Since 2019, employers who cannot fill vacancies for a shortage occupation can bring non-EU citizens here to do the job via a “combined permit”. Only some seem to abuse this migration channel. For example, it turned out this week that the Belgian consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, had blocked hundreds of files from people who want to come and work in Flanders.
Now 80 possible fraudulent applications have also been blocked in the consulate in Rabat. They are examined in the same way as the others, says the cabinet of State Secretary for Asylum and Migration Nicole de Moor (CD&V).
In Flanders, a total of 15,199 combined permits were applied for in 2022. 3,055 of these come from Turkey, a significant increase. The sudden increase in the number of applications was related to a number of notable requests, such as an application for fifty Turkish workers at the same time. The consulate staff suddenly saw strange things passing by, says the FPS Foreign Affairs.
A suspicious application also triggered further investigation in Morocco.