The integration of asylum seekers and refugees in the labour market, a Belgian Case Study

Right to work for asylum seekers in Belgium

Since Novembre 2015 asylum seekers who have asked for asylum in Belgium since at least 4 months (without receiving a negative answer at first level and whose decision is still pending) have the right to ask for a work permit. They had to wait for 6 months before Novembre. The work permit is delivered by the regional authorities. 

This work permit allow them to seek work and work as an employee under a limited or unlimited contract or interim contracts in all Belgium's regions. This work permit also allow asylum seekers to register as a person seeking employment in regional public employment agencies and benefit from their services (access vocational trainings among others). 

When they are housed in public reception centres and are working, asylum seekers may be ask to contribute financially to their housing cost (if the working contract is stable and provides sufficient earnings -which is quite rare in practice). Refugees are dispensed from work permit when they are granted refugee status. 

Asylum seekers in Belgium also have the right to exercice volunteering activities and receive compensation for those activities (no work permit is needed to volunteer of course). 

The Long and Winding Road to Employment
An academic study (The Long and Winding Road to Employment. An analysis of the Labour Market Careers of Asylum Seekers and Refugees in Belgium) published in 2014 by the KUL (Katoliek Universiteit van Leuven) and ULB (Université Libre de Bruxelles) has shown that allowing asylum seekers to work during refugee status determination procedure increased and accelerated later integration in the job market (p.130): 

People who had already worked legally before obtaining refugee status were more likely to have an active career than those who did not work during their asylum procedure. Thus, as was observed in previous research (Marx et al. 2008) on the socio-economic integration of people who were regularized in 2000, obtaining refugee status strengthens the position of those who were already inserted in the labour market. It is not the recognition of the status itself that facilitates insertion in the labour market. Rather, recognition of legal status reinforces the position of this group in the labour market by removing the negative effects of the insecurity of their status in Belgium. It is particularly important to note the positive effect of access to work during the asylum procedure, which is a factor promoting the socio-economic integration of refugees. Greater integration in the labour market when they were asylum seekers therefore increased the chances of maintaining good levels of employment and obtaining refugee status helped stabilize and perpetuate their employment. Further analysis shows that there is a significant interaction between working during the asylum procedure and the duration of the procedure. Because the duration of the asylum procedure equates to the number of years spent in Belgium for the selected population, we interpret this result as follows: the longer someone resides in Belgium the higher his chance of finding a job during the asylum procedure, and the more likely it is that he has an active career in the Belgian labour market after the recognition of his refugee status. 

The research carried out for this book aims on the one hand to map the labour market integration of asylum seekers, refugees and people who were granted the status of subsidiary protection between January 2001 and December 2010, and on the other hand to create socioeconomic profiles (based on legal status, family situation, labour market position, gender, age, etc.).

The research also tries to clarify how structural conditions (employment opportunities, region of residence, etc.), institutional conditions (length of the procedure) and individual characteristics (age, sex, family situation) determine their socioeconomic integration careers.

Authors: Andrea REA  (ULB) & Johan WETS (KUL) with the collaboration of Barbara Herman (ULB), Wouter Schepers (KUL), Louise Callier (ULB) & Lieselot Vanduynslager (KUL)

For more details on the legislative changes concerning the right to work of asylum seekers in Belgium see pages 48-52 a.o. 

For details concerning the economic consequences of allowing asylum seekers to work during refugee status determination procedure see p.130

See also: Ciré, Analyse, Décembre 2015, Les réfugiés et le marché du travail