The inburgering exam in the Netherlands: the integration requirement, the levels and the exemptions

If you hold a Dutch residence permit for a non-temporary purpose, you are probably under a statutory duty to integrate. That duty ends in an exam, and the exam has a level. Whether that level is A2 or B1 depends on which Act you fall under and, under the current Act, on the learning route your municipality assigns you. This page sets out the position precisely, and explains what happens to your residence permit and your prospects of naturalisation if you do not integrate in time.

A2 or B1? The direct answer

Two Acts are in force at the same time, and they set different levels. That is the source of almost all confusion on the subject.

• Wet inburgering 2013 (the old Act): the required level is A2. This Act still governs everyone who became subject to the integration requirement before 1 January 2022.
• Wet inburgering 2021 (the current Act): the standard required level is B1. This Act governs everyone who became subject to the integration requirement on or after 1 January 2022.

So the answer to “is the inburgering exam A2 or B1?” is: B1 under the 2021 Act, A2 under the 2013 Act, subject to two qualifications under the 2021 Act. The first is the self-reliance route, where the target is A1 and there is no central exam. The second is downgrading: a person on the B1 route who cannot reach B1 despite genuine effort may be allowed to sit at A2. Both are explained below.

Two further levels are easily confused with these. The civic integration exam abroad, taken before family migration, is at A1. And naturalisation has its own language condition, currently A2 — not B1. You can therefore satisfy the integration requirement without satisfying the naturalisation condition.

Who must integrate, and who does not

Article 3 of the Wet inburgering 2021 sets out who is subject to the requirement: broadly, a foreign national lawfully resident in the Netherlands, aged 16 or over and below state pension age, holding a permit for a purpose that is not temporary.

EU, EEA and Swiss nationals

Nationals of EU and EEA member states and of Switzerland are outside the requirement, as are family members who derive a right of residence from them under EU free movement law, whatever their own nationality. Anyone in this group may integrate voluntarily, and often should: free movement law does not waive the naturalisation language condition.

Turkish nationals and the standstill provision

This is the most volatile part of the field. Turkish nationals were for years treated as outside the requirement, on the basis of the standstill provisions in EEC–Turkey Association law prohibiting new restrictions. From 1 January 2022 the legislature reintroduced the requirement for Turkish newcomers under the Wet inburgering 2021.

That reintroduction has not survived intact. The Administrative Jurisdiction Division of the Council of State had already held, on 24 June 2020 (ECLI:NL:RVS:2020:1449), that Turkish workers and their family members fall outside the integration requirement, on account of the standstill provision in the EEC–Turkey Association Agreement. On that basis DUO terminated the requirement in mid-2025 for the Turkish family migrants who had been made subject to it wrongly. Those affected were notified individually.

Highly skilled migrants, students and other temporary purposes

Holders of a permit for a purpose classified as temporary are outside the requirement: highly skilled migrants (kennismigranten), European Blue Card holders, intra-corporate transferees, students, exchange participants and seasonal workers. Self-employment has likewise been treated as a temporary purpose here.

The position of family members of highly skilled migrants is the question we are asked most often, and it is not intuitive. The family member’s permit is issued for residence with a partner or family member, in principle a non-temporary purpose, but in practice DUO derives the family member’s position from the sponsor’s purpose of residence. Partners and minor children of highly skilled migrants are exempt from the integration requirement under art. 3 Besluit inburgering 2021, because their purpose of residence counts as temporary. Check the DUO letter all the same, because where an obligation does arise the clock runs from that date whether or not you noticed it.

The three learning routes under the 2021 Act

Article 6 of the Wet inburgering 2021 provides that the requirement consists of three elements: the participation statement trajectory, the module on the labour market and participation, and completion of a learning route. Article 7 provides for the three routes. Your municipality assigns your route in your personal integration plan, following a broad intake and a learnability test.

The B1 route

The standard route. You sit the central exam in four language components — reading, listening, writing and speaking — at B1, together with knowledge of Dutch society. Passing produces a diploma stating the level achieved.

Downgrading from B1 to A2

A person on the B1 route who cannot reach B1 may be permitted to sit at A2 instead. Two conditions apply: at least 600 hours of tuition with a provider holding the Blik op Werk quality mark, and evidence of sufficient effort. The decision is taken by the municipality, not DUO, and results in a revised personal integration plan; a refusal can be challenged. Hours with an uncertified provider do not count.

The education route

A full-time language bridging programme of around eighteen months, combining Dutch with numeracy, English and study skills, leading into vocational, higher or university education. Access to student finance is age-dependent, which makes the route unattractive for older candidates: DUO’s condition is that the student finance must start before the applicant’s thirtieth birthday, at every level of education, though it continues once granted if the recipient turns 30 during the course. The module on the labour market and participation is in principle part of the integration obligation (Article 6 of the Wet inburgering 2021), but participants in the education route are not required to complete it (Article 8 of the Wet inburgering 2021).

The self-reliance route

For people whose learnability test indicates B1 is not achievable in time. The target is A1, or the highest level attainable. There is no central exam: instead a minimum of 800 hours of Dutch tuition supervised by an NT2 teacher, and for asylum status holders a further 800 hours of participation activities, ending in a final interview with the municipality and a certificate.

Note the consequence: that certificate satisfies the integration requirement but not the language condition for naturalisation. A participant who later wants Dutch nationality must pass the exam components at A2 separately.

The participation statement, the labour market module and the exam components

The participation statement trajectory (participatieverklaringstraject, PVT) introduces you to the rights, duties and values of Dutch society and ends with your signature on the statement. The municipality organises it and registers completion; DUO monitors the deadline. It applies on all three routes.

The module on the labour market and participation (module Arbeidsmarkt en Participatie, MAP) covers a set of labour market themes and requires at least 40 hours of practical experience; full-time employment can count towards those hours. The municipality decides its form and timing. It is compulsory on the B1 route and the self-reliance route.

Holders of a State Examination NT2 diploma, or of individual certificates at B1 or B2, may claim exemption from the corresponding language components, but must still complete the participation statement trajectory and the labour market module.

The municipality, the broad intake and the personal plan

Under the 2021 Act the municipality, not the individual, leads the process. Article 14 provides for the broad intake: an assessment of your language ability, education, work history and personal circumstances, including the learnability test. That test answers one question only — whether B1 is achievable within three years — with a yes or no. It does not measure your current level.

Article 15 provides for the personal integration and participation plan (PIP), in which the municipality fixes your route, your support and the intensity of the trajectory. The PIP is an administrative decision: you can object and appeal, and it can be revised, for instance on a downgrade to A2. Article 13 provides for social guidance for asylum status holders, whose integration offer the municipality funds in full. Family migrants and other migrants fund their own and may apply to DUO for a loan.

The deadline and extension

The integration period is three years. Under the 2021 Act it starts on the day the municipality establishes the personal integration and participation plan (PIP).

Extension is possible where the overrun is not attributable to you. Recognised grounds under both Acts include following a literacy course first, illness of yourself or a family member, a death in the family, childbirth, homelessness or emergency accommodation, and delay caused by the municipality or the school. Under the 2021 Act a further ground applies where you have completed a substantial number of course hours and passed at least two of the four exam components. Extra time can be granted only once per period, and applications go to DUO. Extension is free; medical dispensation is not, so a temporary condition is better handled through extension.

What happens if you do not integrate in time

The enforcement picture has changed substantially, and much of the general information online is out of date.

The Wet inburgering 2021 provides for administrative fines, with statutory upper limits of €250, €340, €800 and €1,000 (Article 26 of the Wet inburgering 2021). Failing to cooperate attracts a basic fine of €250. The breach dealt with in Article 23 of that Act carries a fine of €50, which can be raised to €800 where it is repeated. Failing to meet the integration obligation in time attracts a fine of €340. Under the 2013 Act the fine for failing to pass the components of the integration exam in time is up to €1,250 (Article 34 of the Wet inburgering).

Those amounts must be read against the case law. Following a judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union of 4 February 2025, DUO stopped fining asylum status holders. The Administrative Jurisdiction Division applied that reasoning to the 2021 Act on 9 July 2025 and extended it to the 2013 Act on 18 February 2026, holding that systematically fining asylum status holders is contrary to EU law, and that the same applies to recovery of the integration loan. DUO therefore neither fines asylum status holders under either Act nor recovers their loans.

Two points are often misread. First, this does not abolish fines: municipalities may still fine during the trajectory on individually reasoned grounds, and family migrants and other non-asylum migrants remain exposed under both Acts. Second, a fine normally comes with a new deadline rather than the end of the process, its length depending on the hours and components already completed.

The more serious consequence is not the fine. Failing to satisfy the requirement blocks a permanent residence permit and naturalisation, and the case law on fines does not affect that.

Exemptions and dispensation

Dutch law distinguishes vrijstelling (exemption, where the requirement never applies or falls away because you already meet the standard) from ontheffing (dispensation, where it applies but you are released from it). Exemption is governed by article 4 of the Wet inburgering 2021 and dispensation by article 5.

The principal grounds are:

• Dutch education. A Dutch diploma at VMBO level or above, an NT2 State Examination diploma, or a comparable Belgian or Surinamese qualification. Eight years or more in the Netherlands during compulsory school age also exempts.
• Demonstrated knowledge and skills. Full or partial exemption where you can show you already have the required knowledge and skills. Under the 2021 Act the benchmark for this was raised to B1. DUO decides these applications centrally.
• Medical dispensation. Where a lasting psychological or physical impediment, or an intellectual disability, prevents you from integrating. You apply through Mijn Inburgering and pay a fee of €225 in 2026, refunded only if dispensation is granted and not available on loan. A designated doctor examines you and issues an expert report; dispensation follows, in whole or in part, where you cannot reasonably be expected to meet the obligation within five years. DUO decides within eight weeks. If the impediment is temporary, apply for extra time instead: it is free.
• Age. Under 16 or over the state pension age.
• Demonstrated effort. Where you have made genuine, documented efforts but cannot reach the level, dispensation may follow a learnability assessment or repeated exam attempts, in both cases on the basis of at least 600 hours of tuition with a certified provider.

A dispensation on grounds of demonstrated effort discharges the requirement and unblocks permanent residence. It does not produce a diploma at A2, so the naturalisation position has to be assessed separately.

Still under the 2013 Act? What applies to you

If your obligation arose before 1 January 2022 you remain under the Wet inburgering 2013 for your whole trajectory; you do not transfer to the new system. Under that Act:

• The required level is A2.
• The exam comprises the four language components, knowledge of Dutch society and orientation on the Dutch labour market (ONA) — the predecessor of the labour market module, and not the same thing. The participation statement trajectory applies where the obligation arose on or after 1 October 2017.
• You arrange and fund your own course. A DUO loan of up to €10,000 is available subject to an income test.
• For asylum status holders the loan was written off on timely completion; after the ruling of 18 February 2026 DUO no longer recovers those loans, and no longer fines them.

Family and other migrants under the 2013 Act remain liable for both the fine and repayment of the loan.

The integration exam abroad

Family migration generally requires the sponsored family member to pass the basisexamen inburgering buitenland before the provisional residence permit (MVV) is issued. It is taken at a Dutch embassy or consulate, or an authorised external provider, after registration with DUO, and consists of reading, speaking and knowledge of Dutch society, taken at A1. Each component costs €50, so €150 if all three are sat, and a component can be re-sat. A pass does not expire, but the mvv must be applied for within one year of passing all three components; wait longer and the examination has to be taken again.

Exemptions include nationals of the EU and EEA, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Monaco and Vatican City; people under 18 or of state pension age; people who spent eight years or more in the Netherlands during compulsory school age; and holders of qualifying Dutch, Belgian or Surinamese diplomas. Passing it does not discharge the integration requirement in the Netherlands — the clock starts again on arrival.

Integration, permanent residence and Dutch nationality

Integration is the gateway to both stronger residence rights and nationality, but the two use different thresholds.

For a permanent residence permit or EU long-term resident status the IND requires proof that the requirement has been met: an integration diploma, a certificate of integration under the Wet inburgering 2021, or a document establishing exemption or dispensation. The certificate issued at the end of the self-reliance route is accepted here. Separate exemptions apply to, among others, Belgian and Luxembourg nationals, people under 18 or of pension age, people with eight years or more in the Netherlands during compulsory school age, and medical cases.

For naturalisation under article 8 of the Rijkswet op het Nederlanderschap the language condition is currently A2 across the four components, with knowledge of Dutch society and labour market orientation, or alternatively an NT2 State Examination at B1 or B2. A B1 route or education route diploma satisfies this. A self-reliance certificate does not: the participant must pass the exam components at A2 in addition. The labour market element is regime-specific, and both versions count: the IND sets out the exam components for naturalisation with that element as oriëntatie op de Nederlandse arbeidsmarkt for people who integrated under the 2013 Act and as the Module Arbeidsmarkt en Participatie for people who integrated under the 2021 Act, so a completed MAP satisfies it.

Both conditions have been the subject of announced reform for years, and neither reform has taken effect: the language level for naturalisation is A2 and the standard residence period is five years (article 8 of the Rijkswet op het Nederlanderschap). Because an announcement is not a rule, check the consolidated text of the Rijkswet on wetten.overheid.nl before advising on either point rather than working from press reporting.