Belçika'da Çalışma ve Eğitim

Belgium is the heart of Europe and it has got one of the easiest naturalization paths in Europe. You need to live there for 5 years to apply for citizenship. Here, MediaVisa.net said "Unfortunately the years spent in Belgium as a student are no longer taken into consideration to obtain belgian nationality. The applicant is now required to have indefinite stay in Belgium to qualify for naturalization. And in terms of studying, the tuition fees are generally quite low and it is also possible to find universities, which offer programs taught in English.

Being An Immigrant In Belgium

I will say much more positive things about Belgium than UK or other countries. Belgian society, I should admit I mean French-speaking part in most of the cases, is so lively and does not have visible prejudice towards immigrants. It is easy to make friends, and you almost feel as one of them! I always enjoyed my time there and had made dozens of friends during 5 months in Brussels. You will feel accepted there, wherever you are from, of course if you don’t behave like an alien. And you will even have a Belgian girl friend, if you are not an ugly guy like me (!). Some instances from my life there :

With my very poor French, I remember having no problem of communication with most of Belgians. I had never had any problem to buy so delicious waffle there which is one of the many delicious things there!

Every time I went to the Irish pub near Schuman, at Maalbek station in Brussels, I had so lovely time with meeting many people!

I can never forget the nice smell of Brussels! Yes, strange but true, Brussels has its nice fresh smell. You will realize it in Spring nights!

Brussels is a multicultural city; you can find everything there… You must try delicious Turkish kebaps in St. Johns.

You have nothing to do that weekend? Just go outside, keep walking, and you will see some activities that you can watch or participate!

Work in Belgium

It is a very difficult thing to work in Belgium if you are a non-EU. You should find an employer who should be so eager to get your work permit. But for IT stuff things would be easier like in many countries. The bottomline is that you should really be in demand or it should almost be impossible to find an employee like you. As I remember, your monthly salary cant be less than 2300-2500 euro. Once you get the work permit, it can be renewed every year. But what I experienced is that employers would not consider you if you are a non-EU, as there are already many EU citizens or immigrants eagerly looking for job. And don’t forget, Belgium doesn’t allow even new EU citizens to work, even millions of EU citizens (I mean Polish, Slovak, Czech, etc) are obliged to have a work permit. Therefore, I wouldn’t prioritise a country like Belgium for directly looking for a job.

Traineeships in Belgium

Actually, the opportunities to have work experience in Belgium (I always mainly mean French speaking part, especially Brussels) are not limited, considering hundreds of international organizations and headquarters of many companies. For example, I did traineeship in the European Commission; look at here to apply for that. I would advise you to browse the websites of a list of international organizations for traineeships, if you have a non-technical degree. And more specifically, you will love this site : http://www.eurobrussels.com/ which lists all the current traineeship or full-time opportunities, including international organisations.

And the work permit formalities for non-EU trainees are easier, such as they require your monthly allowance to be around 900 euro, but they also require you to leave Belgium after your traineeship finishes.

Study In Belgium

MA programs cost between 500 – 3000 Euro in Belgium, but of course you can find more expensive ones too. But many programs cost around 1000 euro, and almost cheapest level in the EU. And moreover, Belgium doesn’t discriminate non-EU citizens for charging tuition fees; same fee for EU or non-EU citizens. Especially if you speak French, you have much broader selection and opportunities after you finish your studies. Please see below for the list of universities which have some programs in English, I made the list of those which are worth to look for :

Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
Antwerp - University of Antwerp
Ghent - University of Ghent
University of Liege
University of Louvain-la-Neuve
Katholieke Universiteit Brussel

Scholarships by universities are almost not existing, if you don’t find something in your country. But, if you have 10.000 euro in your pocket, go for it. Life is not so expensive there. I had stayed in the middle of Brussels (Schuman, EU area) by paying 300 euro a month including everything in a tiny small studio.

But, I can give one link for students from developing countries. Flemish Interuniversity Council (VLIR) gives really lots of scholarships to the developing countries for MA/MS degrees (one year for English and other year for French-taught programs).