Student jobs

You can opt to help out an organisation or company on a voluntary basis.  

Volunteer compensation

A volunteer never earns a salary. The organisation can however offer you a compensation. These compensations are limited, so make sure not to go over the limit with your earnings. If you do, your income will become taxable.

An organisation is never obliged to pay you a compensation. They can also opt to pay for your expenses such as transportation or food.

Looking to volunteer?

Students who carry out an independent activity can apply for the status of student self-employed, in order to promote entrepreneurship among students.

Applying for the status of student-employed person

In this case, as a student you provide services to a client in return for payment without being bound by an employment contract. The remuneration you receive is a gross income and, as a student, you are responsible for any social security contributions and taxes.

You can apply for student self-employed status if you:

• are aged between 18 and 25;
• are enrolled with a diploma, credit or exam contract with the purpose of obtaining a recognised diploma, attestation, certificate, credit certificate or certificate;
• are enrolled for at least 27 credits, unless you are completing a thesis or compulsory internship;
• regularly attend classes and participate in exams, unless the VUB supervises your entrepreneurial project.

Social contributions

As a self-employed student, you are obliged to join a social insurance fund for self-employed people. Through the tax authorities, the National Institute for Social Insurance of the Self-Employed (RSVZ) will be informed of your affiliation. If you are not affiliated at the time you are self-employed, you will face an administrative penalty.

Depending on your net taxable income, you may or may not have to pay social security contributions. There are three categories:

• You pay no social contributions if your annual net taxable income is less than €6 775.25.
• You pay reduced social contributions on the part of your income between €6 775.25 and €13 550.50. This is a rate of 20.5% (for starters during the first year) or 21% (from the second year onwards).
• From an income higher than €13 550.50, you pay social contributions on your full income as a self-employed person, as applicable for any self-employed person in main occupation.

Those who pay a reduced social contribution only have limited social rights in terms of health care and disability.

More information

It is important to inform yourself before you start working as a self-employed person. Besides paying any social contributions, other additional obligations may apply as a self-employed person. For more information, you can always contact a staff member at Studentenjobs or visit a Social Insurance Fund for the Self-employed.

All information on your rights and obligations as an employee during your student job.

Social security

Both the employer and the job student have to pay social security contributions on the salary.

The employer and the student only pay solidarity contributions on the first 600 hours. For the employer this is 5.42% on top of the gross pay, for the student it is 2.71% of his gross pay. For the year 2023 and 2024, each job student is entitled to a quota of 600 hours. These hours may be spread over the entire year.

Both the student and the employer can consult the number of hours still available via Student@work, an online application. Please note that all hours for which a student receives salary from an employer are deducted from the quota, including paid holidays.

From hour 601, both the employer and the student pay normal social security contributions (13.07%). This opens up a number of rights for the student that largely compensate for the contribution (e.g. holiday pay).

Which days do not count towards the 600 hours?

• Hours you work abroad (with a contract not covered by Belgian legislation);
• Hours you work as a self-employed person;
• Hours of employment in association work (sociocultural and sports sector), maximum 190 hours with exemption from social security contributions (these are often jobs as e.g. monitor, animator, etc.). From the 191st hour, your hours are deducted from your quota.

Working in the hotel and catering industry

• Employers in the catering industry can hire casual workers at lower social contributions for up to 2 consecutive days. The employer gets 200 days per calendar year for this purpose.
• If you start working in the hospitality industry as a student, you can choose (in consultation with your employer) which advantageous system you use: the 50 days for casual work or your 600 student hours. You can also combine the two systems.
• The condition is that the employer has enough days left of his 200 days. If he goes over that, he must hire the student at the normal conditions, even if the student has not yet exceeded the 600 hours.

Student contract

A student contract can be concluded for a maximum of 1 year (i.e. 12 months). Contracts are drawn up in two copies: one for the employer and one for yourself. 

The contract must be signed at the latest when you start working. The trial period in a student contract is always 3 days. During these days, both the student and the employer can terminate the contract without notice or compensation.

There is a legal minimum wage set by age.

PhD students can only do student jobs under these specific conditions:

Conditions

• PhD students with a scholarship from the higher education institution where they study, cannot work as a student within this higher education institution.
• PhD students who receive a salary and are officially regarded as employees, not as students, cannot work with a student employment contract.
• PhD students with an external scholarship, and subjected to social security contributions (RSZ), cannot work as a student.
• PhD students with an external scholarship, who are not subjected to social security contributions (RSZ), work as a student if this is mentioned in their contract.
• Self-supporting PhD students not holding a scholarship can work with a student employment contract. Non-EEA students must have a valid residence permit, mentioning the possibility to work as a student, in order to work during the academic year.

Not sure if you're allowed to work as a student? Contact our staff!

Depending on your legal status in Belgium, your rights differ as an international student.

EEA students

Can work as a student.

Students from neighbouring countries

Students from the Netherlands, Luxemburg, Germany and France must register at the commune where they are staying. To work in Belgium you will need a Belgian register number.

International student married to an EEA citizen

Spouses and children of EEA students can work in Belgium. There are no extra formalities or nationality conditions, though you must be married and live together in Belgium.

Non-EEA students

Since 2019 you no longer need a work permit C and you can work in Belgium.

• with your electronic residence permit
• with your appendix 15 (if you received this document while waiting for your residence permit)
  
   

Since 2019, residence permits given to non-EEA citizens studying in Belgium mention extra information about working possibilities. With this residence permit, you can work for any employer in Belgium, considering the following conditions:

• You can work during the period of validity of your residence permit.
• During the academic year, you can work for a maximum of 20 hours per week. During official holiday periods (i.e. winter, spring or summer holidays), this limitation does not apply, so you can work more than 20 hours per week.
• The student job must be compatible with your study, meaning that you can’t work when you are supposed to be attending classes or other activities related to your study programme.
• If you arrive in Belgium during the summer before the academic year in which you will start your studies, you are not allowed to work during the months before the start of the academic year.

If you perform a student job as a babysitter, tutor or handyman, you offer support in a family and you usually do not get a (student) contract for this. The regulations of domestic staff apply in this case.

Not unlimited

You cannot work indefinitely under the status of domestic staff. Working as domestic staff must always be occasional in nature.

Categories of domestic staff

There are 2 categories of domestic staff:

• You can perform tasks and assignments that fall under manual domestic work, such as cleaning, ironing, doing chores in the house or garden, etc.
• You can also perform intellectual or non-manual domestic tasks, such as tutoring, babysitting, running errands for the elderly, accompanying less mobile people, etc.

Manual domestic work

Does your job as a job student consist of cleaning, doing chores in the garden or around the house? Then the person for whom you carry out these tasks and assignments must take care of a number of legal obligations, such as registering as an employer with the National Social Security Office, paying social security contributions, providing a tax sheet for domestic workers, taking out work accident insurance, etc.

Since a lot of social and tax obligations have to be fulfilled in this case, most individuals use service cheques to get chores and tasks of manual domestic labour done.

Intellectual or non-manual labour

If you are employed as a babysitter or tutor, the legislator provides a more flexible arrangement. In this case, your employment as a babysitter or tutor does not have to be declared to the National Social Security Office and the tax authorities. In addition, the following conditions also apply

• the services as e.g. babysitter or tutor may not exceed 8 hours per week (for one or more employers together);
• the activities must be non-professional and non-regular (they must be occasional assignments/friendly services for which a small fee is paid).

As soon as you are employed as a student in the context of intellectual or non-manual work, you must always take out valid work accident insurance. As a student, you do not have to take out this insurance yourself: it is up to the person who employs you to do so. Always check this before you start working as a babysitter or tutor.

Accident insurance

Have you found a student job as a babysitter or tutor via the VUB job database and were you selected for this job? Then you can be insured via the VUB for physical accidents and civil liability for free. In this case, the person you are going to work for does not need to take out their own insurance as long as they don't employ students for more than 8 hours a week under the status of domestic staff. To make use of this, it is necessary to contact Student Jobs.