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Married Annual Check-Ups
My wife is Belgian, and she and I have been married for over 2 years now. We were married in the US and moved to Belgium about 18 months ago. Since that time, I have proved we are married from the US with the Apostle certificate. Also I have met the language requirements of 1.2 Nederlands and have a belgian id card. However, since then it seems the police here come checking on us every year to continually make us sign a document that we are still married and that it is not a "fake" marriage. At the same time, I still own a home in America and we are considering moving back there but not sure what steps I need to take so that we can move back to America without the police trying to verify every year that we are still together. This seems to not have anything to do with a "fake" marriage but at the same time seems to be some kind of control to keep us here in Belgium. Any advice in this situation would be very helpful and thank you.
I am confused. You have been in Belgium about 18 months and the police here come checking on you every year? Surely the police have come a maximum of twice?
If you want to move back to America, just tell the commune you are leaving and when and go. No one is trying to keep you here.
Don't worry, just comply. Probably new legal procedures.
When filing your Belgian taxes I suggest you also attach a copy of your Apostle certificate.
Weird question where you only married in a church? legally here you also need a state wedding at a commune from what I understand. Might just be easier pop to your local town hall and marry in Belgium also from what I hear it's simple to do
Given the way the USA treats its expats and the difficulties this can cause, you might be better off in the USA anyway. That said, I doubt the US authorities will give you much less of a hard time over your marriage given that anybody would kill to live in the USA, or so the US authorities and general public seem to believe.
It is what they do with all foreigners who are married or in a partnership and are living in Belgium based on that. They will do this once a year for 5 years, and also if you move addresses.
If you move out of Belgium, you will have to remove yourself from the register of your commune (this is an important step!). Once you are no longer a resident of Belgium they will not need to check anymore.
The OP is really not clear, talking about being in Belgium for 18 months and the police checking "checking on us every year." When we first moved to Belgium (a long time ago) they checked on us once in the first residence, and once after we moved (to another commune). That is all.
I went through exactly the same with my partner, for the first two years the police was checking on us continuously every 3-6 months and without any particular reasons (good jobs for both, resident in a so called good commune of Bxl, home ownership, cars, fatty tax bills paid, blah blah). Once I asked the policeman why all these controls he told me that our nationalities (one European and one Central american) were potentially risky ones. I felt quite shocked by the very racist comment.
And all this while the terrorist cells were growing in Brussels untouched...
