Administrative formalities for recent graduates

After your last academic year, as long as you are not yet 25, you can still receive up to 12 months of child benefit or Growth Package as a school-leaver.

If you are resident in Flanders, you may, as a school-leaver, still be entitled to the Growth Package for a period of 12 months. When those 12 months start depends on when you graduate or stop your studies (deregistration):

• If you graduate in June (or July) or in September, you can only receive your Growth Package as a school-leaver from 1 October at the earliest.
• If you terminate your studies prematurely and do not deregister as a student, then the period for the Growth Package as a school-leaver starts from 1 October.
• If you terminate your studies prematurely and do deregister as a student, then the period for the Growth Package as a school-leaver starts from the month after the end of your studies.
• If you graduate in the course of the academic year and do not deregister as a student, the period for the Growth Package as a school-leaver starts from 1 October.
• If you graduate in the course of the academic year and you do deregister as a student, the period for the Growth Package as a school-leaver starts from the month after graduation.

Entitlement to the Growth Package as a student versus entitlement to the Growth Package as a school-leaver

Entitlement to the Growth Package as a student always takes precedence over entitlement as a school-leaver.

• If you stop your studies, the entitlement to the Growth Package as a student ends at the end of the month in which you stop your studies. If you later re-enrol as a student, you are again entitled to the Growth Package as a student (if you meet all the conditions).
• You can use the 12-month period of the Growth Package as a school-leaver at various times, but the total period can never exceed 12 months. Suppose you graduate in June 2019, then as a school-leaver you are entitled to the Growth Package from 1 October 2019 onwards. When you then resume your studies in February 2020, with a minimum enrolment of 27 credits, you are again entitled to the Growth Package as a student from that moment onwards (if you are not yet 25). At the end of the studies you started in February 2020, you will still have a period of 8 months of the Growth Package as a school-leaver at your disposal.

Registration as job-seeker and occupational integration time and benefit

The right to the Growth Package as a school-leaver is independent of your registration as a job-seeker and the completion of your occupational integration time. As soon as you are entitled to occupational integration benefit, you are no longer entitled to the Growth Package as a school-leaver. You can never receive an occupational integration benefit and Growth Package together.

If you are resident in Brussels, you are only entitled to child benefit as a school-leaver if you are registered as a job-seeker and under the age of 25.

Period

You are still entitled to child benefit as a job-seeker for a maximum of 12 months (360 calendar days). This period starts automatically from:

• 1 August after your last full academic year;
• the day after the end of the second examination period of your last academic year;
• the day after you have stopped your studies with at least 27 credits (deregistration) or are no longer enrolled for at least 27 credits;
• the day after the submission of your final dissertation if you made use of the ‘special thesis arrangement’, i.e. if you did not take 27 credits in your diploma year, but still had to complete a final dissertation (bachelor’s or master’s thesis, internship report). Please note: this period starts automatically, even if you are not yet registered as a job-seeker at the time

Conditions

• Registration as job-seeker: you will receive your child benefit from the day you register as a job-seeker. If you register late, you lose your child benefit for the period in which you were not registered.
• Your monthly income <€551.89 gross: you will lose the child benefit as a job-seeker for every month in which your income exceeds this amount.

Not registered as a job-seeker

You are still entitled to child benefit as a student

• if you graduate in June or July: until the end of September, provided you do not work more than 240 hours in the months of July, August and September.
• if you deregister as a student in the course of the academic year: until the end of the month in which you stop your studies.

In the event of illness

if you cannot register as a job-seeker due to illness, you will still be entitled to child benefit, provided that you

1. can submit a doctor’s certificate proving that you are not available for work due to illness;
2. register as a job-seeker within 5 working days after the period of illness.

The occupational integration time only starts when you are registered as a job-seeker and you have completed all the activities imposed by your study programme with a full curriculum. Before you can apply for occupational integration benefit, you have to complete the compulsory occupational integration time. This amounts to 310 working days (or 12 months) and includes all days on which you work under full social security and all days on which you do not work but are registered as a job-seeker.

You have to apply for occupational integration benefit before your 25th birthday. This means that, as a rule, you must not be older than 24 years of age at the beginning of the occupational integration time. In certain cases, there are exceptions to this rule, e.g. if you were unable to submit the application before your 25th birthday because you interrupted your studies for reasons of force majeure.

The occupational integration time starts when you are registered as a job-seeker and have finished all your study activities (lessons, exams, internship and final dissertation).

You stop your studies during the academic year and deregister as a student

Your occupational integration time starts immediately. It is best to request a certificate of deregistration as a student from Education and Student Administration. You cannot work as a job student in this case, not even in the summer holidays that follow.

You stop your studies during the academic year and don’t deregister as a student

• You do register as a job-seeker: your occupational integration time starts immediately. You state the date of the end of your studies on the form with which you apply for benefit. In this case, you can no longer work as a job student.
• You do not register as a job-seeker: your occupational integration time starts at the earliest on 1 August. You can still work as a job student until the end of the academic year (September) or until you register as a job-seeker.

You graduate in the course of the academic year and deregister as a student

Your occupational integration time starts immediately. You cannot work as a job student in this case, not even in the summer holidays that follow.

You graduate in the course of the academic year and don’t deregister as a student

• You do register as a job-seeker: your occupational integration time starts immediately. You state the date of the end of your studies on the form with which you apply for benefit. In this case, you can no longer work as a job student.
• You do not register as a job-seeker: your occupational integration time starts at the earliest on 1 August. You can still work as a job student until the end of the academic year (September) or until you register as a job-seeker.

You graduated in June or July

If you graduate in June or July, it’s best to register as a job-seeker with a regional employment service as soon as possible. The occupational integration time then starts at the earliest on 1 August. You can still work as a job student in the summer months (July to September).

You graduated in September

If you graduate in September, you can register as a job-seeker with a regional employment service immediately after the last exam, so that the occupational integration time starts immediately. You can still work as a job student until the end of September. Working days in employment and the days when you are self-employed as a main occupation (except for Sundays) count towards the occupational integration time.

If you worked during the occupational integration time and your employment comes to an end, don’t forget to ask your employer for your C4. If you have worked for more than 28 days and then you become unemployed again, you have to re-register as a job-seeker as soon as possible, otherwise your occupational integration time will not continue. Also bear in mind that the RVA can penalise you at the end of the occupational integration time if it turns out that you have ended employment yourself during the occupational integration time.

If you start working part-time, be sure to register as a part-time job-seeker to ensure that you can make full use of your occupational integration time. If you don’t do this, only the days on which you work count as occupational integration time.