Recruitment of much needed non-EU workers hampered by language barriers

Since the second half of 2021, the number of vacancies at the Flemish employment agency VDAB has been increasing exponentially. To fill these many vacancies, employers can call on workers at home or from the European Union through the free movement of workers. Every year, some 150,000 EU citizens come to Flanders to work. But for several professions, such as butchers, healthcare professionals or cooks, there are too few candidates in the EU.

Employers can recruit labour migrants from outside the EU, so-called "third countries", to do jobs in these professions and they are increasingly doing so. The number of permits granted to non-European workers increased by almost 90 per cent in 2022 compared to 2021 (from 8,600 to some 16,100) according to the annual report of the Flemish Economic Migration Service.

To determine for which occupations an employer may look outside the EU, since 2019 every two years the Flemish government compiles a list of structural bottleneck occupations. Such  professions include bakers, pipe fitters, and truck drivers. For highly skilled people, such as IT professionals and executives, for some time now there has been a more flexible procedure to allow them to come to Belgium.

"We recently again had to expand the list of professions," says Flemish Minister of Work Jo Brouns. "A total of 234 bottleneck professions are now on it. Employers with such vacancies cannot find enough candidates in Belgium or the EU."

Drivers, chefs & butchers

The biggest increase in the number of migrant workers is not recorded among the highly skilled, but rather among workers on the occupation shortage list. The number of non-European workers admitted in bottleneck occupations more than doubled last year compared to 2021.

Last year more than a third – some 1,350 people work as drivers of trucks with trailers. There are also quite a few chefs, healthcare workers and butchers. Almost half come from Turkey or Morocco. Among care workers, India is by far the most important country of origin outside the EU.

What is the procedure for recruiting workers on the occupation shortage list?

Someone from outside the EU can only come to our country to work in a bottleneck profession with a "combined permit" or "single permit".  That’s a combination of a work permit, residence permit and visa. He or she cannot apply for this single permit himself or herself.

It is the employer based in Belgium who must submit the application for a specific person. The combined permit is valid for a maximum of one year, but can be renewed after that year.

The Belgian region concerned decides on whether or not to issue the work permit within four months. Next, the Federal Immigration Office will rule on the residence permit, then the Belgian embassy will issue the necessary visa for travel. Once, employers had to apply for the three documents separately. Since 1 April 2021, there has been a "one-stop shop" so one application will suffice.

"Much needed labour migration lost"

VRT spoke with a number of employers and found out that there appears to be interest in hiring third-country nationals (from outside the EU) in sectors with many vacancies. Yet several employers tell us that the procedures are still too cumbersome, can take too long and that there are additional difficulties.

They say that especially for truck drivers, there are "obstacles that prevent Belgian companies from effectively employing foreign drivers". This is confirmed by Mathieu Vander Paelt of hauliers Mattheeuws Transport: "On arrival a foreign driver must first undergo safety training and pass a corresponding competence test. This can only be done in our three national languages or in English. Using an interpreter in the employee's national language is no longer allowed."

"I had a number of drivers ready to start, but unfortunately I had to disappoint them because I could not recruit them according to the rules due to the language barrier," he adds.

Trade association Transport and Logistics Flanders is asking Flemish employment minister Brouns and Flemish mobility minister Peeters to urgently amend the legislation and once again allow an interpreter. "We are afraid that otherwise useful labour migration will be lost to countries such as Germany, which do not give as much weight to these language requirements," says Lode Verkinderen.

"Surely a minimum knowledge of a country's language is required," Minister Brouns responds. "We want to be sure that drivers can safely follow the highway code."

According to Ivan Claeys, president of the Butchers and Caterers there is room for improvement: "There are no more Belgian butchers. We are short of more than 10,000 workers in the meat industry but the procedure to bring foreign workers here is simply too complicated and takes too long, especially now that many files are blocked."