Where do I apply for a Belgium Schengen visa in the UK?

The Embassy of Belgium in London decides Belgian short-stay Schengen visa applications from the UK, but you lodge the file at a TLScontact Visa Application Centre. The embassy page lists centres in London, Edinburgh and Manchester. The London centre is at 18 Ryeland Boulevard (Ram Quarter), Wandsworth, London SW18 1UN.

Which Belgium visa documents do I need for tourism?

A passport issued less than 10 years ago and valid more than 3 months beyond the visa, with two blank facing pages marked visa, a copy of the bio page, 2 ICAO-standard photos, a share code print-out, three months of named UK bank statements, an employer letter and payslips or accountant letter and self-assessment form, insurance covering at least EUR 30,000, a return ticket and a hotel booking for the full stay.

How long does a Belgium visa take from the UK?

Apply at least 15 calendar days before departure and no earlier than six months before the trip. Applications accepted in London go to the embassy on the next working day, and the embassy aims to decide within 10 working days, but this can take up to 85 calendar days if more documents are requested or the file is referred to the Immigration Office in Belgium.

Can I apply in London if I am not a UK resident?

No, as a rule. Non-UK residents, including people in the UK on a type C visa or one valid for only 6 months, should apply in their country of residence. A non-resident can apply in London only in motivated humanitarian cases, and the decision is then taken by the Immigration Office in Belgium and takes up to 85 days.

Does a Belgium visa let me travel to other Schengen countries?

Yes. A Schengen short-stay visa allows a visit of up to 90 days in any 180 day period across the 29 Schengen countries, which include Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland. Bulgaria and Romania became full members on 1 January 2025. Cyprus and Ireland are not in the Schengen area.

Can I use a data eSIM in Belgium and the rest of Schengen?

Slashtel's Europe+ eSIM works in all 29 Schengen countries, plus the UK and Turkey, so data keeps working when you cross a border. It is data only, with no local number and no calls or SMS, so keep your home SIM in the phone for calls and bank codes and turn off its data roaming.

Belgium Visa UK: Fees, Documents and Booking Steps

Q: Do British citizens need a Belgium visa from the UK?

No. GOV.UK says British citizens can travel to the Schengen area without a visa for up to 90 days in any 180 day period, and earlier Schengen visits in the previous 180 days count towards the 90 days. The GOV.UK pages only cover people travelling on a full British citizen passport.

Q: How do I book a TLScontact Belgium appointment in the UK?

Complete the Visa On Web form at visaonweb.diplomatie.be, click Make an appointment to move to TLScontact, then pay the service fee online to confirm the slot. If payment is not received by the deadline, the appointment is cancelled. On the day, bring the signed form with the documents, remove all staples, and give biometrics.

Q: Do I need to register my address in Belgium after arrival?

Yes, from 10 April 2026 anyone entering Belgium for a short stay must declare their presence within three days of arrival. This can now be done online through the My Address in Belgium (MAB) form, so a visit to the local municipal office is no longer needed.

If you are a British citizen, you do not need a Belgium visa for a short stay of up to 90 days in any 180 day period. If you hold another passport and live legally in the UK, you apply for a Belgian short-stay Schengen visa through the Embassy of Belgium in London, lodging the file at a TLScontact centre in London, Edinburgh or Manchester.

Who needs a Belgium visa in the UK

British citizens do not need a visa for Belgium. Everyone else living legally in the UK applies in the UK, because the European Commission says you apply at the consulate responsible for the country where you are legally resident. Non-UK residents, including people on a type C visa or one valid for only 6 months, should apply in their own country of residence.

GOV.UK states that British citizens can travel to the Schengen area without a visa for up to 90 days in any 180 day period, and earlier Schengen visits in the previous 180 days count towards those 90 days. The GOV.UK entry requirement pages only cover people travelling on a full British citizen passport and point holders of other passports to the relevant embassy in the UK.

If you are not a British citizen but live legally in the UK, you apply to the Embassy of Belgium in London. A non-resident can apply in London only in motivated humanitarian cases, and the decision is then taken by the Immigration Office in Belgium, which takes up to 85 days.

A Schengen short-stay visa allows a visit of up to 90 days in any 180 day period. A single-entry visa allows one entry, a multiple-entry visa allows several visits while it is valid, and an airport transit visa only covers the international transit area of an airport. Apply at the consulate of the country you intend to visit: if you visit more than one, apply to the country where you will spend the longest time, and if the stays are equal, to the country you enter first. Our Schengen visa guide covers the general rules.

Which Belgium mission and visa centre you use

The Embassy of Belgium in London decides Belgian short-stay Schengen visa applications from the UK, but you never lodge the file at the embassy. Applications must be submitted at a TLScontact Visa Application Centre, and the embassy page lists centres in London, Edinburgh and Manchester.

The London centre is at 18 Ryeland Boulevard (Ram Quarter), Wandsworth, London SW18 1UN. Applications are submitted by appointment from Monday to Friday, 08:30 to 14:00. Passport return without an appointment runs from 08:30 to 16:30. Public holidays are excluded.

The embassy says it has seen a significant decline in the quality of visa applications submitted in the UK. It will decide on the file as presented, complete or not, and an incomplete file may be read as the applicant not taking the application seriously or being unable to provide the documents. Treat the checklist as a minimum, not a suggestion.

TLScontact London also posts operational news. On 19 August 2026 it noted that from 10 July 2026 Somali and Guinean nationals receive only single-entry Schengen visas and must provide every supporting document. The site also warns about appointment booking fraud, so book only through the official route described below.

Booking the appointment

Complete the Visa On Web form at visaonweb.diplomatie.be first, then click Make an appointment to move to TLScontact, and pay the service fee online to confirm the slot. If payment is not received by the deadline, the appointment is cancelled.

The steps in order:

Fill in the Visa On Web form at visaonweb.diplomatie.be and print it.
Click Make an appointment to be passed to the TLScontact booking system.
Pay the service fee online to confirm the slot before the deadline.
On the day, bring the signed form with the documents, remove all staples, and give biometrics at the centre.

Fingerprints are taken when you apply, with some exemptions, and the consulate may ask for more documents later. The list says only the signed Visa On Web form is accepted, so do not substitute a hand-written or downloaded copy from elsewhere.

Applications accepted in London go to the embassy on the next working day.

Fees and service charges

The short-stay visa fee is fixed in euro: EUR 90 for adults and children aged 12 to 18, EUR 45 for children aged 6 to 12, and free for under 6s. It can only be paid in pounds, and the TLScontact London fee table lists GBP 81.00 for a short-stay visa and GBP 40.50 for children aged 6 to 12.

The embassy sets the exchange rate and updates it from time to time, so check the amount before you pay. The fee can be waived for some categories of applicant.

On top of the visa fee, the TLScontact service fee is GBP 34.70 per application. Both the visa fee and the service fee are paid by debit or credit card, American Express is not accepted, and both are non-refundable if the visa is refused. Optional Prime Time appointments cost GBP 79.74 per person.

Budget for the total per adult as the visa fee in pounds plus GBP 34.70, and remember that a refusal returns nothing. The EUR 90 visa fee is the same across the Schengen area, as set out in our Schengen visa guide.

Documents for a Belgium visa

The tourism checklist is strict. Your passport must have been issued less than 10 years ago, be valid more than 3 months beyond the requested visa, have two blank facing pages marked visa, and be undamaged. Bring a copy of the bio page and 2 ICAO-standard colour photos, 3.5 x 4.5 cm, plain white background, less than 3 months old.

Documents must be in English, French, Dutch or German. Beyond the passport and photos:

UK residence: a print-out of your share code (immigration status or right to work), not a print-out of your own status check. The tourism checklist asks for at least one month of UK residence left after you leave the Schengen area, but another TLScontact help answer says the residence permit and passport should be valid 90 days after you leave, so allow 90 days to be safe.
Money: named UK bank statements for at least the last three months showing the balance, plus credit card statements showing the monthly limit. The checklist does not ask for statements to be stamped.
Work: employees need a recent signed employer letter stating their position and salary and giving the employer's UK registration number, plus their last three months' payslips. Self-employed applicants need a letter from an accountant, banker or solicitor and their self-assessment form.
Insurance: travel health insurance covering at least EUR 30,000, including medical repatriation, across the whole Schengen area for the whole stay. EHIC cards are not accepted. A certificate that only refers to conditions in a separate booklet, or names a bronze, silver or gold tier without stating the cover amount, will not be accepted.
Travel and stay: a reserved return ticket to the UK (or proof of onward travel) and a confirmed hotel booking for the full stay, or proof of enough money for accommodation, or a tour booking confirmation.
Under 18s: a birth certificate. A minor travelling alone or with one parent also needs both parents' passports or certified copies, proof of parental consent and a British school certificate. Where one parent has sole custody, bring the court ruling or the absent parent's death certificate.

From 10 April 2026, anyone entering Belgium for a short stay must declare their presence within three days of arrival. This can now be done online through the My Address in Belgium (MAB) form, so a visit to the local municipal office is no longer needed.

Processing time and when to apply

Apply at least 15 calendar days before departure and no earlier than six months before the trip. The embassy aims to decide within 10 working days, but this can take up to 85 calendar days if more documents are requested or the file is referred to the Immigration Office in Belgium.

A decision is normally made within 15 days across the Schengen area, extended to up to 45 days when the application needs a closer look or more documents. The Belgian 85 day figure applies where the file is referred to the Immigration Office in Belgium, which is also the route for non-residents applying in London in motivated humanitarian cases.

In practice, book the appointment as soon as your trip is within six months, and leave the full 85 days if your circumstances are unusual, for example a first Schengen visa, a thin travel history or documents in a language the checklist does not list. Do not book flights you cannot change around a decision date you do not control.

The 90/180 rule in Belgium and the rest of Schengen

The 90/180 rule is a moving window: on each day of a stay, count back 180 days, and the days spent in the Schengen area in that window must not exceed 90. The day of entry and the day of exit both count, and all Schengen countries share one allowance.

Days spent in the UK do not count towards the 90 days, and time spent under a residence permit or long-stay visa from a Schengen country is not counted either. After 90 days in a row outside the Schengen area, a new stay of up to 90 days is possible. Use our Schengen calculator to count days before you book.

The Schengen area has 29 member countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. Bulgaria and Romania became full members on 1 January 2025. Cyprus and Ireland are EU countries that are not in the Schengen area.

The EU Entry/Exit System (EES) records non-EU nationals on a short stay at the external Schengen border: passport details, fingerprints, a facial image and the date and place of each entry and exit. It started on 12 October 2025, has been fully operational since 10 April 2026, and replaces passport stamping. It detects people who stay longer than allowed. Registration is free and there is nothing to apply for in advance. Children under 12 do not give fingerprints, and holders of a long-stay visa or residence permit from an EES country are not registered. See our EES page.

ETIAS is a separate travel authorisation for visa-free visitors only. People who need a Schengen visa do not apply for ETIAS. ETIAS is not yet operating and is expected to start in the last quarter of 2026, with a fee of EUR 20.

Data in Belgium

Slashtel's Europe+ eSIM works in all 29 Schengen countries, plus the UK and Turkey, so data keeps working when you cross a border. It is data only: no local phone number and no calls or SMS, though WhatsApp and other internet calls work over the data.

Keep your home SIM in the phone for calls and bank codes, and turn off data roaming on it to avoid roaming charges. The eSIM is bought online with an email address and a card, Apple Pay or Google Pay, and the QR code arrives by email within minutes. Someone else can buy it and enter the traveller's email, so the code goes straight to the person who will use it.

Validity starts when the eSIM first connects at the destination, so you can buy and install it at home before the flight. The network is chosen automatically and cannot be picked by hand, and more data can be added to the same eSIM later with no new QR code. The phone must be unlocked and eSIM compatible. Check your likely usage with the data calculator and see Belgium for the destination page.

If you need to keep a prepaid home line active for bank codes while you are away, Slashtel also sells mobile top-ups to more than 100 countries, delivered in minutes. Support is on WhatsApp and email, 7 days a week. Our guide to calls, texts and OTPs with a data eSIM explains how to keep receiving codes.

Sources

Checked 25 October 2026. Rules and dates can change, so check the official pages before you rely on them.

Belgium Visa UK: Apply, Fees and Documents

Who needs a Belgium visa in the UK

Which Belgium mission and visa centre you use

Booking the appointment

Fees and service charges

Documents for a Belgium visa

Processing time and when to apply

The 90/180 rule in Belgium and the rest of Schengen

Data in Belgium

Sources

Questions, answered

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