The result is overall very positive, notes Voka. “71% of expatriates feel welcome in their Brussels municipality”. With the exception, for two-thirds of them, of contacts with the municipal administration. “The average rating given by expatriates is 59%.”notes the survey. Which points to Schaerbeek as an example. La Cité des Ânes obtains a score of 86% thanks, in particular, to a possible reception in English. Evere gets the lowest rating: 52%. The majority of expats surveyed deplore long waits, language problems, unfriendly staff and a lack of seamless digital assistance. Thus, two thirds of the expatriates surveyed declared having had to wait more than a month to obtain their residence documents. “17% even have to wait more than three months, which is unacceptable”deplores the Voka.
More generally, the expats surveyed say they feel at home in their town. 72% recommend it to other expatriates. “The inhabitants of Uccle (95%), Etterbeek (94%), Woluwe-Saint-Pierre (93%) and Woluwe-Saint-Lambert (90%) obtain more than 9 out of 10. But municipalities like Saint-Gilles ( 86%), Ixelles (82%) and Schaerbeek (82%) also show good scores. Brussels City (57%), Saint-Josse (50%) and especially Evere (39%) are the least rated by expatriates.again notes the survey.
Weak point: cleanliness
One big weak point however: cleanliness. On this point, the Brussels municipalities do not obtain the average: 46%. “In particular, the central municipalities obtain very poor scores: Saint-Josse (34%), Forest (37%), Ixelles (38%), Brussels-City (40%), Saint-Gilles (43%) and Schaerbeek ( 47%) are all failing on this point.
