Belgian passport

For Belgians who are registered in an embassy or consulate and often live at a great distance from their embassy or consulate, there are some facilities that accommodate for large journeys.

If you are registered with an embassy or consulate, you can apply for your passport at various places:

• At the embassy or consulate where you are registered
• At any other Belgian embassy or consulate (if you were to pass through there)
• At a municipal administration in Belgium:
  • The last municipality where you were registered in Belgium;
  • Or, if you have never lived in Belgium, the municipality where you were born;
  • Or, if you have never lived in Belgium and were not born in Belgium, a municipality of your choice.

If you don’t apply for your passport at your embassy or consulate but elsewhere, the passport application will automatically be submitted to your embassy or consulate, which may increase the delivery time.

The following facilities are only available abroad:

• Notification in person for the application at an embassy or consulate is only mandatory from the age of 6.
   
• Your embassy or consulate sometimes comes with a mobile kit your way.
  
  A number of embassies and consulates have mobile biometric devices. With this they periodically travel to remote areas with a large Belgian community. These missions are announced in advance on the website, in the newsletter or by e-mail.
   
• You can have your biometrics registered (free of charge) at an embassy or consulate, in anticipation of a passport application (if any) in the year following this pre-registration.
  
  You happen to be close to an embassy or consulate but you don't need a new passport right away. In this case, you can take the opportunity to have your biometric data registered. In this case, you may want to use a "pre-registration". You can make an appointment for this at any Belgian embassy or consulate. This service is free of charge.
  
  From the moment of pre-registration, you have one year to submit your effective passport application by contacting the embassy or consulate where you are registered. You will have to pay for the passport, but you will not have to visit in person.
  
  Pre-registration is not possible in Belgium.
   
• When applying for a passport at an embassy or consulate, you can opt to keep the biometric data registered for 7 years.
  
  At your request, your biometric data will be kept for 7 years. In the event of an administrative or production error, loss or theft, a duplicate of your passport can be produced (with the same expiry date as the original passport) without you having to visit in person.