Unemployment regulations

During your professional integration period, you are not allowed to do a course with a full-time study curriculum. This means that you may not enrol with a diploma contract, a credit contract or an exam contract for a programme worth 27 study credits or more. If you embark on such a course, this will interfere with the validity of your professional integration period, even if you are taking evening courses or studying at the weekend.

In principle, you will lose any time credit earned during your professional integration period by starting your studies. After your new course, you will have to go through a completely new professional integration period.

The only courses which are not permitted during the professional integration period are those with a full-time curriculum.
 
However, you may enrol with a diploma contract, a credit contract or an exam contract on a programme worth less than 27 study credits.
 
This must be a ‘new’ course. You cannot continue a full-time course that you previously started but never finished. The continuation - without a one-year interruption - of a course cycle which was not completed prevents the professional integration period from starting, even if you enrol with a contract for under 27 study credits.
 
For example: You failed some modules during the last year of your course and you decide to enrol with a diploma contract or an exam contract for 23 study credits during your repeat year: your professional integration period cannot start because you have not yet graduated. 
 
Courses which are not considered full-time include post-academic study programmes (PAVOs) which only entitle you to a certificate.
You can combine these with your professional integration period.
 
Please note: you can take these programmes (PAVOs or programmes worth less than 27 credits) provided you are still available for the labour market and thus agree to accept any suitable job offer by the Flemish Public Employment and Vocational Training Service (VDAB).
 

• You are allowed to do an unpaid internship in a professional environment (business, non-profit association or other) in Belgium during the professional integration period provided it is a short internship (less than four weeks) and that you are still available for the labour market.  You do not have to notify the National Employment Office (RVA) of the internship.
   
• A longer internship is also possible if you can prove to the RVA that this internship will increase your chances of employment. 
   
• Internships which are required in certain professions (lawyer, notary public, architect, pharmacist, and so on) and internships which are not related to your professional integration in any way (cultural exchanges, on a farm, etc.) cannot be combined with the professional integration period.

Other rules apply to international internships.  During your professional integration period you are entitled to do the following abroad as a young jobseeker:

• Take courses or lessons
   
• Do an internship in a professional environment (business, NGO or other)
   
• Volunteer 

The lessons, courses or internships must be seen to increase your chances of professional integration in the labour market.
 
You can use form C94C to find out whether the internship or course you are interested in will allow you to continue your professional integration period. The time spent abroad studying or doing an internship will be considered equivalent to the professional integration period.
 
If the RVA approves your request then you can refuse job offers. If you do receive a job offer, you may have to submit a copy of form C94C to the VDAB.
 
If your internship or studies abroad have not yet ended at the end of the professional integration period and you would like to continue your internship or studies, you will have to request an exemption as a 'jobseeker' after the professional integration period (= exemption from availability for the labour market). You can do this using forms C94A and C109/36 (these may also be submitted by a third party if you are abroad at the time of the request for the jobseeker's allowance).
 
If the exemption is denied then you can complete your course by using up all your holiday. You cannot complete an internship without an exemption. In principle, the exemption is granted for a limited period of time only (max. 3 months per calendar year).

All the forms mentioned in this text can be downloaded from the RVA's website.
 
You are a jobseeker and you receive a jobseeker's allowance. Can you enrol as a student?
 
You cannot receive a jobseeker's allowance if you are taking a full-time course, unless:

• You are taking evening courses or studying at the weekend (the majority of the classes have to take place after 5 p.m. or on Saturdays).
   
• The RVA director has granted you an exemption in application of Article 93 (Legal basis Art. 93 Royal Decree of 25.11.1991).

'A full-time course' means: being enrolled with a diploma or credit contract for at least 27 study credits per academic year. 

You can combine courses which are not considered to be full-time with a jobseeker's allowance without having to request permission from the RVA director.
 
This includes:

• Enrolling with a diploma contract or credit contract for less than 27 study credits.
   
• Enrolling with an exam contract regardless of the number of study credits.  Enrolling with an exam contract in combination with another contract is not permitted if the combined contracts amount to more than 27 study credits. In that case, the student needs to meet the conditions set out in Article 93.
   
• Post-academic study programmes and postgraduate programmes which only entitle you to a certificate. 

Please note: you can take these courses on condition that you continue to be registered as a jobseeker and are still available for the labour market.
 
You cannot embark on studies with an exam contract and subsequently continue with a diploma contract and request an exemption (for example from your 2^nd year onwards, when you meet all the conditions for an exemption). You will be denied an exemption in this case.  The situation at the start of the course is always taken into account.

You can only do this if you receive an exemption (Article 93).

• You are taking a full-time course (during the week and during the day, at least 27 study credits with a diploma or a credit contract, or at least 27 study credits based on a combination of an exam contract with another contract).
   
• You are a full-time jobseeker at the start of your studies (= the official starting date of the academic year!).
   
• You have received at least 312 days of unemployment or tideover allowance (= 1 year of allowances) in the two-year period before you start your studies. All of the days for which you received an allowance as a full-time jobseeker are taken into account. Not taken into consideration: income guarantee allowances, temporary unemployment allowances, paid leave, sickness allowance, etc. 

Courses that prepare you for ‘bottleneck professions’ are exempt from the 312-day rule. You only need jobseeker status. The RVA draws up a list of bottleneck professions at the start of every academic year. You can find this list on the RVA website, where it is published every year in June or July under the 'nieuw' header.  Only the bottleneck professions on this list are taken into consideration!

• You graduated at least two years ago (last course taken or apprenticeship).
   
• The course must be of the same level or higher than those that you have already taken, or of a lower level if you have not yet obtained a degree.
   
• You do not have a higher education graduation diploma. A graduation diploma is the highest diploma you can obtain in a given field of study (the RVA director can grant an exemption if he or she feels that this degree does not offer sufficient chances on the current labour market). If you hold a professional Bachelor degree then you can follow this up with a Master degree, provided the programme relates to the same field of study (e.g. an individual with a professional Bachelor degree in Social Work can go on to obtain a Master degree in psychology). This principle applies even if the student interrupts the programme cycle. 

All of these conditions must be fulfilled simultaneously.
 
When do all of these conditions have to be fulfilled? 
In principle, you have to meet all of these conditions on the official starting date of the academic year of the course cycle to which your application for an exemption relates. If you become involuntarily unemployed during your studies, we recommend that you also apply for this exemption. The RVA director may grant an exemption if he or she concludes that you can demonstrate study progress.

To obtain an exemption, you should have form C93 filled out by the institution at which you study.

You need to submit the form to the office which pays your allowance before the start of your studies. In some cases, an exemption may be granted if the office agrees, e.g. as part of the ruling procedure.

You can obtain information beforehand from the director of the unemployment agency as regards his or her decision.  You need to make use of the ruling procedure for this. Provided the facts you included in your application are correct and the regulations have not changed in the meantime, the RVA director is legally bound by his or her prior written answer.

This allows you to enrol with prior knowledge of the decision that the RVA will make. You need to submit a prior application in writing (see the 'ruling' form on the RVA website) to the unemployment centre to which you report, providing the most complete and accurate description of your current situation. You can document your application if you wish.

If you have obtained an exemption you will no longer need to be registered as a jobseeker or available for the labour market. You will also be exempt from any checks relating to your active attempts to find a job. You are entitled to refuse job offers and you cannot be suspended for long-term unemployment.
 
The exemption can only be granted once (i.e. for one course cycle). It is valid for one academic year, including the holiday periods. The exemption can be extended, however, if you have successfully completed your year: this means you either need to have passed all your exams or have permission to enrol for the next year with at least 27 new study credits!  You cannot repeat your year, in other words, unless you can clearly demonstrate that it is a case of force majeure, which the RVA director must also accept (e.g. a long period of illness). Or unless you receive a new exemption for new studies after an interruption. Each new exemption will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

You cannot obtain an exemption for courses with full-time curriculums. This is also the case if you primarily follow courses after 5 p.m. or on Saturdays. Nor can you request an exemption under Article 93 to take such courses. However, you can request an exemption for exchange programmes or compulsory internships, provided your enrolment in the Belgian institution is maintained.
 
You can only follow part-time courses abroad if the RVA has granted permission for this. You should use form C94A to apply for this permission. In general, permission is not granted if you can take similar courses in Belgium. If you are granted permission, it is valid for 3 months at the most. This period can be extended once for a period of up to 1 year if you have an exceptional reason. The RVA also grants permission for a six-month period once every two calendar years.

You can combine your jobseeker's allowance with scholarships from the Flemish Community, but not with a family allowance.

You can find more detailed information and all the documents you need to submit your application on the RVA's website. You can also contact your trade union or unemployment centre.