News item | 21-03-2022 | 18:09
DUO will resume on March 25 the determination of the integration obligation of newcomers under the Civic Integration Act 2021 (Wi2021). The information systems are then adapted. This is what Minister Karien van Gennip of Social Affairs and Employment writes in a letter to the House of Representatives.
A new Civic Integration Act came into effect on 1 January. However, newcomers can also still be placed under the old law from 2013. This depends on the date on which they become subject to the integration requirement. Shortly after the introduction of the new integration system, it turned out that several newcomers had incorrectly received a notification that they had been placed under the Wi2021. They should have been covered by the 2013 law. At the minister’s request, DUO therefore temporarily halted the integration process.
On March 1, it resumed for family migrants. From 25 March, this will also be the case for asylum status holders and other migrants. They can then get started with their integration. The process for asylum status holders under the new law was halted longer than for family migrants, because DUO and COA had to rectify an imperfection in their information systems. Due to the increasing new forms of reception for asylum status holders, it has happened that those subject to an integration obligation were linked to the wrong municipalities because of their home or residence address. From 25 March, the information systems of COA and DUO have been set up for this.
This address issue also means that SZW will postpone payment to municipalities for social counseling of newcomers until September. These funds are normally paid out in May. SZW cannot guarantee that the right municipalities will receive the right funds and needs time to make the correct distribution.
In addition, SZW is still looking together with partners such as the VNG for a solution for those subject to an integration obligation who incorrectly received a message at the beginning of January that they had been placed under the Wi2021.