The Netherlands runs two integration acts side by side. Which one applies to you decides who helps you, which route you follow and what language level you must reach.
NT2 teacher · 20 August 2026 · 5 min read
Part 1 / 5
Phase 2 · Choose · Part 1 · 3 min
One date decides everything
Did your integration duty start before 1 January 2022? Then the Wet inburgering 2013 applies. Did it start on or after that day? Then it is the Wet inburgering 2021. That start date is in your letter from DUO.
Note the trap: the act is called 2021 but only took effect on 1 January 2022. A lot of websites confuse the two. So go by the date in your letter, not by the name of the act.
Wet inburgering 2013
Your integration duty started before 1 January 2022.
Wet inburgering 2021
Your duty started on or after 1 January 2022. This applies to almost everyone starting now.
Duty started on or after 1 January 2022
Who helps you
Your municipality. You get an interview and a personal plan: your PIP.
Language level
B1. In the Z-route the target is A1.
What you do
Complete your learning route, plus KNM, MAP and PVT.
How long
3 years, from the day after the date on your PIP.
Where you see it
Mijn Inburgering and your PIP.
Duty started before 1 January 2022
Who helps you
You arrange it yourself. You choose a course, or you study independently.
Language level
A2 or higher.
What you do
Reading, Listening, Writing, Speaking and KNM, plus ONA. If your duty started on or after 1 October 2017, PVT as well.
How long
Your end date is in your letter from DUO.
Where you see it
Mijn Inburgering.
The Wet inburgering 2021 took effect on 1 January 2022. Anyone whose integration duty started before that date remains under the Wet inburgering 2013.
Source: Rijksoverheid — Nieuwe Wet inburgering — accessed 20-08-2026
Marieke Schipper · NT2 teacher
Lost the letter? Log in to Mijn Inburgering with your DigiD. One screen shows you which act, which route and which exams apply to you. I start every intake conversation with that screen — it saves half an hour of guessing.
The rest of this page is about the Wet inburgering 2021. That is the one that applies to almost everyone starting now.
Phase 2 · Choose · Part 2 · 3 min
Under the 2021 act you follow one of three routes. You do not pick it yourself: the municipality decides which route suits you, based on the brede intake (the intake interview) and the leerbaarheidstoets (the learnability test). Your PIP says which one it became.
For whom
Most people who integrate. This is the standard route.
What you do
Learn Dutch to B1, plus KNM, MAP and PVT.
How you finish
Exams at DUO.
Easier possible?
Yes — dropping to A2 is possible under conditions.
For whom
You want to go on to mbo, hbo or university. Mainly young people, but there is no age limit.
What you do
A taalschakeltraject: Dutch, KNM, PVT and learning how to study.
How you finish
Exams at DUO, then on to your programme.
Easier possible?
No.
For whom
Learning is difficult. The B1 route and the education route are too demanding.
What you do
At least 800 hours of tuition: Dutch and KNM together. If you are an asylum status holder, 800 hours of participation and activation are added.
How you finish
A closing interview at the municipality. No KNM exam.
Easier possible?
Not applicable. Reach A2 anyway? Then you may still sit the exams.
In the Z-route, asylum status holders do 800 course hours (Dutch and KNM together) plus 800 hours of participation and a closing interview; family migrants and other migrants do the 800 course hours and the closing interview, without the 800 participation hours. MAP belongs to the B1 route and the Z-route, the education route is exempt from it, and PVT is compulsory in all three routes.
Sources: Besluit inburgering 2021, artikel 3.14 · Wet inburgering 2021, artikel 8 — accessed 20-08-2026
Phase 2 · Choose · Part 3 · 2 min
Is B1 genuinely out of reach? Then in the B1 route you may sit your language exams at A2. In the education route you cannot.
There are two conditions
Watch out
Dropping to A2 is possible only in the B1 route, after at least 600 hours of language tuition at a school with a quality mark and where sufficient effort can be demonstrated. The municipality verifies this.
Source: Besluit inburgering 2021, artikel 5.5 — accessed 20-08-2026
Torn between B1 and A2?Take a free A2 practice exam and see what you already manage. Ten questions, with explanations.
Free practice examPhase 2 · Choose · Part 4 · 2 min
Under the 2021 act you have 3 years. That period does not start with your letter and not with your first lesson, but on the day after the date printed on your PIP.
Everything has to be finished within these three years: your learning route, KNM, MAP and PVT. In certain situations — illness, giving birth, having to learn to read and write first — you can be granted extra time. That is possible only once per period.
The integration period is 3 years and starts on the day after the date of the PIP. If your PIP is revised later, that start date does not move.
Source: Wet inburgering 2021, artikel 11 — accessed 20-08-2026
Phase 2 · Choose · Part 5 · 1 min
From the letter from DUO to your diploma: what happens, in what order, and which deadlines go with it.
Who pays for your course, what an exam costs, and when your first two attempts are free.
One date decides everything
Did your integration duty start before 1 January 2022? Then the Wet inburgering 2013 applies. Did it start on or after that day? Then it is the Wet inburgering 2021. That start date is in your letter from DUO.
Note the trap: the act is called 2021 but only took effect on 1 January 2022. A lot of websites confuse the two. So go by the date in your letter, not by the name of the act.
Wet inburgering 2013
Your integration duty started before 1 January 2022.
Wet inburgering 2021
Your duty started on or after 1 January 2022. This applies to almost everyone starting now.
Duty started on or after 1 January 2022
Who helps you
Your municipality. You get an interview and a personal plan: your PIP.
Language level
B1. In the Z-route the target is A1.
What you do
Complete your learning route, plus KNM, MAP and PVT.
How long
3 years, from the day after the date on your PIP.
Where you see it
Mijn Inburgering and your PIP.
Duty started before 1 January 2022
Who helps you
You arrange it yourself. You choose a course, or you study independently.
Language level
A2 or higher.
What you do
Reading, Listening, Writing, Speaking and KNM, plus ONA. If your duty started on or after 1 October 2017, PVT as well.
How long
Your end date is in your letter from DUO.
Where you see it
Mijn Inburgering.
The Wet inburgering 2021 took effect on 1 January 2022. Anyone whose integration duty started before that date remains under the Wet inburgering 2013.
Source: Rijksoverheid — Nieuwe Wet inburgering — accessed 20-08-2026
Marieke Schipper · NT2 teacher
Lost the letter? Log in to Mijn Inburgering with your DigiD. One screen shows you which act, which route and which exams apply to you. I start every intake conversation with that screen — it saves half an hour of guessing.
The rest of this page is about the Wet inburgering 2021. That is the one that applies to almost everyone starting now.
Under the 2021 act you follow one of three routes. You do not pick it yourself: the municipality decides which route suits you, based on the brede intake (the intake interview) and the leerbaarheidstoets (the learnability test). Your PIP says which one it became.
For whom
Most people who integrate. This is the standard route.
What you do
Learn Dutch to B1, plus KNM, MAP and PVT.
How you finish
Exams at DUO.
Easier possible?
Yes — dropping to A2 is possible under conditions.
For whom
You want to go on to mbo, hbo or university. Mainly young people, but there is no age limit.
What you do
A taalschakeltraject: Dutch, KNM, PVT and learning how to study.
How you finish
Exams at DUO, then on to your programme.
Easier possible?
No.
For whom
Learning is difficult. The B1 route and the education route are too demanding.
What you do
At least 800 hours of tuition: Dutch and KNM together. If you are an asylum status holder, 800 hours of participation and activation are added.
How you finish
A closing interview at the municipality. No KNM exam.
Easier possible?
Not applicable. Reach A2 anyway? Then you may still sit the exams.
In the Z-route, asylum status holders do 800 course hours (Dutch and KNM together) plus 800 hours of participation and a closing interview; family migrants and other migrants do the 800 course hours and the closing interview, without the 800 participation hours. MAP belongs to the B1 route and the Z-route, the education route is exempt from it, and PVT is compulsory in all three routes.
Sources: Besluit inburgering 2021, artikel 3.14 · Wet inburgering 2021, artikel 8 — accessed 20-08-2026
Is B1 genuinely out of reach? Then in the B1 route you may sit your language exams at A2. In the education route you cannot.
There are two conditions
Watch out
Dropping to A2 is possible only in the B1 route, after at least 600 hours of language tuition at a school with a quality mark and where sufficient effort can be demonstrated. The municipality verifies this.
Source: Besluit inburgering 2021, artikel 5.5 — accessed 20-08-2026
Torn between B1 and A2?Take a free A2 practice exam and see what you already manage. Ten questions, with explanations.
Free practice examUnder the 2021 act you have 3 years. That period does not start with your letter and not with your first lesson, but on the day after the date printed on your PIP.
Everything has to be finished within these three years: your learning route, KNM, MAP and PVT. In certain situations — illness, giving birth, having to learn to read and write first — you can be granted extra time. That is possible only once per period.
The integration period is 3 years and starts on the day after the date of the PIP. If your PIP is revised later, that start date does not move.
Source: Wet inburgering 2021, artikel 11 — accessed 20-08-2026
From the letter from DUO to your diploma: what happens, in what order, and which deadlines go with it.
Who pays for your course, what an exam costs, and when your first two attempts are free.
It depends on the date your integration duty started. Before 1 January 2022 means the 2013 act. On or after that day means the 2021 act. Your start date is in the letter from DUO and in Mijn Inburgering.
No. The municipality decides your route based on the brede intake and the leerbaarheidstoets, and records it in your PIP. If you disagree you can object; the letter accompanying your PIP explains how.
Only in the B1 route, and only if you have had at least 600 hours of tuition at a school with a quality mark and can demonstrate you made the effort. The municipality decides. Only the four language exams drop to A2 — KNM does not change.
Usually not. The Z-route ends with a closing interview at the municipality, and there is no KNM exam. If you do reach A2 during the route, you may still sit the exams at DUO and apply for a diploma.
On the day after the date of your PIP — so not with the letter from DUO and not with your first lesson. If your PIP is revised later, that start date does not shift with it.
Reviewed by Marieke Schipper, certified NT2 teacher — August 20, 2026 This page is a translation of that reviewed Dutch text; the translation itself was not reviewed. The Dutch version is the source.
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