Reference metadata describe statistical concepts and methodologies used for the collection and generation of data. They provide information on data quality and, since they are strongly content-oriented, assist users in interpreting the data. Reference metadata, unlike structural metadata, can be decoupled from the data.
Immigration Office (Office des étrangers/ Dienst Vreemdelingenzaken)
1.2. Contact organisation unit
Statistics Unit
1.3. Contact name
Confidential because of GDPR
1.4. Contact person function
Confidential because of GDPR
1.5. Contact mail address
Boulevard Pacheco, 44
B-1000 Bruxelles
Belgium
1.6. Contact email address
Confidential because of GDPR
1.7. Contact phone number
Confidential because of GDPR
1.8. Contact fax number
Confidential because of GDPR
2.1. Metadata last certified
25 June 2024
2.2. Metadata last posted
25 June 2024
2.3. Metadata last update
25 June 2024
3.1. Data description
Data collection on EU Blue Cards statistics based on EU Directive on the conditions of entry and residence of third-country nationals for the purpose of highly qualified employment. The EU Blue Cards statistics is produced under the Directive 2009/50/EC. From 19 November 2023 this directive is replaced by Directive (EU) 2021/1883. The new legal requirements regarding supplementary statistics are applicable starting with 2024 reference period.
The following datasets are collected in 2023 under this framework:
EU Blue Cards by type of decision, occupation and citizenship (migr_resbc1);
Admitted family members of EU Blue Cards holders by type of decision and citizenship (migr_resbc2);
EU Blue Cards holders and family members by Member State of previous residence (migr_resbc3).
Directive 2009/50/EC was transposed at national level on 10 September 2012.
Directive (EU) 2021/1883 was not yet transposed at national level.
3.2. Classification system
See table 3.2. in annex ‘Quality report tables EU Blue Cards’.
3.3. Coverage - sector
Migration and asylum – Residence permits statistics, EU Blue Cards.
3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions
See table 3.4. in annex ‘Quality report tables EU Blue Cards’.
3.5. Statistical unit
As requested in technical guidelines, these "statistics refers (...) to the number of “persons” receiving the “residence permit”". Following this approach, the double-counting of the same person in the same table and for the same reference period is avoided.
3.6. Statistical population
See table 3.6. in annex ‘Quality report tables EU Blue Cards’.
3.7. Reference area
Belgium.
3.8. Coverage - Time
See table 3.8. in annex ‘Quality report tables EU Blue Cards’.
3.9. Base period
Not applicable.
Number of persons.
Calendar year.
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
As a federal public organisation, the Immigration Office is responsible for the application of the Law of 15 December 1980 and the Royal Decree of 8 October 1981 on access to the territory, residence, settlement and removal of foreign nationals. Concerning residence permits, the Immigration Office is responsible for the examination of applications for authorisation to stay (introduced abroad or in Belgium), changes of status, acquisition of long-term residence status and ending/withdrawal of stays. In the specific case of blue cards, the Immigration Office grants the residence permit and incorporate the work permit and the residence permit in a single document.
6.2. Institutional Mandate - data sharing
The Federal Public Service Home Affairs was officially designated as other national statistical authority and was nominated as responsible for the transmission of residence permits' statistics including statistics on EU Blue cards.
Information on the existence of a national policy for (not) releasing data before a certain time after the end of reference period has passed:
All statistical data are published within the regulatory deadlines. No national policy prevents us from publishing statistics before this deadline. Statistics are published when their quality is considered sufficient.
Required confidentiality by law and signed legal confidentiality commitments by survey staff:
All the officials of the Immigration Office have signed a declaration aimed at protecting the confidentiality of data.
Potential micro-data access for research purposes by external users and confidentiality provisions applied:
Access to micro-data is possible while respecting the general data protection regulation (regulation 2016/679). More information on the procedure implemented in this context can be requested from the Data Protection Officer of the Immigration Office. The contact details are available on the website of the Immigration Office:
Statistics on EU Blue cards are currently published once a year within 6 months after the end of the reference year. A monthly publication is currently being developed at national level in the framework of single permits (including EU Blue cards).
10.1. Dissemination format - News release
Not applicable.
10.2. Dissemination format - Publications
Annual publications on EU Blue cards are accessible from 2013 reference year (year of transposition) on the website of Eurostat. A monthly publication on the website of the Immigration Office is currently being developed.
10.3. Dissemination format - online database
No Belgian online database directly accessible to the public. The statistics are available on the Eurostat website.
To be defined when signing the memorandum of understanding to access the microdata.
10.5. Dissemination format - other
The metadata are complete and accessible online on the website of Eurostat.
10.5.1. Metadata - consultations
Not applicable.
10.6. Documentation on methodology
This document gives some explanations on the methodology used to produce statistics on EU Blue cards. In the framework of a new monthly publication on single permits at national level, a detailed presentation of the methodology (including a part dedicated to EU Blue cards) will be available on the website of the Immigration Office before the end of 2024.
10.6.1. Metadata completeness - rate
Not applicable.
10.7. Quality management - documentation
The quality assessment is documented in this document. Additional elements will be available on the website of the Immigration Office before the end of 2024.
11.1. Quality assurance
The principles of the Code of Practice, together with the general principles of quality management, form a common quality framework for the European Statistical System. These principles were followed when developing these specific statistics.
The Consultation Committee, where the federal government (including the Federal Public Service Home Affairs) and the governments of the Regions and Communities are represented, approved on Wednesday 31 May 2017 the Belgian Commitment on Confidence in Statistics as required by Regulation n°223/2009 on European Statistics.
The last peer review in the framework of the European Statistical System took place in 2021. Results are accessible on the following website.
The statistics collected are used in official publications and by a wide range of users at national, European and International level.
These statistics are used by national administrations, academic researchers and civil society groups working on a wide range of topics including the integration of immigrants, the development and monitoring of national immigration procedures, and the projection of the future population and labour force.
At European level, the main users of these statistics are Eurostat and DG Home.
These statistics are used in several publications of the Commission, as well as in the preparation of regular reports, policy proposals and analysis. The statistics also provide an input to the European Migration Network (EMN) studies and reports that address specific issues of current policy importance.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
Not available.
12.3. Completeness
See table 12.3. in annex ‘Quality report tables EU Blue Cards’.
The main category is linked to the creation of new events / categories in the applications without information of the Statistics Unit.
A continuous monitoring of the different modalities of each variable was developed to identify these cases before the statistical treatment.
13.3.5. Model assumption error
Not applicable.
14.1. Timeliness
Number of days (on average) after the end of the reference period at which the country is able to report the first/preliminary data, at the earliest : 15 days.
Reasons for possible long production of the first/preliminary data and plans to improve the situation : late registration and limited number of persons/experts who can produce / validate the results.
Number of days (on average) after the end of the reference period at which the country is able to report the final data, at the earliest : Approximately 30.
Reasons for possible long production of the final data and plans to improve the situation : limited number of persons/experts who can produce / validate the results. Additional colleagues are currently being trained to support the production/validation process in the future.
14.1.1. Time lag - first result
Not applicable.
14.1.2. Time lag - final result
Not applicable.
14.2. Punctuality
See table 14.2. in annex ‘Quality report tables EU Blue Cards’.
14.2.1. Punctuality - delivery and publication
Not applicable.
15.1. Comparability - geographical
Data are comparable over the national territory.
15.1.1. Asymmetry for mirror flow statistics - coefficient
Not applicable.
15.2. Comparability - over time
See table 15.2. in annex ‘Quality report tables EU Blue Cards’.
15.2.1. Length of comparable time series
Not applicable.
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
Statistics on 1st permit for the reason of remunerated activities and Statistics on Blue cards are confronted to check coherence.
Data on decisions taken and cards issued are linked at individual level to check coherence.
15.3.1. Coherence - sub annual and annual statistics
Annual statistics are equal to the sum of monthly statistics.
15.3.2. Coherence - National Accounts
Not applicable.
15.4. Coherence - internal
Issued permits, renewals and withdrawals are coming from the same source. No issue in terms of coherence was detected.
The same applies for statistics on EU Blue cards holders and family members.
Not available.
17.1. Data revision - policy
Exceptionally, data are corrected / revised due to:
Error of transmission (wrong reference period, errors in data compilation…);
Methodological improvements or introduction of new data sources.
17.2. Data revision - practice
See table 17.2. in annex ‘Quality report tables EU Blue Cards’.
17.2.1. Data revision - average size
Not applicable.
18.1. Source data
See table 18.1. in annex ‘Quality report tables EU Blue Cards’.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Data is collected daily and is consolidated monthly and annually.
18.3. Data collection
Data coming from the Population Register, the database on visas, the database on Single Permits are integrated by the IT departement of the Federal Public Services Home Affairs into a Data Warehouse from which the data is imported and examined in SAS. Data are processed, validated and the results are transmitted annually to Eurostat.
18.4. Data validation
The following controls are performed:
checking of totals consistency;
checking of magnitude of changes over time;
visual validation;
checking the data integrity over each processing step;
checking if the double counting cases are excluded;
checking the consistency between issued first permits, renewals and withdrawals;
checking the consistency between annual and monthly statistics;
analyse the statistics reported by other countries;
checking the consistency between statistics transmitted to Eurostat and statistics published at national level.
18.5. Data compilation
Data are imported in a data warehouse. Data are subsequently treated using a statistical software (SAS) using a standardised procedure.
Data collection on EU Blue Cards statistics based on EU Directive on the conditions of entry and residence of third-country nationals for the purpose of highly qualified employment. The EU Blue Cards statistics is produced under the Directive 2009/50/EC. From 19 November 2023 this directive is replaced by Directive (EU) 2021/1883. The new legal requirements regarding supplementary statistics are applicable starting with 2024 reference period.
The following datasets are collected in 2023 under this framework:
EU Blue Cards by type of decision, occupation and citizenship (migr_resbc1);
Admitted family members of EU Blue Cards holders by type of decision and citizenship (migr_resbc2);
EU Blue Cards holders and family members by Member State of previous residence (migr_resbc3).
Directive 2009/50/EC was transposed at national level on 10 September 2012.
Directive (EU) 2021/1883 was not yet transposed at national level.
25 June 2024
See table 3.4. in annex ‘Quality report tables EU Blue Cards’.
As requested in technical guidelines, these "statistics refers (...) to the number of “persons” receiving the “residence permit”". Following this approach, the double-counting of the same person in the same table and for the same reference period is avoided.
See table 3.6. in annex ‘Quality report tables EU Blue Cards’.
Belgium.
Calendar year.
Accuracy is currently considered as good.
Number of persons.
Data are imported in a data warehouse. Data are subsequently treated using a statistical software (SAS) using a standardised procedure.
See table 18.1. in annex ‘Quality report tables EU Blue Cards’.
Statistics on EU Blue cards are currently published once a year within 6 months after the end of the reference year. A monthly publication is currently being developed at national level in the framework of single permits (including EU Blue cards).
Number of days (on average) after the end of the reference period at which the country is able to report the first/preliminary data, at the earliest : 15 days.
Reasons for possible long production of the first/preliminary data and plans to improve the situation : late registration and limited number of persons/experts who can produce / validate the results.
Number of days (on average) after the end of the reference period at which the country is able to report the final data, at the earliest : Approximately 30.
Reasons for possible long production of the final data and plans to improve the situation : limited number of persons/experts who can produce / validate the results. Additional colleagues are currently being trained to support the production/validation process in the future.
Data are comparable over the national territory.
See table 15.2. in annex ‘Quality report tables EU Blue Cards’.
