News item | 28-01-2026 | 13:55
The current Integration Act 2021 (Wi2021) is generally perceived more positively than the previous integration act from 2013. Integrators receive better guidance from municipalities and more language education is offered at a higher level (B1). The affordability of the system is a concern. It also often takes too long before a status holder can start an integration course and the transition to paid work remains a bottleneck. State Secretary for Participation and Integration Jurgen Nobel sent the first interim evaluation of the current integration law to the House of Representatives today. The Court of Audit’s report on the functioning of the Civic Integration Act was also published today. The cabinet will adopt the recommendations.
State Secretary Nobel: “For integration, knowledge of the Dutch language and society is crucial to participate and get to work. The waiting times for integration are too long. It is also important that the government gets a better grip on migration. We continue to work on an integration process that introduces status holders to the Dutch language, society and labor market as quickly as possible. Too many status holders still do not have sustainable work. We must all work hard on this.”
Asylum status holders and family and other migrants are obliged to integrate and must complete this within three years. The Civic Integration Act 2021 has been in force since January 1, 2022. Municipalities now have an important role in guiding people integrating. The law focuses on learning the language, participation and work and getting to know Dutch society.
Interim evaluation
In the interim evaluation, research agency Regioplan takes stock of the operation of the Wi2021 after more than three years. This covers all aspects of the integration system, such as cooperation with the implementation, market forces, integration courses and guidance of people integrating. The Court of Audit has also published a report on the new integration system. It is still too early for a full evaluation of the law, because a large number of people integrating have not yet fully completed the new process. The Court of Audit’s points of concern do correspond with the government’s interim evaluation.
Combination of work and integration
Work and participation appear to be a challenge in practice. Municipalities sometimes have difficulty finding good places to participate. It is difficult for people integrating to combine participation or work with language lessons. Language and work are both essential to participate. The evaluations show that improvements are needed in the combination of language lessons during integration and work. The government has started working on this.
The regulations are being adjusted to allow those subject to integration requirements to better combine paid work with their trajectory. To combine work and integration, €16 million has been made available for the period 2023-2026 for municipalities to experiment with entry-level jobs.
The government endorses the Court of Audit’s conclusion that the potential of status holders on the labor market must be maximized. The State Secretary will therefore continue discussions with municipalities about how targets and registration of training and work experience can be achieved.
Participation statement
In the interim evaluation that the cabinet itself carried out, the participation declaration for people integrating was also further examined. The government considers it very important that people integrating have knowledge of the norms and values of Dutch society and also subscribe to them. The process that integrators follow towards subscribing to the participation declaration contributes to this. More attention will be paid to the explanation of the democratic constitutional state, the importance of the rule of law over religious laws and the significance of the Holocaust in Dutch history. The State Secretary thus carries out the motions of the House of Representatives that have requested this.
