Planning to move to Belgium to work and be close with gf

Hi
I was in the exaxt same situation. I moved here to be with my boyfriend and finding a job is not easy if you dont speak flemmish/french. My degree isnt being put to use at the moment as the only job i could find with limited flemmish was cleaning. But saying that with a job i could get my identity card my own bank account etc and the hours are flexible so most importantly i can go to school twice a week to learn flemmish.
Its really like starting again but its an adventure.
Do you speak flemmish or french? If you do it will be a lot easier for you.
Once you have had a job for 3 months you will get your identity card its a vicious circle though as you will need to get a temporary work number from the city hall to get a job.

laura-jane154 wrote:

Hi
I was in the exaxt same situation. I moved here to be with my boyfriend and finding a job is not easy if you dont speak flemmish/french. My degree isnt being put to use at the moment as the only job i could find with limited flemmish was cleaning. But saying that with a job i could get my identity card my own bank account etc and the hours are flexible so most importantly i can go to school twice a week to learn flemmish.
Its really like starting again but its an adventure.
Do you speak flemmish or french? If you do it will be a lot easier for you.
Once you have had a job for 3 months you will get your identity card its a vicious circle though as you will need to get a temporary work number from the city hall to get a job.

No I don't speak flemish but I know some words in flemish, been trying to learn it and I know its quite hard but I guess every language is hard to lean in the first place "except English" . I'm planning to move to Bruge as I know the place quite well and some people who works in shops speaks English as they have to due to tourism. I've been travelling in and out of Belgium for the past months.

Been looking for a single room apartment as well Idk 385-500 EU is expensive, but I can probably ask her sister/bf if I could rent their spare room. Where do you originally from anyway? How do you find it when you first move there?

That's what I'm thinking its a new adventure, what's your reason of moving to Belgium?

A lot of places expect people to speak 3 languages here. Good places to look would be irish bars etc they tend to be all english.
It may be easier in bruge to find a job as its bigger than where i moved to, i live in sint niklaas and nothing much happens here but its only 25 minutes from antwerp.
My boyfriend is from belgium. So the same situation as you.

laura-jane154 wrote:

A lot of places expect people to speak 3 languages here. Good places to look would be irish bars etc they tend to be all english.
It may be easier in bruge to find a job as its bigger than where i moved to, i live in sint niklaas and nothing much happens here but its only 25 minutes from antwerp.
My boyfriend is from belgium. So the same situation as you.

Yeah that's what Gf told me but I'm sure I will learn the language eventually and if I have to go to language school to learn it properly then that's okay. I found your first post about find it hard to meet friends and such when you moved, how are you finding it now?

How much are you paying for your school?

Im still struggling with making friends to be honest my job isnt a very social one so it makes it difficult to meet people.
The school i use is lbc. You only have to pay for the books so its like €99 per semester. If you dont work you get it for €23 and if you do work you can claim some of that price back but the effort seemed to be more than what it was worth

I see, I spoke to her friends and all of them speaks English which is good but want to learn the language so I won't be out of place . So what degree did you do when you were in England? Any regrets that you left England, family and couldn't find the job you like in Belgium?

Hope you don't mind me asking those questions.

I dont mind at all. I have a degree in drama and english. You?
My boyfriends friends also all speak english but they dont like too. You will find that a lot its why its difficult to make friends but if they see you are making an effort to speak flemmish they are more understanding. I dont blame them english isnt their first language. I have found i feel like a huge burden when i cant keep up with the conversation and its difficult to interrupt and ask for translations.
No regrets its a beautiful country here but it has been more difficult than i anticipated. I do miss my family and friends but with inventions like skype it makes it a lot easier to stay in touch.
I also miss gravy, everytime i go back to england i bring a jar of bisto back with me.

laura-jane154 wrote:

I dont mind at all. I have a degree in drama and english. You?
My boyfriends friends also all speak english but they dont like too. You will find that a lot its why its difficult to make friends but if they see you are making an effort to speak flemmish they are more understanding. I dont blame them english isnt their first language. I have found i feel like a huge burden when i cant keep up with the conversation and its difficult to interrupt and ask for translations.
No regrets its a beautiful country here but it has been more difficult than i anticipated. I do miss my family and friends but with inventions like skype it makes it a lot easier to stay in touch.
I also miss gravy, everytime i go back to england i bring a jar of bisto back with me.

Digital Media, there are some jobs in Belgium but some of them requires bilingual but with fluent English. Yeah that's true pretty sure anyone will understand that flemmish is not your first language anyway but have to try. I always ask my gf to translate it in English but sometimes she's also having a hard  time to translate some of the words in English as it could mean entirely different.

True I find that gravy is not their thing whereas in England its a must specially if you're having a roast meal Ahah. I agree that they are skype but I feel like I will miss them physically if you get me. If I ever move to Belgium it'd be my first time being alone to be honest so I think it'll be harder for me to cope but im sure I will manage to adjust.

It is a huge change and you will always miss family to be honest there are some days when i think of moving back to england but if you can settle here and find a job etc the country will pull you in and you wont want to leave.
They have words in flemmish that dont have english translations its more of a descriptuon. Thet really have words for the most random things.
Once you know the language better and have made some friends here it will get better. And im sure with the help of your girlfriend you will feel right at home.
If on this site i find enough people in similar situations to ours i will try to organise a meet up its difficult as i havent come across many english people.

What part of Belgium are you planning on moving to?  City?  Region?  Province?

Just prepare yourself for a challenge especially if you don't have a job here already and if you can't speak Dutch or French.  You will probably have to take a menial job and those aren't easy to find either.  Make sure your finances are adequate enough in the case you can't find work.  When and if you get a job is not known.  Plus, there is a process for getting a working permit and such and processing these things aren't for free.

I am married to a Flemish man, so I am not sure about living together situation and what you must do.  There are criteria you must meet.  Definitely check with your commune/gemeente as soon as you arrive here to start the process.

Hasselt09 wrote:

What part of Belgium are you planning on moving to?  City?  Region?  Province?

Just prepare yourself for a challenge especially if you don't have a job here already and if you can't speak Dutch or French.  You will probably have to take a menial job and those aren't easy to find either.  Make sure your finances are adequate enough in the case you can't find work.  When and if you get a job is not known.  Plus, there is a process for getting a working permit and such and processing these things aren't for free.

I am married to a Flemish man, so I am not sure about living together situation and what you must do.  There are criteria you must meet.  Definitely check with your commune/gemeente as soon as you arrive here to start the process.

Planning to move to Torhout/Bruges. Yeah I know its going to be hard to find a job if I can't speak Dutch or French but hopefully some shops would accept English speaker until I can find a job that I studied. As of now I can probably cover few months of rent but if I can live with gf's sister/bf apartment then that will reduce my rent significantly. I find  the rent in Belgium is quite low compare here in the UK but I think its because of the currency.

But hopefully I can actually move in Belgium and start a new adventure.

Of course you can as a EEA citizen you can go anywhere in the EU, if your GF was none EU she could go also as long as been together 2 years.

It's nice to know that I'm not the only one feeling this way. I'm an American who graduated with a music performance and audio engineering degree and diploma. I moved to Belgium with my boyfriend and I'm having a hard time finding work. In terms of music, it's not so hard because my boyfriend usually is the one who speak to venue owners ( my boyfriend and I both work together musically). It's been really tough to not only find work, because I speak only English with 5 weeks of French training from here (in Belgium) and it's also been tough finding friends. I would like to feel independent from my boyfriend and make my own friends and meet my own people. But it's been tough for me.