The number of foreign religious officials receiving permission to work in Flanders has fallen sharply, with permits for imams from abroad dropping to almost nothing under a
tougher Flemish labour migration policy.
Flemish Minister for Employment and Justice Zuhal Demir of the N-VA said the figures showed the impact of a more restrictive and selective approach to labour migration involving religious service providers.
When Demir took office in 2023, 13 permits were granted to people from the Islamic community. That figure fell to two in 2025, while no such permits have been issued so far in 2026.
Demir said the policy was not aimed at excluding people because of their religion, but at limiting the ability of foreign governments to use labour migration as a channel for political or social influence in Flanders.
“We do not exclude anyone based on their faith,” Demir said. “But we also do not allow foreign governments to continue exerting influence on our society through labour migration.”
She argued that anyone seeking to serve as a religious official in Flanders should be prepared to operate under Belgian and Flemish rules rather than being deployed by a foreign state.
The issue has become particularly sensitive in relation to Turkey and its Directorate of Religious Affairs, known as Diyanet, which oversees religious affairs and has links to Turkish mosques and imams operating abroad.
Demir has previously raised concerns about the use of Turkish so-called green passports, which can provide certain categories of Turkish citizens with easier international travel. She has urged the federal government to examine whether such passports are being used by imams travelling to Europe on behalf of Diyanet in ways that could bypass Belgium's labour migration and residency requirements.
The debate has now moved into the federal parliament. N-VA MP Kathleen Depoorter has submitted a motion for a resolution calling for greater scrutiny of the use of such passports.
Demir described the approach as an effort to close what she sees as two potential routes for foreign state influence: labour migration rules and passport arrangements.
“In Flanders, we close the front door through our labour migration policy,” she said. “The parliamentary group now calls for closing the back door through passport policy. This way, we leave no openings.”
The Flemish government says the broader objective is to ensure that religious communities operating in Flanders are rooted locally and comply fully with Belgian regulations.
Demir also pointed to concerns about the influence of foreign governments over members of the Turkish-origin population, including people whose families have lived in Belgium for several generations.
“We do not want foreign regimes to continue influencing Flemish Turks of the third or fourth generation through mosques,” she said.
The dispute reflects a wider European debate over the role of foreign states in financing, staffing and directing religious institutions. Belgium, like several other European countries, has been under increasing pressure to ensure that religious organisations operating on its territory are transparent about their funding and independent from governments abroad.
For Demir, the principle is straightforward: religious officials serving communities in Flanders should work within the region's legal framework and be accountable to the rules governing religious and labour activity.
“Anyone serving a religious community here must do so from Flanders and within our rules. Not on behalf of a foreign government,” she said.