Your employer will provide you with a numbered control card C3.2A. You must use the control card from the first day of your effective unemployment until the end of that month. Carefully read the instructions on the control card. You must be able to provide this control card whenever asked for by the social inspection.

Bring the signed control card to an ABVV office near you at the end of the month.

Your file must contain a form C1 with the declaration of your personal status again. If you have a secondary activity or receive other income, you must also declare it. Please note that this may affect your entitlement to benefits. Therefore, be sure to contact your ABVV office.

We will contact you if any documents are still missing from your file. Did you know that you can also sign your unemployment documents electronically now?
In case a document requires your signature, you will receive an email from ABVV to inform you. Log on to My ABVV using the Itsme application or an electronic ID card reader. You will find the documents that need to be signed in your inbox. After signing, the document will be processed by us.

Warning: only open links sent from an official ABVV e-mail address. Check the sender’s e-mail address. Our e-mail addresses always end in @fgtb.be or @abvv.be.

Contact your local ABVV office and we will start a file for you.

Not a member yet? Register online here.

Were you temporarily unemployed by the same employer in the last 3 years, and has nothing changed regarding your personal status or the hours you work per week? Then you don’t need to submit a new application.

If you are older than 65 and receive a pension, you are not entitled to temporary unemployment benefits.

If you are temporarily unemployed, you will receive 65% of your wage regardless of your family situation. The gross maximum wage on which this amount is calculated is 3.199,26 euros. A withholding tax of 26,75% is deducted from your benefits. The payment of the temporary unemployment benefits always takes place at the beginning of the month following the month you were unemployed.

Do you work in an energy-intensive company and are you temporarily unemployed due to Energy? You will receive 70% of your wage. A reduced withholding tax of 15% (instead of 26.75%) will be deducted from your benefits. Your employer (or social security fund) also pays you an additional compensation of at least 6,47 euros per day of unemployment. This arrangement applies until 31/03/2023.

You can follow the status of your file yourself through My ABVV.

As soon as you have been unemployed full-time for more than 3 months, you must register as a job seeker with VDAB (Flanders), FOREM (Wallonia) or Actiris (Brussels). If you work continuously for more than 2 weeks, the 3-month period will end.

You can then be called up and receive work proposals. Just like with regular unemployment, you are required to cooperate.

Anyone who becomes temporarily unemployed, remains employed but performs less or no work due to circumstances. You will receive temporary unemployment benefits for the days or period that you are temporarily unemployed by your employer and do not work.

There are different forms of temporary unemployment, depending on the reason for unemployment.

• Economic reasons: decline in customers, orders, turnover, production… Due to this decline, it is not possible to maintain normal services.
• Force majeure: occurs when the employer is confronted with something unexpected beyond his control.

During the covid crisis, the special system of temporary unemployment was introduced. This is a ‘special version’:

• The application is simpler
• You receive an extra supplement or daily allowance
• You don’t need a control card

This simplified system was used for ‘covid unemployment’ and temporary unemployment due to the floods in Wallonia (summer of 2021).
Since 2023, the simplified temporary unemployment procedure no longer applies.