Creating a business in Belgium as a foreigner: the guide

Key takeaways

• Nationals of the EU, the EEA and Switzerland create a business without a professional card, under freedom of establishment.
• A non-EU national needs a residence permit authorising self-employed activity and, unless exempt, a professional card.
• The professional card is a regional competence: Wallonia, Brussels-Capital and Flanders (beroepskaart) each issue it.
• Beyond the residence status, the creation steps (CBE, legal form, VAT, social fund) are the same for everyone.

Belgium attracts founders from across Europe and beyond, and its law does not reserve business to nationals. The rule that structures the whole path comes down to a distinction: nationality does not determine whether you can start a business, but which prior authorisations you must gather before registering. Creating a business in Belgium as a foreigner therefore means first situating your case, EU national or third country, then going through steps that are identical for everyone. This guide sorts the two regimes, details the professional card (a regional competence) and the residence permit, and points to the choices of legal form and registered office that follow.

Starting a business in Belgium as a foreigner: two regimes by nationality

It all starts with your nationality. If you are a national of a European Union member state, the European Economic Area (the EU plus Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein) or Switzerland, you benefit from the freedom of establishment guaranteed by European law. Concretely, you create your business under the same conditions as a Belgian, without a professional card or a residence authorisation specific to self-employed activity.

If you are a national of a third country, two authorisations are added upstream: a residence permit that covers the exercise of a self-employed activity, and a professional card, unless you fall under an exempt category. These two documents are distinct and respond to two logics, the right to reside on one hand, the right to carry out a self-employed economic activity on the other.

	EU / EEA / Switzerland national	Non-EU national
Freedom of establishment
Professional card required (unless exempt)
Residence permit specific to the activity
Registration with the CBE via approved counter
Free choice of legal form

A point often misunderstood deserves to be set out right away: the professional card is not a work permit. The work permit (or single permit) is aimed at salaried employment, under the authority of an employer. The professional card, for its part, authorises a self-employed activity, on your own account. A foreign entrepreneur who wants to run their company therefore falls under the professional card, not the salaried regime.

The professional card, a regional competence

Since the sixth state reform, the professional card falls under the Regions, no longer the federal level. The application is handled by the Region where the main establishment of your activity is located: the Public Service of Wallonia, Brussels Economy and Employment for the Brussels-Capital Region, or the Flemish administration, which speaks of beroepskaart. Each Region sets its assessment criteria and its arrangements.

The authority generally examines the economic interest of the project (usefulness for the market, job creation, investment, innovation), its financial viability and compliance with the regulatory obligations linked to the activity. This is why a solid financial plan and a well-documented file weigh heavily in the review.

Some categories are exempt from the professional card. This is notably the case for holders of an unlimited residence permit, recognised refugees, or the foreign spouse who joins and assists an already-established self-employed person, under the conditions set by the regulation. Check your situation before starting a process: some non-EU entrepreneurs in fact fall under an exemption.

The residence permit and the identification number

The authorisation to operate does not exempt you from the authorisation to reside. A non-EU national who settles in Belgium to be self-employed there in principle applies for a long-stay visa (type D) with the Belgian diplomatic post, on the basis of which they will obtain a residence permit. The file generally requires proof of sufficient means of subsistence, a criminal-record extract and proof of housing in Belgium.

To register and be identified by the administration, you will need an identification number. People registered in the National Register have a national number; those who are not are assigned a BIS number, managed in the CBSS register, which plays the same role of unique identifier in dealings.

The creation steps, identical for everyone

Once the residence and access side is settled, the creation route is the same for a Belgian, European or third-country founder. It is articulated around registration with the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises, which issues the ten-digit enterprise number.

1. 1

   Choose the legal form and the registered office

   Upstream

   Natural person or company, and an office address in Belgium (own premises or a business address at a provider).

2. 2

   Execute the deed of incorporation (if a company)

   Before registration

   Articles and financial plan before a notary for an SRL or an SA; as a natural person, this step does not exist.

3. 3

   Open a professional bank account

   Before registration

   Distinct from the private account; its number appears on commercial documents with the enterprise number.

4. 4

   Register with the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises

   Start-up

   Via an approved enterprise counter, which records the NACE codes and issues the enterprise number.

5. 5

   Activate the VAT number

   Before the first invoices

   With the FPS Finance, unless under the exemption scheme below the turnover threshold.

6. 6

   Affiliate with a social insurance fund

   Before starting

   Mandatory and prior to the start of the activity, for the self-employed social contributions.

The choice of legal form arises in the same terms as for a resident. The sole proprietorship (natural person) is quick to set up but does not separate private from professional assets. The SRL, the most widespread company form, protects assets and better structures a project set to grow, at the price of a notarial deed and running costs. Our comparison of company legal forms in Belgium details the trade-offs, and the guide setting up an SRL in Belgium walks through the steps.

Access to the profession and the registered office

Two points deserve examination before signing. First access to the profession: proof of basic management knowledge is no longer required in Brussels since 15 January 2024, nor in Wallonia since 1 October 2025, and Flanders had abolished it back in 2018. On the other hand, regulated professions (construction, hairdressing, bakery, catering and others) still require specific professional skills, to be proven by a diploma or by experience, regardless of nationality.

Then the registered office. Every business registered in Belgium must have an office address there, which appears at the CBE and receives official communications. You can use your own premises or use a business address at a provider, a frequent option for a foreign founder who does not yet have an office locally. The address makes your company reachable and enforceable from day one.

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Taxation and current obligations

Once the business is set up, you fall under the same tax framework as any Belgian operator. A company is subject to corporate income tax, whose normal rate is 25%. A self-employed natural person is taxed under personal income tax on the progressive scale. In both cases, VAT applies as soon as you exceed the exemption threshold, with periodic returns; our guide to obtaining a VAT number in Belgium specifies the thresholds and the declaration obligations.

Added to this are the self-employed social contributions, due via the social insurance fund, and the accounting obligations specific to the chosen form. For the general framework of the status, from the calculation of contributions to the affiliation steps, see our guide to becoming self-employed in Belgium. A foreign founder has every interest in surrounding themselves with an accountant from the start, while getting to grips with the Belgian deadlines.

Going further

• Creating a business in Belgium: becoming self-employed: conditions, CBE registration, social fund and contributions to anticipate.
• Company legal forms in Belgium: compare SRL, SA, sole proprietorship and other structures.
• Setting up an SRL in Belgium: the essential steps: the complete route, from the deed of incorporation to registration.
• Obtaining a VAT number in Belgium: thresholds, exemption and declaration obligations.