Guide
The inburgering exam: what it tests, and why your start date decides
By Covered Abroad Research Desk · Last verified July 2026
What the exam is made of
Inburgeren.nl — the official DUO-run integration site — lists the components: the four language skills (reading, listening, writing, speaking), Knowledge of Dutch Society (KNM), and for the cohort whose duty began between 2015 and late 2017 onward, Orientation on the Dutch Labour Market (ONA) and the participation statement process (PVT). For those required to integrate from 1 October 2017 or later, the site describes the language exams as aiming at level A2 or higher — with later cohorts under the 2021 integration law steered toward higher targets through their municipality's route.
The load-bearing fact is the cohort split: the rules attach to the date your integration duty started, not the date you take the exam. Two neighbours can face different part-lists and levels for the same passport application. Inburgeren.nl's exam page resolves your cohort before anything else is worth planning.
Source: Inburgeren.nl, taking the integration exam, read 4 September 2026.
Who must integrate, and what passing unlocks
The integration duty falls on most non-EU newcomers granted residence for asylum, family or religious purposes — and passing is not academic: the diploma is a standing requirement in the files for a permanent residence permit and for Dutch citizenship. Our permanent-residence guide shows where the diploma slots into the five-year file, and the long-term EU residence guide covers the parallel European status.
Exam logistics run through DUO: registration, per-part sitting and re-sitting of anything failed, with adjusted exams available for illness or disability. Parts pass individually, so a failed writing paper does not reset a passed KNM.
60-second check
Not sure the policy you have meets your destination's written rule? Run it through the policy check now, before you build the rest of the file around it.
Check my policyThe insurance thread through the five years
The years that qualify you for the exam's payoff — permanent residence — must be clean years: valid permit, timely extensions, requirements continuously met. In the Netherlands that includes the compulsory zorgverzekering: residents are required into Dutch basic insurance, and an uninsured stretch produces fines by letter and a blemish exactly where the five-year file wants none. Our basic-package guide covers the obligation; the checker gives the routing verdict for your situation: