Thanks for the reply Niall. It’s a quandary, alright. What does Belgium recommend, do you know?

Five years normally. But there are loads of ways for a child to remain in that situation if in full-time education.

5 years seems the usual for many EU countries. Ah, so the child staying in education solves the problem? There’s always a solution.

I can't guarantee that, but normally you can. A Belgian immigration lawyer should be able to fix that very easily.

Legal advice seems the next step alright. I hope they can get it sorted out anyway.