N-VA wishes to link child allowance payments to length of stay

Federal MP Sarah Smeyers has a bill ready that would only grant full child allowance payments to people who have lived in Belgium for at least four of the past ten years. “It is precisely this child allowance system that appears to make Belgium too attractive and results in too heavy an influx of refugees,” says Smeyers. “This puts our social protection regime under pressure.”

Solidarity is a cornerstone of our society, but the N-VA feels that there should be some reciprocation. So it is logical to us that after you arrive from a foreign country you don’t immediately have access to all of the Social security Social security is currently managed at the Federal level in Belgium. The most important pillars of Belgian social security are: sickness and invalidity insurance (NIDHI), pensions, unemployment insurance and child allowances. In addition, occupational illness, occupational accidents and annual holidays are dealt with at this level. Some Flemish parties have been campaigning for years for (large parts of) social security to be transferred to the Regions and Communities. social security benefits offered by the host country.

“It’s also incomprehensible that people who haven’t contributed to a system immediately start to fully benefit from that system,” says Smeyers. That is why she is specifically proposing that after being here legally for one year a person would be entitled to 25% of the full amount. This would become 50% after two years, 75% after three years, and then only after four years would the full amount of the child allowance be paid out. These don’t have to be consecutive years either. “In that situation, what you have contributed is in proportion to what is paid out. This is how we want to continue to guarantee social security cover for all Belgians,” concludes Smeyers.