowance that equals the social welfare benefit (called “social integration”) for nationals, diminished with the rent for the flat or house they are accommodated in and expenses.

Allowances in case of no material reception

 If all reception structures are completely saturated and Fedasil decides to not assign a reception place, the asylum seeker has the right to financial aid provided by the PCSW.[22] The applicant would then obtain the full amount of the financial social welfare allowance, equally and in the same way as every national or other legal resident of the country. This is also the case when the obligatory designated reception place (Code 207) is abrogated officially by Fedasil because of exceptional circumstances, for example when Fedasil allows the asylum seeker to live with a partner who already has a legal stay in Belgium. Since 1 November 2023, a person receives following amounts per month:[23]

In its February 2014 judgment in Saciri,[24] the CJEU ruled that in case the accommodation facilities are overloaded, asylum seekers may be referred to the PCSW, provided that this system ensures the minimum standards laid down in the Reception Conditions Directive. In particular, the total amount of the financial allowances must be sufficient to ensure a dignified standard of living and should provide enough to ensure their subsistence. The general assistance should also enable them to find housing, if necessary, meeting the interests of persons having specific needs, pursuant to Article 17 of that Directive.

Nevertheless, since several years, Fedasil has not referred to the PCSW because of a lack of reception capacity. In the context of the current reception crisis (since 2021 and ongoing in 2024), the Council of Ministers has discussed this option for several times, but it has not been approved politically. As a result of the reception crisis, some destitute applicants have obtained a referral to the PCSW by going to the Labour Courts (see Material or Financial Aid?).

In 2020, Fedasil issued an instruction on ‘voluntary departure with support via meal vouchers’, aiming to encourage persons with a reception solution outside the reception network (e.g. with friends or family) to leave the centre, all the while supporting them financially with meal vouchers (see Allowances in case of no material reception).[25] This instruction applies to persons who have an ongoing procedure for international protection and have been staying in the reception network for an uninterrupted period of at least 1 month. Unaccompanied minors can also qualify for the measure under certain conditions (e.g. at least 16 years old and sufficiently autonomous, agreement of the guardian…). Persons to who this measure is applied receive biweekly meal vouchers of €140 per adult and €60 per minor on an electronic card or in paper format until the end of their right to material aid connected to the ongoing asylum procedure or until their reintegration into the reception network. Except for unaccompanied minors, the application of this measure leads to a designation of a Code 207 No-show. Apart from the meal vouchers, the person no longer receives reimbursement of other costs (such as costs related to school or public transport). Only reimbursement of medical expenses is ensured, as for other persons with a code 207 no-show, via application through the medical requisitorium (see Health care). The instruction stresses that people should be thoroughly informed of all the consequences of subscribing to this system. However, their decision is not final: as long as the asylum procedure is ongoing, they can always apply for a reintegration in the reception network.

[1] Article 3 Reception Act.

[2] Article 13 Reception Act.

[3] Labour court Antwerpen (Mechelen), 23/218/A, 21 June 2023, available in Dutch at https://bit.ly/3vBAiKX; Labour court Brussels, 23/1547/A, 18 September 2023, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/3vw35Rg; Labour court Antwerpen (Mechelen), 23/629/A and 23/630/A, 7 February 2024, available in Dutch at https://tinyurl.com/29sfvnaf and https://tinyurl.com/p8k9kpbs; resume of these decisions available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/4ab7hoq.

[4] Fedasil, ‘Instruction: voluntary departure for residents of collective centres – support via meal vouchers for persons with own reception solution’, 19 March 2020, available in Dutch via https://tinyurl.com/my3cr5bu; Meal vouchers are vouchers that can be used in almost any supermarket to buy food or food-related items. Employees (in all kinds of sectors) often receive meal vouchers as part of their salary as well.

[5] Regeerakkoord, 9 October 2014, available at: http://bit.ly/2k2yJfn. See also Myria, Contact meeting, 21 June 2016, available at: http://bit.ly/2k3obi9.

[6] See for example a recent ruling of the Labour court of Liège, 23/1656/A, 24 October 2023, available in French at https://www.agii.be/sites/default/files/20231024_arbrb_luik.pdf. The court finds that given the serious health issues of the applicant, he should be assigned a reception place in a centre with a personal room and access to private sanitary facilities, in Brussels or a city from which Brussels is easily accessible.

[7] Article 12 Reception Act.

[8] Information provided by Fedasil.

[9] Fedasil, Instruction concerning transfers from collective reception to a Local reception Initiative (LRI) – designation of asylum seekers with a high rate of recognition – update, 9 November 2021, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/3vUGADb.

[10] Fedasil, What is resettlement?, available in Dutch at https://bit.ly/3TyqZ6x and Welcome first residents!, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/3TUqCog.

[11] Information provided by Fedasil in March 2024: 5,076 individual places on a total of 35,651 reception places.

[12] VVSG (Association of Flemish cities and communes), Material aid – Better financing and more certainty in order to convince local administrations to open LRI’s, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/3TCNmYw.

[13] Court of Auditors, Opvang van asielzoekers, October 2017.

[14] Information provided by Fedasil, March 2024.

[15] Royal Decree of 25 April 2007 on the modalities of the assessment of the individual situation of the reception beneficiary.

[16] Article 22 Reception Act

[17] Fedasil, Instruction on the transfer to an adapted place for medical reasons, 7 May 2018, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/39gg7Ev; Fedasil, Instruction on the transfer to an adapted place for other reasons, 7 May 2018, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/2KP79oo

[18] Article 34 Reception Act.

[19] Information provided by Fedasil, March 2024.

[20] No food is provided in the context of individual reception facilities; residents need to cook themselves.

[21] Extrapolated from the weekly amount, times 4: Information provided by Fedasil in March 2024.

[22] Article 11(4) Reception Act.

[23] VVSG, Social Integration Amount, 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/3xdOVVm.

[24] CJEU, Case C-79/13 Federaal agentschap voor de opvang van asielzoekers (Fedasil) v Selver Saciri and OCMW Diest, Judgment of 27 February 2014.

[25] Fedasil, ‘Instruction: voluntary departure for residents of collective centres – support via meal vouchers for persons with own reception solution’, 19 March 2020, available in Dutch via https://tinyurl.com/my3cr5bu or in French via ; Meal vouchers are vouchers that can be used in almost any supermarket to buy food or food-related items. Employees (in all kinds of sectors) often receive meal vouchers as part of their salary as well.