I may be moving from the United States to Kortrijk, Belgium for my work, and my wife who is a physician would be moving with me. She is an American-educated internist with a specialty in endocrinology and fully certified, but only speaks English. We expect to be in Belgium at least six months, possibly up to two years. Does anyone have any recommendations for resources that we should utilize to determine where she might work (either in Belgium or in nearby France)?

Thank you for any assistance you can provide.

Hi Stanford,

It is not so easy to practice medicine in other countries as I am sure your wife knows. I believe your wife would first need to take a test or several to determine her education and experience level relative to the Belgian requirements. The result of her exam would determine how long she would need to actually study in Belgium to obtain a license for practicing medicine in Belgium. Then she would first have to learn Dutch of course before she could begin her medical studies. There are great 1-year intense submersion programs offered by universities for this. If you will be living in Flanders, you must speak Dutch to practice medicine.

I have a friend from Brazil who was an experienced dentist (years of practice) and she did very well on her equivalence test. However she still needed to study dentistry in a Belgian university for one year and before she could do that she had to learn Dutch. Therefore she did a one-year Dutch program at the university of Louvain. I also have a Korean friend who went to medical school in Korea but who is doing her residency here. She had to do so much paperwork and wait for a year an a half before she had a decision about whether or not she could begin her residency in a hospital here. She learned Dutch and earned a Masters' degree during this time. She went to one of the best medical schools in Korea and she is actually the first Korean to come and do her residency in Belgium so she was kind of a trailblazer.

So that is where she can start. By the time all of this is would be done, and she could be certified to practice medicine, it would be time for you to leave! Maybe you can contact a medical school or univerisity in Kortrijk for more information. Or maybe there is a medical association in Belgium? This is not my field so I do not know. Or maybe she could get a job as a researcher in a university? But then she will have to start looking for jobs now and arrange for her own work permit with her employer. Usually when a non-EU spouse moves to Belgium for their work, the spouse of this person is normally only granted a visa to come with this person if you agree not to work or seek employment in Belgium.

I hope this gives you a spring board to start from.

I just realized your post is from 2008!!! Tell me, are you here now? What happened?