By Law of 14 July 2025, Belgium introduced a limitation of reception for international protection applicants who had obtained protection in another EU Member State.

On 26 February 2026, the Belgian Constitutional Court provisionally suspended these new rules, finding that the withdrawal of this support creates a risk of serious and irreparable harm. It also stayed the proceedings and referred a question to the CJEU on the compatibility of the legislation with the CEAS.

On 2 March 2026, the Minister of Asylum and Migration, instructed Fedasil to treat as subsequent applications all applications made by beneficiaries of international protection in another Member State and to limit material assistance for these applicants and to inform them that they should return to the Member State in which they were already beneficiaries of international protection, citing alternative legal grounds.

On 13 March 2026, several associations, the Order of Francophone and German-speaking Bars, and several international protection applicants requested the Belgian Council of State to suspend the ministerial instruction of 2 March 2026 to Fedasil, challenged the treatment of these applications as subsequent applications and the limitation of reception.

In an urgent procedure, on 27 March 2026, the Belgian Council of State, suspended the ministerial instruction of 2 March 2026.

The Council noted that the implementation of this instruction would immediately expose international protection applicants who are beneficiaries of international protection in another EU Member State to extreme hardship and the risk of homelessness. It also highlighted that the instruction, due to its regulatory character, should have been submitted to the Council’s Legislation Section for prior review.