Belgium: Brussels Minimum Salary Level To Increase

At a Glance

Effective January 1, 2020, the minimum annual salary for foreign workers in Brussels, Belgium will increase to EUR 71,521 for executives, EUR 55,431 for EU blue card applicants and EUR 42,869 for highly skilled staff, up 2.7 percent from last year. Employers must increase salaries for current and new staff and notify authorities of increases for pending applications.

The situation

Effective January 1, 2020, the minimum annual salary for foreign workers in Brussels, Belgium will increase by 2.7 percent as follows:

The exchange rate at the time of publication of this alert is 1 EUR to 1.11 USD.

A closer look

• Brussels only. The above thresholds only apply to foreign nationals with a primary workplace in the Brussels region or for employers registered in the Brussels region if the foreign national has no primary workplace. Flanders and Wallonia have yet to publish the 2020 salary levels.
• Existing employees. Employers of foreign nationals currently under an EU Blue Card must increase the foreign national's salary to comply with the new rule.
• Initial and renewal applications. Employers of foreign nationals seeking to obtain or renew an EU Blue Card on or after January 1, 2020 must increase the foreign national's salary to comply with the new rule. Immigration applications that do not meet the minimum salary will be refused.
• Pending applications. Employers of foreign nationals with pending EU Blue Card applications as of January 1, 2020 must increase the foreign national's salary to comply with the new rule and must notify immigration authorities of the salary increase. Immigration applications that do not meet the minimum salary will be refused.

Reminders on other requirements

• Benefits and allowances. As before, benefits and allowances generally cannot be included in the minimum salary calculation. Exceptionally, allowances that are a remuneration of services, guaranteed and fixed, taxable and indicated in the pay slip can be included.
• Currency. As before, employers are required to guarantee the salary in EUR regardless of payroll location and/or exchange rate fluctuations.

Background

European countries typically increase minimum salary requirements for foreign workers by one to five percent as of January 1, to account for cost of living increases. As a reminder, as of January 1, 2019, the three Belgian regions (Brussels, Flanders and Wallonia) started introducing regional variations in immigration policy, including different salary thresholds to reflect economic differences between the regions.

Looking ahead

Fragomen expects many more countries to publish updated salary figures in the upcoming weeks.

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