The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released its flagship International Migration Outlook 2026 on 12 November. The Belgium chapter confirms that the share of foreign-born residents has climbed to 20.4 percent of the population while the annual number of new long-term immigrants fell 14 percent in 2025 to 92 000. Free-movement EU nationals still account for almost two-thirds of inflows, but labour migrants represent only six percent – well below the OECD average. Employers continue to warn of acute shortages in engineering, IT and life sciences. A key trend highlighted by the report is Belgium’s move towards a more skills-selective migration model. Flanders narrowed access to the Single Permit in January 2026, reserving most permits for highly-qualified occupations and ending eligibility for low-skilled roles except seasonal work. At federal level, the July 2025 nationality reform raised the naturalisation fee from €150 to €1 000 with automatic indexation, signalling a political shift towards “pay-to-stay” policies. The report also traces the contentious 2025 family-reunification law that tightened income thresholds and shortened exemption periods for refugees; several provisions are now suspended by the Constitutional Court pending an EU ruling. For global mobility managers the OECD’s data confirm a dual reality: Belgium is simultaneously courting international talent through faster Blue-Card processing (maximum 90 days) while making family accompaniment, nationality and low-skilled recruitment more expensive or restrictive. Multinational employers should budget for higher compliance costs, review salary packages against the new family-reunification thresholds (now 110 percent of the guaranteed minimum), and build in longer lead-times for non-EU dependants whose applications may face court-ordered uncertainty. The Outlook urges Belgium to “broaden the labour-migration toolbox” by expanding shortage-occupation lists and smoothing intra-company transfers – recommendations that echo industry calls for a streamlined federal-regional system. It also warns that constraining family migration could reduce the country’s attractiveness for senior talent compared with neighbours such as the Netherlands and Germany, both of which have recently relaxed family-tie requirements. Looking ahead, the OECD projects demographic ageing will leave Belgium with a labour-supply gap of 360 000 workers by 2035. Companies reliant on expatriate assignments should therefore monitor forthcoming parliamentary debates on the draft Blue-Card transposition bill and consider advocacy through employer federations to ensure that future reforms balance control with competitiveness.
Source: OECD
