Studying in Belgium from China.

What are the steps to study in Belgium from China?

1. 1Secure an admission in a recognised institution of the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles (university, haute école or higher arts school): for universities, the form opens in mid-February and must be lodged by 31 March at the latest.
2. 2Have the APS certificate issued, which verifies Chinese diplomas and is prepared before the application.
3. 3Apply for the equivalence of the secondary school leaving diploma with the Equivalence Service of the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, with the proof of access to higher education (the Gaokao results for a Chinese applicant) and the sworn translations, between mid-November and 15 July (EUR 150).
4. 4Have the Chinese documents apostilled: notarial deed, then apostille from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or from the provincial Foreign Affairs Office.
5. 5Lodge the long-stay visa application (type D, study purpose) on VisaOnWeb, file it by appointment at a VFS Global centre, then contact the nearest Belgian consular post yourself to obtain the appointment for the standardised questionnaire, to be completed in person.
6. 6Plan the first-year budget: a full-rate registration fee of EUR 1,194 and a supplementary fee of EUR 4,175 at university, China appearing in no exemption annex.

How do you enrol at university and get a Chinese diploma recognised?

For a first university enrolment, the Chinese applicant (non-resident, non-EU) lodges their admission application online themselves, with their own contact details: the form opens in mid-February and closes by 31 March at the latest for the September start of the year (31 March 2026 for the 2026-2027 year). Non-refundable admission application fees of EUR 200 apply: some universities deduct them from the registration fee if the admission is accepted, but not all, which is to be checked institution by institution. The ULiège also requires an average of at least 13 out of 20 in secondary school, with a minimum of 12 out of 20 in the key subjects depending on the faculty, for a recent diploma. No decree imposes proof of French at bachelor level (apart from teacher training courses), but universities often ask for one, at B2 level (DELF, DALF, TEF or TCF), when the diploma was not obtained in French, which is the case of a Chinese diploma. Some master programmes of the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles are, by contrast, organised and assessed in English: no knowledge of French is required there, but proof of level in the language of instruction (TOEFL or IELTS) is requested.

The Equivalence Service of the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles applies to China a specific sheet, distinct from its generic sheet. It requires the secondary school leaving diploma and the transcript as originals, an original proof of access to higher education, for which the sheet cites first of all the results of the national unified admission examination, the Gaokao, a copy of an identity document (identity card, passport or birth certificate extract), a signed motivation letter in French or the official motivation form, and the original proof of payment. The sheet warns that access to higher education is not open in China and that the same restrictions will apply in the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles; we infer from this that the field opened by the Gaokao largely determines the field accessible in Belgium. As China appears on the list of countries eligible for official development assistance, the fees are EUR 150 instead of EUR 400, and are non-refundable. Filing opens around mid-November and closes on 15 July (from 15 November 2025 to 15 July 2026 for the 2026 start of the year; the 2027-2028 dates are to be confirmed on equivalences.cfwb.be), for an announced processing time of 4 to 12 weeks minimum, decisions only being issued from 1 March onwards. For a school record obtained outside the European Union, the Service warns that an equivalence with restrictions is likely; these restrictions are lifted by passing the DAES examination, before the secondary school examination boards.

Where do you lodge your student visa in China, and what are the APS and the questionnaire for?

The Belgian Embassy in China works with VFS Global, its official provider, and not with TLScontact. The application is first introduced on VisaOnWeb, then lodged by appointment at a VFS Global centre, where the biometric data is taken: fifteen centres cover mainland China (Beijing, Changsha, Chengdu, Chongqing, Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Jinan, Kunming, Nanjing, Shanghai, Shenyang, Shenzhen, Wuhan and Xi'an). The Belgian post that decides depends, for its part, on the consular district: the Embassy in Beijing for the largest part of the country, the Consulate General in Shanghai for Anhui, Jiangsu, Shanghai and Zhejiang. Hong Kong and Macao fall under the Consulate General of Belgium in Hong Kong, with its own appointment procedure. An application cannot be introduced more than six months before the start of the planned stay, and the embassy points out that the decision time for a long stay is markedly longer than for a short stay.

Two requirements are specific to China. The official document list for a study visa requires an APS certificate for Chinese students who obtained their last diploma in China: the APS, a service attached to the German embassy in Beijing, states that it cooperates with the Belgian Communities and provides, for the French Community, a verification of the documents before the university application, then an interview in English or in French, for fees announced at RMB 2,500 (RMB 1,000 for the verification alone). Next, every third-country national applying for a visa for higher education, or for a preparatory year before higher education, must appear in person to complete a standardised questionnaire. The official document list specifies that it is up to the applicant, after filing at the VFS Global centre, to contact the nearest Belgian consular post to obtain that appointment. Exempt from it are applicants who have sat a selection test, including the APS test or an APS waiver, holders of a Belgian State scholarship and students on exchange or on interuniversity mobility.

How do you have your Chinese documents apostilled for Belgium?

China acceded to the Hague Convention of 5 October 1961 on 8 March 2023 and the apostille has been in force there since 7 November 2023. Belgium raised no objection: the Convention does apply between the two countries. For a document from mainland China intended for Belgium, the Belgian Embassy describes a two-stage sequence: a Chinese notary draws up a notarial deed in booklet form, including the translation into Dutch, French or German, then the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, or the provincial Foreign Affairs Office to which it has delegated this competence, affixes the apostille. Legalisation by the Belgian Embassy or by a consulate general is no longer necessary. Hong Kong and Macao have their own apostille authorities, the High Court in Hong Kong and the Secretary for Administration and Justice in Macao.

How much do studies in Belgium cost for a Chinese student?

Registration fees at the universities of the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles have followed, since 2026-2027, a four-tier scale set by the decree of 5 June 2026 (EUR 1,194, 835, 374 and 0), the reduced rates being reserved for students who are residents or whose family works in Belgium: a non-resident Chinese student therefore pays the full rate of EUR 1,194 for 2026-2027. Students from outside the European Union who are not treated as residents add a supplementary fee of EUR 4,175 per year. China appears in none of the three annexes of ARES circular 2026-001 of 12 February 2026: the Chinese student is therefore liable for this fee, unless treated as a resident on an individual basis or covered by a personal exemption provided for by the regulations, in particular for scholarship holders, that is EUR 5,369 in fees for a first year at university. The circular covers only universities; in a haute école or a higher arts school, the regime is to be checked institution by institution. On top of this budget come the official costs of the journey: EUR 150 for the equivalence, EUR 200 in admission application fees, EUR 250 for the visa, EUR 251 in administrative fees, the VFS Global service fees and the APS fees, without counting the proof of means of subsistence.

On the funding side, China is not an ARES partner country, either for projects or for scholarships, in the 2022-2027 programme: the ARES cooperation scholarships are not open to it, and funding goes through own funds, a guarantor, a Chinese scholarship or a scholarship of the Belgian institution itself. The flow has nevertheless existed for a long time: 437 Chinese students were enrolled in the universities of the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles according to the latest breakdown published by the Council of Rectors (CRef, 2021-2022), making it the leading Asian nationality at that date.

Why get support for this journey?

Like the many international students we support, the Chinese applicant lodges their own admission application, their equivalence and their visa, with their own contact details: that is what universities and consular posts alike expect. Our work sits before and around that: building a calendar that takes the APS, the apostille and the standardised questionnaire into account, checking every document before it leaves, and preventing a badly certified translation from costing a year.

• Choice of the programmes accessible with a Chinese diploma, in French or in English, and building of the admission application before 31 March
• Equivalence file prepared document by document, from the Gaokao results to the motivation letter, then followed through to the decision
• Apostille sequence organised with the notary and the competent foreign affairs office, to cover the equivalence, the admission and the visa in one go
• Preparation of the APS certificate and of the standardised questionnaire, and identification of your consular district and of your VFS Global centre
• Full check of the visa file before the appointment: means of subsistence, administrative fee, medical certificate, criminal record extract, insurance