Australia updates Belgium travel advisory: warns of border checks and strike disruptions

Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade updated its Smartraveller advisory for Belgium on 25 June, keeping the overall risk level unchanged but highlighting two developments of interest to globally mobile staff: (1) temporary Schengen-internal border checks by France, Germany and the Netherlands, and (2) an uptick in demonstrations and strike action affecting airports and rail hubs. DFAT notes that EU Entry/Exit System (EES) rules—now expected to start in October 2026—will apply to long-stay visa-exempt travellers, including Australian dual nationals. Travellers exceeding 90/180-day limits risk fines and entry bans.



To help ensure those limits aren’t inadvertently broken, VisaHQ offers an online dashboard that tracks time spent in the Schengen Area and facilitates any required Belgian visa applications; its dedicated country page (https://www.visahq.com/belgium/) also highlights forthcoming changes like the EES, giving corporate mobility teams and individual travellers a single, reliable resource for compliance and document support.

The advisory also calls out Belgium’s new 25 km/h cap for e-scooters and reminds visitors that riding with a passenger is illegal. For corporate mobility teams the update is a prompt to audit Belgian travel volumes ahead of the EES launch and to brief employees on potential delays at Schengen land borders, where manual passport stamping may be reinstated during peak security periods. Companies should also build strike-contingency clauses into booking workflows, as DFAT specifically mentions frequent industrial action in the Schuman EU district and at Brussels Airport. While the bulletin is aimed at Australians, its content mirrors guidance from several other non-EU governments and is a useful reference for multinationals managing assignees from visa-waiver countries.