Inspectors clamp down on migrant workers
Federal social security inspectors are clamping down on migrants from other EU countries who come to Belgium ostensibly as self-employed workers, only to be employed illegally when they arrive. The problem, which concerns mainly migrants from new member states Poland, Bulgaria and Romania, threatens the country’s social security system, the director-general of the inspection service said.
As a condition of their entry into the EU, Bulgarian and Romanian citizens, unlike those from other member states, do not yet have an automatic right to work in Belgium. Some, however, are taking advantage of a condition that allows the self-employed to set up here, obtaining a residence permit, child allowances and other benefits. However, in as many as 40% of cases, the “self-employed” worker is engaged as a “partner” of an existing Belgian company and then paid a wage like any other employee.
The inspection service already has 50 employees working full time on the problem and has now asked for 25 extra inspectors. The cost of the increased surveillance is estimated at €2 million.
However, according to the state institute for health insurance for the self-employed (RSVZ), the number of fraud cases is being exaggerated. In addition, said director-general Anne Vanderstappen, many are not intentionally committing fraud. “Many are people who arrive with the best intention but become the victim of third parties, and only realise months later that their affairs are not in order.”
