Family migrant: civic integration after the MVV exam

Are you coming to the Netherlands to live with your partner? Then you have already passed the Civic Integration Examination Abroad (Basisexamen Inburgering Buitenland). Once you are in the Netherlands, you usually still have to complete civic integration (inburgering). You are then a family migrant (gezinsmigrant). This guide explains the next steps, who pays for what, and what the municipality (gemeente) does and does not do for you.

This guide is about the Civic Integration Act 2021 (Wet inburgering 2021). It applies if you came to the Netherlands on or after 1 January 2022 and have to integrate. Does your partner have an asylum residence permit? Then different rules apply to you. Ask your municipality what applies in your case.

The steps after the MVV exam

1. Applying for the MVV. Have you passed all parts of the exam? Then the MVV must be applied for within 1 year after the last part you passed. Usually your partner does this in the Netherlands.
2. Registering with the municipality. In the Netherlands you register with the municipality, in the Personal Records Database (BRP). You then receive a citizen service number (BSN).
3. A letter from DUO. DUO sends you a letter saying that you must integrate. This only happens once you have a BSN, a residence permit and are registered. After that it can still take 8 weeks before you receive the letter.
4. The broad intake. The municipality invites you for a meeting: the broad intake (brede intake). This is compulsory for family migrants too. You take a learnability test (leerbaarheidstoets). The municipality also looks at your education, your work experience and your personal situation.
5. Your PIP. The municipality then sets your personal integration and participation plan (PIP). This happens no later than 10 weeks after the DUO letter. Your PIP sets out your learning route (leerroute), the support and guidance you receive with it, and how intensively you follow the PVT and the MAP.
6. A second letter from DUO. It gives your start date. You have 3 years to complete civic integration. This period starts on the day after the date of your PIP.
7. Following your learning route. Usually this is the B1 route: the State Exam NT2, the KNM exam, the PVT and the MAP. There are also the education route (onderwijsroute, a language bridging programme) and the Z route (zelfredzaamheidsroute).
8. Finishing. In the B1 route and the education route you receive a diploma. In the Z route you receive a certificate.

Can you start earlier, before the DUO letter? Only if you are temporarily exempt, for example because you are under 18 or are following an education programme in the Netherlands. So this does not apply to most family migrants who have just arrived.

Who pays?

As a family migrant you pay for your civic integration yourself. You can choose:

• you pay for the course and the exams yourself; or
• you borrow money from DUO.

What should you know about the loan?

• A loan for a course is only possible at a school with the Blik op Werk quality mark. You can find these schools on zoekinburgerschool.nl.
• How much you may borrow depends on your income and your partner’s income. There is a maximum.
• You can borrow for a course, a language bridging programme (education route), literacy lessons (if they are in your PIP) and exams.
• Your right to the loan ends 6 years after the end of your period (or your extended period).
• Do not count on the loan being cancelled if you pass in time. Under the 2021 act that is not a fixed rule.

The PVT (participation statement programme) and the MAP (Labour Market and Participation Module) are free. You pay an exam fee for each exam part. The current amounts are on inburgeren.nl.

Is a course compulsory?

In the B1 route, the law requires you to pass the civic integration exam. The law does not require family migrants to take a course. The municipality also does not decide how intensive your learning route must be. It only does that for asylum status holders (asielstatushouders) and their family members. You do not need to take a course for the State Exam NT2 itself either.

But lesson hours at a recognised school do matter:

What do you want?	What do you need?
B1 is not working out and you want to take one or more language parts at A2 (afschalen)?	At least 600 hours of lessons (NT2), and you have made enough effort
You want 6 months of extra time because you have already done a lot?	At least 450 hours of lessons, plus other conditions
You follow the Z route?	800 hours of lessons (NT2 and KNM together) at a school with a certificate or quality mark

You choose a school yourself. But the municipality decides your learning route. Not sure whether studying on your own is enough in your situation? Ask your municipality or DUO.

What does the municipality do, and what not?

The municipality does	The municipality does not (only for asylum status holders and their family members)
The broad intake and your PIP	Social guidance (maatschappelijke begeleiding): practical help, for example with housing, healthcare and insurance
Setting your learning route, with the support and guidance that it requires	Arranging and paying for a course for you
Offering the PVT and the MAP, free of charge	Deciding how intensive your learning route is
The final interview in the Z route	Free exam attempts
Checking that you take part, and giving a fine if needed

How much guidance you receive differs per municipality. No national standard for this is known.

Fines apply to you too

• Do you not attend the broad intake or not cooperate? Then the municipality can give you a fine (boete).
• Do you not cooperate with the support, or with the PVT and the MAP as agreed? Then the municipality can also give you a fine.
• Do you not complete the PVT, the MAP or your learning route in time? Then DUO can give you a fine.

Asylum status holders no longer receive fines from DUO. For family migrants nothing changes: DUO can still fine you. How high the fines are and when you can get extra time is explained in our guide on the deadline, extension, fines and exemption.

Good to know

• Your PIP and Mijn Inburgering show what you have to do.
• This guide explains the rules in brief. It is not legal advice. Every situation is different. Not sure? Ask DUO or your municipality.