Inburgering is the Dutch civic integration requirement: a set of exams, a deadline and, for most people, a bill.
It applies to a minority of the internationals living in The Hague, and it is worth establishing early which side of that line you are on, because the people it applies to have three years and the people it does not have none of the obligations and all of the paperwork anyway when they want a passport.
Who it applies to
The obligation falls on people from outside the EU, the EEA and Switzerland who are between 18 and pension age and who are settling here on a permit that is not temporary.
Citizens of EU and EEA countries and of Switzerland are outside the system entirely.
So are people with qualifying Dutch education: a Dutch VMBO, MBO level 2, HAVO, VWO, HBO or university diploma, or eight years of Dutch-language schooling completed before the age of 18.
Students, and people here on short-term or clearly temporary permits, are generally not inburgeringsplichtig either.
You do not have to work this out from first principles.
Once you are in the Basisregistratie Personen, which happens when you register your address with the gemeente, DUO writes to tell you whether you are obliged to integrate and by when.
Anything a lawyer or a forum tells you is a prediction; the letter is the answer.
Two laws, and which one you are under
This is the detail that makes most online advice wrong.
The Wet inburgering 2021 came into force on 1 January 2022 and applies to people who became obliged from that date.
Anyone who became obliged earlier stays under the 2013 law, with different components, different fees and a different institution in charge.
Under the 2013 law the individual bought their own course and dealt with DUO directly.
Under the 2021 law the gemeente is responsible: it invites you to a startgesprek, assesses your level, and draws up a Plan Inburgering en Participatie, the PIP, which sets out which route you take.
Gemeente Den Haag runs that process and answers questions on 14070, with inburgeringGM@denhaag.nl for migrants and family migrants.
The routes under the 2021 law
There are three.
The B1 route is the standard one and aims at B1 in reading, listening, speaking and writing, a step above the A2 the old system demanded.
The onderwijsroute is for younger people who are heading into Dutch education and prepares them for it.
The Z route, short for zelfredzaamheid, is for people for whom B1 is not realistic and concentrates on self-reliance and participation.
Your route is decided in the PIP, not by you, and it determines both the exams you sit and the deadline you sit them by.
What the exam actually consists of
Five components carry the language and knowledge requirement: Lezen, Luisteren, Schrijven, Spreken and Kennis van de Nederlandse Maatschappij, which is the knowledge-of-Dutch-society paper.
Each is passed separately, and each is retaken separately if failed.
On top of those, the 2021 law adds the Module Arbeidsmarkt en Participatie, the MAP, covering the Dutch labour market, and the Participatieverklaringstraject, the PVT, a short programme ending in signing a declaration about Dutch values.
Under the 2013 law the labour-market element was instead Oriëntatie op de Nederlandse Arbeidsmarkt, the ONA.
At A2 the language exams are mostly on a computer.
Speaking takes 35 minutes and involves watching video clips and answering aloud.
Listening takes 45 minutes.
Reading takes 65 minutes.
Writing is done on paper in 40 minutes and has four tasks, such as writing a short message or completing a form.
At B1 and B2 you are sitting the Staatsexamen Nederlands als tweede taal instead, and it is a longer day: listening 90 minutes, writing 100 minutes, reading 110 minutes at B1 and 100 at B2, and speaking around 30 minutes.
What it costs
Each of the five main components costs 50 euro per attempt, so 250 euro if you pass everything first time.
Under the 2013 law the ONA adds 40 euro, taking the total to 290 euro.
The PVT is free under the 2021 law and free for asylum status holders under the 2013 law.
Non-asylum holders under the 2013 law pay 150 euro for it.
The MAP is free.
Courses are the larger number and nobody publishes a single price for them, because you buy them from a school.
Prices at language schools in The Hague are set out in the guide to where to learn Dutch here, and a realistic route to B1 from nothing runs to several thousand euro.
Who pays, and what you can borrow
Asylum status holders under the 2021 law have their course bought by the municipality and their first two attempts at each exam paid for, as long as the exam is at the level in their PIP or higher.
They cannot take a DUO loan, and they never have to repay one.
Everybody else pays.
Family migrants and other migrants choose and fund their own lessons, and may borrow up to 10,000 euro from DUO to do it.
The interest rate DUO set for 2026 is 2.29%, up from 2.21% in 2025 and 2.95% in 2024, having been zero from 2020 to 2022.
The loan comes with a condition that decides where you can study: it may only be spent at a provider holding the Blik op Werk keurmerk.
Gemeente Den Haag gives the same advice independently of the loan.
Part or all of the loan can be written off if you complete your integration on time, which makes the deadline financially as well as legally significant.
Registering, sitting and hearing back
You register for the KNM, ONA and A2 language exams through Mijn Inburgering, which needs a DigiD, choosing your date and location, or on a paper form if you cannot log in.
The B1 and B2 state exams are booked through the Staatsexamen Nt2 site, and the PVT and MAP through your municipality.
Book early.
DUO’s own warning is that it can take more than six weeks before you actually sit, and cancelling more than a week ahead is what gets your money back.
Results for the knowledge exam and the A2 language exams arrive by letter within eight weeks, and are also visible in Mijn Inburgering.
Eight weeks is a long time when you are stacking retakes against a deadline, which is the practical argument for sitting components early rather than waiting until you feel ready in all of them.
The deadline, and what happens if you miss it
The standard period is three years from the date DUO gives you, and your letter states the exact date.
Missing it without a good reason can mean a fine and an obligation to try again, and an unfinished integration blocks both permanent residence and naturalisation.
That last point is where this touches people who thought it did not concern them.
Exemption from the obligation is not exemption from the requirement at naturalisation: to become Dutch you need either the inburgering exam at A2 or the Staatsexamen Nt2 at B1 or B2, whatever your nationality.
The fee for a single naturalisation applicant from 1 January 2026 is 1,139 euro, or 1,454 euro applying with a partner, and the application goes through your gemeente rather than the IND counter.
The part of it that is not an exam
The KNM paper covers how the country works: institutions, health care, education, work, rights.
Much of it is the same material as the health insurance system, the tax year and Dutch employment law, learned in Dutch and tested in multiple choice.
People who have lived here a few years generally find it the easiest component and underestimate the vocabulary.
The MAP and the ONA are labour-market modules and are more useful than they look, because they force you through the Dutch conventions of applying for work, which are not the ones you grew up with.
The rest of that ground is in finding work in The Hague as an international.
For anything genuinely ambiguous about your own case, the counter at The Hague International Centre at Spui 70 will read your DUO letter with you, and immigration advisers in The Hague handle the cases where a deadline has already been missed.
Sources
- Inburgeren.nl, examen doen: the components by start date, with Lezen, Luisteren, Schrijven, Spreken, KNM plus ONA and PVT for those obliged from 1 October 2017, and language skills plus KNM only for 2013 to 2015
- Inburgeren.nl, inhoud taalexamens A2, B1 en B2: A2 speaking 35 minutes on computer with video, listening 45 minutes, reading 65 minutes, writing 40 minutes on paper with four tasks; Staatsexamen Nt2 listening 90 minutes, writing 100 minutes, reading 110 minutes at B1 and 100 at B2, speaking about 30 minutes
- Inburgeren.nl, hoeveel kost inburgeren: 50 euro per attempt for each of writing, speaking, listening, reading and KNM, 250 euro in total, ONA 40 euro under the 2013 law for a total of 290 euro, MAP free, PVT free under the 2021 law and 150 euro for non-asylum holders under the 2013 law, and the first two attempts free for asylum status holders
- Inburgeren.nl, lenen bij DUO: asylum status holders under the 2021 law cannot borrow and never repay, others may borrow for A2, B1 or B2 courses, literacy courses and exams, at 2.29% in 2026, 2.21% in 2025, 2.95% in 2024, 1.78% in 2023 and 0% from 2020 to 2022; maximum 10,000 euro
- Inburgeren.nl, aanmelden examen and uitslag: registration through Mijn Inburgering with DigiD or on paper, PVT and MAP through the municipality, B1 and B2 through the Staatsexamen Nt2 site, more than six weeks’ wait possible, refunds on cancellation at least a week ahead, results by letter within eight weeks
- Inburgeren.nl, naturaliseren: naturalisation requires the inburgering exam at A2 or the Staatsexamen Nt2 at B1 or B2, applied for at the gemeente
- Gemeente Den Haag, inburgeren and inburgeren als migrant of gezinsmigrant: the startgesprek, the Plan Inburgering en Participatie, the advice to use a school with the Blik op Werk keurmerk, and contact on 14070 or inburgeringGM@denhaag.nl
- Rijksoverheid and Divosa on the Wet inburgering 2021: the B1 route, the onderwijsroute and the Z route, the municipality’s leading role, and the exemptions for EU, EEA and Swiss nationals and holders of qualifying Dutch diplomas
- Everaert Advocaten, naturalisation fees from 1 January 2026: 1,139 euro single and 1,454 euro with a partner
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