Check your remaining hours, download a certificate as a job student and more

The official list of light student jobs includes the following activities:

• Assisting at reception or in a cloakroom;
• Stocking shelves;
• Retail sales assistant;
• Logistics tasks such as receiving goods, warehousing, weighing, packing, labelling, picking orders, managing stocks or shipping raw materials, goods or products;
• light cleaning tasks involving minimal physical exertion, which do not require a lot of effort and take a short time, such as dusting, washing up, vacuuming or cleaning small rooms, emptying bins, cleaning windows near height, and light cleaning of sanitary facilities;
• easy organisational tasks in the care sector, such as serving and clearing meals and drinks.

If you are 15 years old and have not completed the first two years of secondary school, you are only permitted to carry out these ‘light student jobs’.

Please find up-to-date information on these light student jobs on the website of the FPS Employment, Labour and Social Dialogue (in French) (New window).

Are you under 16 and need a certificate for a (future) employer? Apply for it here:

• By email, by phone (on +32 2 509 59 59) or via the online form.
• State your national registration number, which you find on your identity card. Or state your BIS number, which is on your electronic foreigner’s card. If you don’t have either of these numbers, please state your first name and surname (written in full and correctly) and your date of birth.

We will send your certificate by post.

Are you over 30 and need a certificate for a (future) employer? Apply for it here:

Resident of an EEA country

Are you from a country in the European Economic Area (New window)? Apply for your certificate here:

• by telephone on +32 2 509 59 59 (we will explain what you need to do)
  OR
• by email or by post (NSSO, Victor Hortaplein 11, 1060 Brussels)
• Please state your national registration number, which you find on your identity card. Alternatively, state your BIS number, which is on your electronic identity card. If you don't have either of these numbers, please provide your first name and surname (written in full and correctly) and your date of birth.
• Please enclose a certificate of enrolment or attendance at a recognised further education course.

We will send you the certificate by post.

Residents of a country outside the EEA

Are you from a country outside the European Economic Area (New window)? If so, please proceed as follows:

• Visit us at the NSSO headquarters in Brussels (NSSO, Victor Hortaplein 11, 1060 Brussels) or at one of our branch offices.
• Bring your identity card or passport. Also bring proof of enrolment or attendance at a further education course at a recognised educational institution and your valid residence permit.

You may work as a job student at reduced social contributions (you get a hours package from the government) if you:

• are a student;
• are old enough;
• are not working while attending classes or participating in other school activities.

Are you a student?

for the calculation of social contributions, you are a student if:

• you are following a recognised course of study in secondary, higher or university education;
• studying is your main activity and any job is clearly secondary. For example: an employee who takes a bachelor's degree after working hours is not a student.

You are no longer a student if:

• you have a contract with an employer for 12 months or more. After these 12 months, you can no longer work as a student with that employer. From then on, you and your employer pay the normal social contributions. However, you can still get a job as a student with another employer.
• You attend evening school or another form of education with a limited curriculum.

It is not always easy to tell whether your main activity is studying. Are you in doubt about your situation? If so, please contact the regional directorates Supervision of Social Acts of the FPS Employment, Labour and Social Dialogue at info.tsw@werk.belgie.be.

Are you old enough?

You can work as a job student if you are 15 years or older.

If you are 15 years old, there are two options:

• If you have completed the first two years of secondary school, you may work as a job student.
• If you have not completed these two years, you may soon take on ‘light student jobs’. It is not yet clear which jobs these will be.

Are you attending school part-time?

If you go to school part-time, you can only work as a job student if you:

• enter into a student agreement with an employer other than the one where you do your practical training in the workplace;
• enter into a student agreement with the employer, where you are on internship, for the summer months outside the internship agreement;
• have a student job outside the hours of your theoretical or practical training;
• do not receive unemployment benefit or integration allowance.

Link to all questions about "Student job and job student"

As a student, you receive a yearly hours package from the government. During these hours, you will pay less social contributions than a standard employee.

Since January 1, 2025 this package contains 650 hours.

With the online service My Student at work and the Student at work app (available on App Store and Play Store), you can check how many hours you have left of that package.

Working more is allowed, but for every hour you work beyond your 650-hour package, you pay the normal social contributions.

Please note: do you work as a student in the sociocultural or sports sector under the regulation for association work? Make sure you do not work more than 190 hours per year in that regime and take into account the limits per quarter and per sector. If you have already carried out too much association work when you start working as a student, those additional hours will be deducted from your student hours. Read all about it on the Association work page.

Link to all questions about "Hours package and impact"

Logging in to a government online service is done through CSAM, which is also the case for My Student at work. CSAM is a secure access management system. There are several ways to log in:

1. With an electronic identity card (eID) and eID card reader: more info on the BOSA webpage about the .eID card reader (New window)
2. With itsme®: more info on the Bosa webpage How can I use itsme® to log on to a government online service? (New window).
3. Using a security code via e-mail: more info on the BOSA webpage about the Security code via e-mail (New window).
4. With a security code via mobile app: more info on the BOSA webpage about the Security code via mobile app (New window).
5. With an electronic identifier recognised at European level: more info on the Electronic Identification And Trust Services (eIDAS) page of the BOSA website (New window).

These are also the ways you can log in to the app Student at work. The main advantage of the app is that you only need to log in once to access your data for two months. Each visit adds another two months.

Link to all questions about "Online service and app"

If you are under 18, you are always entitled to child benefits, no matter how much you work. From your 18th birthday onwards, the number of hours you can work without losing child benefits depends on your place of residence.

• If you live in Wallonia, you are allowed to work 650 hours per year at reduced social contributions. In addition to these 650 hours, you will receive 240 hours per quarter. However, you pay the normal social contributions for the additional hours. The compulsory internship hours to obtain your degree are not taken into account. Only the hours actually worked count (and not, for example, paid public holidays).
• If you live in East Belgium, there is no maximum limit to the number of hours you can work per year with a student contract. You only pay reduced social security contributions for the first 650 hours. If you are not working on a student contract but on a normal contract or if you are self-employed, you may not work more than 175 hours per quarter.
• If you live in Flanders, you are allowed to work 650 hours per year at reduced social contributions. In addition to these 650 hours, you can work another 80 hours per month. However, you pay the normal social contributions for those extra hours.
• If you live in the Brussels-Capital Region, you are allowed to work 240 hours per quarter. This rule does not apply in July, August and September if you continue your studies after the summer holidays. All working hours are taken into account, including those you work under a regular employment contract. Hours worked as part of an internship to obtain a degree or as part of an alternate training programme/entrepreneurial training programme do not count. You are allowed to work 650 hours per year at reduced social security contributions.

Please note: if you work more than the allowed number of hours, you might lose the right to child benefits!

Link to all questions about "Hours package and impact"