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@katete The PhD itself does not change anything, what changes is how you get paid. If you get paid with a scholarship (Universities normally pay this way to PhD students) then you dont pay taxes (it's not considered a salary) and for the government it will show up as if you didnt work during this time. If you get paid a salary (i.e a contract) which is quite common if your project is funded by, for example, a EU project then for the government you have a "normal" job and thus you fulfill the requirements of X years of salary.

In any case, the permanent residence you can only request after 5 full years counting from when you first got the residence card, then you have some months that they take to process the permanent residence and only then you can request the citizenship. Take this into account because if you only expect the PhD years to cover the requirements for citizenship then it may not be enough. If you have a job now and already some time in Belgium and want to know if the PhD years can add on it then it basically depends on what I said first, which source of payment you get for your PhD years.

The employer can easily provide you with this information.

Hope it helps

I've got a friend who recently was able to apply for an L card. He's been doing a PhD since 2016. And he's been in Belgium since 2013.

He was only just allowed to apply for the L card. He's been paying taxes since 2020.