Visiting the Takeda company in Lessines, the Secretary of State highlighted the results of his policy. The single permit for foreign workers is becoming increasingly popular. The number of first single permits issued by the Foreigners Office (OE) at the request of an employer rose to 5,124 in 2021. Before the health crisis, this number was slightly less than 4,000. Given the numerous travel restrictions in 2020 and 2021, and the difficulty of moving to Belgium from a distant country, the increase over the past year is particularly striking, according to Mr Mahdi. India, Turkey and Morocco are the top 3 nationalities for which combined permits were issued in 2021. For the first four months of 2022, 2,740 first single permits have already been issued by the OE. If this strong increase continues, more than 8,000 permits will be issued by the end of the year.
The “research year” for students from non-EU countries is also bearing fruit, according to the Secretary of State. This measure allows students, following the end of their studies, to be able to reside an additional 12 months in Belgium in order to look for a job or to set up a business there. In the past, the end of studies often meant a departure from Belgium and a loss of talent. Nine months following the introduction of the measure, a thousand graduates (957) have already registered to be able to benefit from it with a view to finding a job in Belgium.
“Belgium must become a bit like the Silicon Valley of Europe, where the brightest minds from all over the world want to come to work or study. In order to win the international talent war, we must implement an attractive policy to make so that the best talents choose Belgium and not another country. I am happy that we are increasingly achieving this thanks to the one-stop shop and the search year for foreign students,” Mahdi said in a statement.