Belgium raises handling fee for long-stay (D) visas to €250 from 1 July 2026

Belgium’s Foreign Ministry has quietly updated the consular fee schedule: from Friday 1 July 2026 every long-stay (type D) visa will attract a €250 « handling contribution », up from €214 today – an increase of roughly 17 %. The change was posted on 29 June on several embassy websites, including London and Abu Dhabi, giving applicants just 48 hours’ notice. The new levy applies to everyone seeking residence in Belgium for work, study or family reunion, although EU free-movement family members, diplomatic passport holders and children under 12 remain exempt. The contribution is collected in addition to the €180 national long-stay visa fee and any service-provider charges (TLScontact in many countries). In the United Kingdom, where payments are denominated in sterling, the embassy has set the new amount at £225. The Interior Ministry says the hike reflects « inflation in administrative costs » and the need to fund additional staff to clear a backlog of almost 12,000 applications. According to the Immigration Office’s 2025 annual report, median processing times for work-permit-linked D visas lengthened from 28 to 41 calendar days last year. Business-immigration advisers fear that higher upfront costs – now over €500 per principal applicant once biometric and courier fees are added – could deter small and medium-sized enterprises from choosing Belgium as a base. Multinationals, however, are more concerned about timing than price. « We can budget for fee increases, but we cannot afford unpredictable lead-times when moving key talent, » says Anne-Sophie Verbeeck, EMEA mobility director at a Brussels-based pharmaceutical company. She expects clients to bring forward filings this week to avoid paying the higher fee, potentially flooding consulates and further extending queues for appointments. The move brings Belgium into line with neighbouring France, which raised its D-visa processing contribution to €260 in April. EU legislators are debating a proposal to cap such national surcharges, arguing they undermine the single market for skills. Until then, employers sending staff to Belgium will need to adjust cost projections and communicate the steeper outlay to assignees and their families.