Just under half of the status holders (refugees or people with asylum residence permits) who began the Dutch integration process in 2022 met the legal requirement within three years, national statistics office CBS has said on Friday.
Meeting the requirement means passing the compulsory exams in Dutch language and society, or completing an equivalent track; it is not a broader measure of how well someone has settled in.
Of the 4,900 people granted asylum for whom councils drew up a personal integration plan in 2022, 2,400 – 49% – met the requirement in time.
A plan was drawn up that year for only 28% of the 17,200 status holders who became legally obliged to integrate in 2022, however. For the rest, councils either began the process later or had not started it by the end of 2025.
Newcomers still face a three-year deadline to pass or risk a fine.
Language and work
Among status holders who had met the requirement by the end of 2025, almost half (45%) passed all their language exams at B1 or B2 level – enough to describe experiences and give an opinion in Dutch. Just over three-quarters (76%) reached at least A2, the level needed for simple everyday conversation, up from the old A2 standard for the whole programme.
Most took the B1 route (62%), which combines language lessons with paid work, while nearly one in three followed the self-reliance route for those not expected to reach B1. The smaller education route, designed to lead into further study, had the highest completion rate, at 60% within three years.
Two years after being housed in a council area, 22% of the 2022 group were in work, rising to 26% among those on the work-focused B1 route.
Family and other migrants, who remain largely responsible for arranging their own integration, fared less well: of the 3,100 who started in 2022, 36% met the requirement within three years.
