Student case study · Belgium
Prabin, from Surkhet to Ghent
Master of Science in Civil Engineering, September 2025 intake
His police clearance nearly made him miss September. We started it the week he was admitted, not the week of the visa.
- Engineering
- Timing
- After bachelor's
- Starting point
- BE Civil, 75%
- English
- IELTS Academic 7.0
- Study gap
- 1 year after his bachelor's, municipal engineer
- Paid for by
- Family savings and a bank guarantee
- First call to visa
- 222 days
Where Prabin started
Prabin had worked for a year as an engineer with his municipality in Surkhet and wanted an English-taught civil engineering master's at a Flemish university, where tuition was lower than in the Netherlands.
What we found
His academic file was strong. The risk was time: Belgium asks for a police clearance and a medical certificate with the type D visa, and his police report had to come through his district before Kathmandu.
We started both the week he was admitted, not the week of the visa appointment.
Step by step, with dates
20 Nov 2024
First counselling.
14 Jan 2025
IELTS: 7.0.
25 Feb 2025
Application to 2 Flemish universities.
22 Apr 2025
Admitted in Ghent; police clearance and medical started the same week.
13 May 2025
Police clearance received from Kathmandu.
20 May 2025
NOC; bank guarantee for the living funds; Immigration Office fee paid.
27 May 2025
Type D visa application lodged.
30 Jun 2025
Visa granted, 222 days after the first call.
10 Sep 2025
Flies to Brussels for Ghent.
The result
Prabin is in his second year, with a thesis on flood-resistant road design using data from western Nepal. He works 16 hours a week in a distribution centre.
In Prabin's words
I thought the hard part was the university. The hard part was a police report from Surkhet.
If your profile looks like this
- 1
Start Belgium's police clearance and medical certificate as soon as you're admitted. See Belgium documents.
- 2
Flemish universities teach many engineering master's in English, at lower tuition than the Netherlands.
- 3
Work in Nepal can become your thesis topic abroad. Keep your data and contacts.
Everything about studying in Belgium: cost, process and fees