Definition of un-interruped work for citizenship application

jill dervla Member

Member since 27 February 2024

jill dervlaMember27 February 2024 08:13:12

Hello,

I have been living and working in Belgium for 8 years. I have been in my current job for over 4 years and will soon leave and start a new job. I would be interested in applying for citizenship at some point. I understand that to avoid the language requirement you should have 5 years continuous / uninterrupted work. I have heard this is extremely strictly defined, literally your end date on one contract should be the day before the start date of the one (including weekends). I would love to confirm this as I need to set a start date with the new job, ideally I would take a week off in between jobs, but I do not want to jeopardise a possible citizenship application (and I could take the language requirement but would prefer to avoid it).

Thanks for any help!

Jill

M14K79 Member

Member since 03 August 2022

M14K79Member30 April 2024 11:12:42

Hello,

Could anyone with adequate information answer this.

Thank you.

BuRukh Member

Member since 02 May 2024

BuRukhMember02 May 2024 14:15:53

@jill dervla A week without the contract will be seen by prosecutor as a break of work. I got screwed up exactly like that: i have a week break between contracts so my counter of uninterrupted work got restarted anew exactly on the day of the new contract. City Hall informed me of this (I am in Leuven).

Gamargu Active member

Member since 07 March 2022

GamarguActive member23 May 2024 15:09:49

@BuRukh That's terrible, quick one how about paternity leave do you have any idea if taking it will be considered an interruption to work. I saw that once you take the twenty days your employer only pays for three days and the remaining days you get paid by the mutuelle

jill dervla Member

Member since 27 February 2024

jill dervlaMember21 August 2024 08:39:09

Hi,

Thanks for the replies. I have heard anecdotally of friends of friends who had trouble because one contract ended on a Friday and the other started on the Monday. They had to readjust their old contract end date with their old employer to end on the Sunday. In the end I made sure my old contract ended the day before I started the new contract, to not take any risks.

I do not think paternity leave should affect it as this does not impact the start and end dates of contracts.