Belgium Launches Recruitment Drive Offering SA Artisans Up to R90,000 a Month and Relocation Support
- A major Belgian industrial company has already visited South Africa twice in 2025 and has another recruitment trip planned
- Packages on offer include signing bonuses, employer-funded airfare, visa costs, and help relocating entire families
- A new recruitment partnership has launched specifically to connect South African artisans and technicians with verified Belgian employers
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Belgian employers are actively recruiting skilled South Africans, dangling packages that include salaries of up to R90,000 a month, generous relocation support, and as many as 42 days away from work each year.
According to Nicholas Avramis, managing director of Beaver Recruitment SA, demand for South African professionals has accelerated as European companies struggle to fill technical and industrial roles locally. Belgium recorded a job vacancy rate of 4.1% in 2025, with over 163,000 positions sitting unfilled, driven by an ageing population and a widening skills mismatch.
Monthly gross salaries on offer range from roughly R52,700 to R92,800, depending on the role and employer. Some packages sweeten the deal further with signing bonuses of around R27,860, employer-covered flights and visa fees, accommodation assistance, lunch allowances, and support for relocating a worker's family after the first year, including help finding employment for spouses.
Belgium ranks third in Remote's Global Life-Work Balance Index, partly because of strong worker protections and leave provisions. Annual leave of up to 32 days, combined with public holidays, can push total time off to approximately 42 days.
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Avramis told BusinessTech that one large Belgian industrial company visited South Africa twice during 2025 and has a further recruitment visit scheduled for November 2026, with around 40 South African hires expected over the course of the year. He said:
"This is no longer exploratory recruitment - this is structured, ongoing hiring. Europe is building long-term pipelines from South Africa."
To formalise this pipeline, Belgium-based Forum Jobs HR Group and South African firm Beaver Recruitment & Migration have jointly launched Forum Jobs South Africa. Founded in 1997, Forum Jobs runs more than 50 offices across Belgium and focuses on technical and industrial staffing in sectors such as manufacturing, engineering, logistics, construction, and skilled trades. The South African programme will target maintenance technicians, millwrights, industrial electricians, mechanics, manufacturing technicians, and skilled artisans.
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Forum Jobs CEO Marjolein Geens described South Africa as an important source of technical skills for Belgian employers. Avramis added that the partnership was also designed to shield job seekers from fraudulent overseas recruitment schemes, noting that some candidates had resigned from stable jobs or spent thousands of rands on paperwork chasing positions that never existed.
Prospective applicants should be aware that the advertised figures are gross salaries, before Belgian income tax and social security contributions, and that actual take-home pay will vary by role, working hours, and shift arrangements.
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South African commenters responding on the BusinessTech page were notably cautious.
@terbo17 asked:
"What can you do with R90k in that country..... and is this before or after tax, that's the real question."
@pj_viking was more blunt:
"Rent in Brussels will set you back anywhere between R40k and R60k... not really worth it."
@lwandlelembede raised a broader concern:
"Then who will hire South Africans in South Africa and the South Africans that want to build their country? And what is South Africa doing about the 65% unemployed rate?"
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Source: Briefly News
