Student to family reunification

uygarts9 New member

Member since 08 October 2023

uygarts9New member08 October 2023 13:46:09

Hi everyone,

I am new in the forum so please remove if I violated any rules.

Me and my wife are currently in a complicated situation right now and wanted to ask here to get some advice. I am currently a non-EU national staying and working in Belgium with a search year permit while waiting for my single permit. My wife is a student here with an A-card that expires on 31/10/2023.

We recently moved from Leuven to Antwerp but our address is not yet confirmed. In order to extend her stay we first sent an application to the city hall of Antwerp but for a long time we did not receive any response. Then we realized since our official address is in Leuven, it is also possible to lodge our application there. We then sent an application with the complete documents stating that we want to change her status from a student to a dependent family member (I have sufficient income). The city hall of Leuven has not yet responded. Now the problem is the police of Antwerp came to confirm our address today. We are not sure if this is going to be visible in the system yet, but if so her residence card will come very close to the expiration date and we will not be able to extend it on time as Antwerp has very long processing times. We also have the chance to extend her stay as a student with a blocked account but that is also not possible in time given the Antwerp's processing time, she cannot use GATE15 because she is not a student in Antwerp but in Hasselt.

We have three questions regarding this, and are open to any advice. If the application is succesfully lodged within Leuven, does she have the right to obtain an Annex 15 while waiting for an Orange card? We received contradictory information regarding this. If we hurry before the address change happens and lodge an application in the city hall of Leuven for the extension of stay as a student, would this be the best option? Is there a way to get an appointment, or go without an appointment to the city of Antwerp to lodge a renewal of stay as a student before the final date of the card, or is waiting for an appointment the only choice?

Thank you in advance!