Travel to Belgium

Long term visa (D visa) applications

The Embassy of Belgium in Helsinki handles all visa applications for residents in Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. You need a valid residence permit in one of these countries to apply for a visa. Please note that citizens of EU member states, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein or Switzerland do not need a visa for Belgium, but if staying longer than three months in Belgium, they must register themselves at the municipality where they will be living in Belgium. 

The entire application process can take up to several months. It is important to submit your application in time.

The required visa application documents depend on the visa category. Below you will find lists of needed documents per category for the main visa types. Before proceeding to collect the requested documents, please read the description at the top of the document carefully. Should you feel unsure which category applies to you or no suitable category is mentioned, please contact the embassy at helsinki.visa@diplobel.fed.be. Please also contact us in case of a family reunion visa. Regarding family reunion visas, there are different procedures and requirements depending on the situation of the visa applicant and the situation of the reference person the visa applicant will rejoin in Belgium. For complete information about family reunion procedures, please consult the website of the immigration office in Belgium

All documents to be presented in a visa application must be originals, and if so requested legalized by means of an apostille according to the legal procedure between the issuing country and Belgium and translated by a sworn translator.

Below, you find the standard forms. You should fill in only the forms that are mentioned in the list of your visa category.

Please note that the Embassy of Belgium in Helsinki does not have a list of predetermined doctors for the visa applications coming from Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. You can go to any doctor in those countries competent to fill in the medical certificate. Visa applicants from Denmark need to visit the doctor written on the back of their Danish health card.

The visa procedure is as follows:   

1. All required documents need to be sent by e-mail to helsinki.visa@diplobel.fed.be. Kindly send us the documents in pdf format as regular attachments – we cannot open hyperlinks or links to the cloud due to cybersecurity reasons.
    
2. If all your documents are in order, we will invite you to either send the original documents or come in person to the embassy:
   • Sending your application file
     • Please send your original application documents, including your passport and identity photos by registered mail or via a courier service to: Embassy of Belgium, Kalliolinnantie 5, 00140 Helsinki, Finland. When the visa has been issued, we will send you an email to discuss the modalities of sending back the passport with the issued visa. You can opt for a registered letter or a courier service.
     • Depending on the file, the visa may either be issued directly by the embassy or the file may be sent to our central administration for an additional examination.
   • Coming to the embassy in person 
     • Please book an appointment. Take all your original visa application documents with you to your appointment.
     • The visa application processing times depend on the file and a possible examination of it by our central administration in Brussels.

As every visa file is different, we cannot give an estimate of how long the procedure will take.
 

Within the Schengen zone, a valid passport with a valid residence permit of a Schengen country allows a short-term tourist visit to Belgium (less than 90 days) and it is thus not necessary to apply for a short term visa (VISA C).

For further inquiries concerning short stays please contact us by e-mail helsinki.visa@diplobel.fed.be or by phone +358 9170412.