The Civic Integration Act 2021 (WI2021) came into force in January 2022. Municipalities have an important role in the civic integration process. The previous civic integration act had attracted a great deal of criticism, also from the Netherlands Court of Audit. At the time, only 33% of status holders obtained a civic integration diploma within the stipulated period, with just 2% passing a language test at B1 level. The remainder achieved A2 language level. Even when compared with, for example, Germany, the results of the previous law were disappointing. Although the policy in Germany was different, between 50% and 70% of those who took the Deutschtest für Zuwanderer passed at B1 level.
With the new law the government hopes that status holders will ‘quickly and fully participate, preferably on a paid basis, in Dutch society’. Fully is defined as ‘participating to the best of one’s ability from the start and attaining as high a language level as possible’. We examined whether it was plausible that WI2021 encouraged status holders to achieve these aims. We also looked at how the Minister of Social Affairs and Employment (SZW) used ‘communities of practice, consisting of research, monitoring and consultation. The minister introduced the system because previous civic integration laws had been rapidly introduced one after another, often before their effects were known. The aim is to be able to amend the existing law without having to rewrite it.
Status holders are recognised asylum seekers who, because of war or persecution, are granted a temporary residence permit in the Netherlands. Civic integration is a statutory obligation for them. Other groups from non EU countries are also required to integrate, but municipalities play a different role for them; we therefore did not study these groups. In total, 64,775 status holders were subject to the WI2021 integration obligation in 2022-2024. By far the majority of them (54%) came from Syria.
Conclusions
Data registration and targets are missing
The minister records a lot of data, but not data on status holders’ work experience. The educational level of an estimated 73% of status holders is unknown. Whether and how integration policy contributes to ‘participating to the best of one’s ability’ therefore remains unknown. However, this was not a concrete goal.
Expenditure on integration policy is fragmented across many organisations and not entirely traceable. Moreover, the minister has not set a baseline, targets or indicators for the goals. Consequently it is not possible to determine precisely what the spent money has delivered.
Achieving the goals does not appear plausible
WI2021 does ensure that more status holders receive municipal assistance and learn Dutch to B1 level than under the previous act. Nevertheless, it is not plausible that WI2021 will attain the goals set for it.
1. Quick participation not possible
On average, status holders wait twice as long for a Personal Integration and Participation Plan (PIP) as the minister envisaged. This is due to waiting times for asylum status decisions and for the provision of housing in a municipality. During the waiting period, status holders can often attend very few language lessons. In 2022-2024, only 22 % completed a language course while in asylum accommodation, partly due to a lack of language provision and frequent relocations. Moreover, it is likely that a group of status holders will take longer than the prescribed 3 to complete the integration process, partly because of a shortage of language teachers and childcare.
2. No integrated view of work in civic integration
More asylum seekers were in work in 2022-2024, partly because the minister removed more restrictions to work at the end of 2023. Status holders were also working more. Of the status holders granted a residence permit in 2014, 2.6% were employed after one year; for those granted a permit in 2021, the percentage rose to 12.2%. This is far below that of the entire working age population, mainly because work is difficult to combine with compulsory civic integration. Of the 2022 cohort (a total of 17,430 WI2021 status holders), 28% had been employed at some point three years after being housed in a municipality. This was more often the case in affluent municipalities and university towns than elsewhere.
Accumulation of goals not feasible
Status holders who find work quickly often have jobs with low pay, temporary contracts and limited training requirements, for instance in hospitality, through temporary work agencies or as delivery riders in the gig economy.
Jobs in these sectors often require little or no Dutch, so do not automatically lead to Dutch language acquisition. Moreover, status holders who find work quickly seldom work in sectors with shortages such as healthcare, construction or IT. Since 2022, members of the House of Representatives have called for more status holders to work in sectors with shortages, but most employers require a basic knowledge of Dutch for such work. This first requires investment in language acquisition and often also in training.
The primary function of work in the civic integration process shifted in 2022-2024 from language acquisition to paid employment. Civic integration requirements themselves did not change. Status holders also remained liable to punishment if they failed to obtain their civic integration diploma, or did so too late, despite the European Court of Justice ruling in 2025 that this contravenes EU law. For municipalities it is virtually impossible to pursue all WI2021 goals together with the goals of the Participation Act, which many status holders are also subject to. It is unclear which should take precedence: swift exit from the welfare system, the highest possible language level and participation to the best of one’s ability, obtaining a civic integration diploma or employment in sectors with a shortage of workers.
Poor match with the labour market
Some municipalities have set up successful programmes in partnership with the private sector, but they are often local and long-term funding is not assured. Central government funding to encourage employers to hire more status holders has so far been limited to small numbers and temporary schemes.
Municipalities regularly organise participation projects for status holders in facilities intended for people with poor employment prospects, for example in social enterprises such as charity shops. This does not give all status holders the prospect of faster language acquisition or ‘participating to the best of one’s ability’. Some employers provide language or vocational training themselves; whether status holders can take part varies from one municipality and/or case manager to another.
3. higher language levels could be stimulated more
The minister devised three civic integration pathways. The education pathway, aimed at young people and highly educated participants, ends with an NT2 language exam (level B1, level B2 for higher vocational and university students). The B1 route, intended for roughly 60% of participants, ends with a B1 language exam or an A2 exam after 600 hours of language teaching. In the empowerment pathway (also known as the self reliance pathway), designed for the remaining group, participants must complete 800 hours of language lessons and 800 hours of ‘participation’. This pathway ends with a meeting with the municipality.
Municipal control of quality and language provision is sometimes limited
The number of language schools has declined since the current law came into force. Municipalities outside the large cities sometimes have few or no language teachers. Consequently they have limited capacity to intervene if the quality of language teaching is inadequate, and they can offer less personalised language support to status holders.
Law contains no incentive for B2 level
The minister assumed that few status holders would achieve B2 level and therefore introduced a B1 pathway To date, only a small number of municipalities appear to purchase B2 language lessons.
More participants than expected in a route with limited prospects
The empowerment pathway attracted twice as many status holders as anticipated: 29% of the 2022-2024 cohort, i.e. 12,450 participants. Conversely, the education pathway attracted only half the expected number: 14%.
The empowerment pathway does not align with naturalisation requirements. Applicants for Dutch citizenship must pass an A2 language exam. Completing the empowerment pathway therefore does not provide a sufficient basis for full participation in Dutch society.
Empowerment pathway participants in 2022-2024 included 3,274 young people. The pathway was not designed for them and does not lead to an educational qualification. To date, few municipalities appear to offer an adapted pathway that leads to an educational qualification for these young empowerment pathway participants.
The communities of practice is not fully exploited
The communities of practice have produced a great deal of knowledge about impediments to implementation of WI2021. Nevertheless, the minister could make better use of them. It often takes years before the minister proposes legislative amendments, even when multiple parties have flagged issues at an early stage.
Recommendations
WI2021 has the potential to deliver better results than the previous civic integration law. However, it is currently not plausible that WI2021 will meet its stated objectives. This is mainly due to inconsistent policy, a mismatch with the labour market and a lack of tailored solutions. The communities of practice have so far been insufficiently able to guide the law, regulations and implementation in the right direction.
We accordingly recommend:
- Make more proactive use of the communities of practice. Respond faster to impediments to the act’s implementation.
- Set targets for monitoring and adapting the goals. Uniform registration of work experience and education is essential; municipal registration during the comprehensive intake process could be an option.
- Design an integrated integration policy for the targets. Goals can only be achieved if the relevant policies of the Ministers of Social Affairs and Employment (SZW), Asylum and Migration (A&M) and Housing and Spatial Planning (VRO) are integrated and consistent. This requires clear, realistic choices about the purpose of civic integration and related legislation, including the Participation Act and the Public Housing Management Act.
- Base policy on potential. Recommendations include:
- If the purpose of integration is ‘participating to the best of one’s ability’, as the law states, then harness the potential of newcomers. In addition to language acquisition, place stronger emphasis on up skilling aimed at exit from the welfare system, for example by making it easier for benefit recipients to take part in employer provided training in sectors with a shortage of workers, such as ICT, healthcare and construction. This would prioritise WI2021 ahead of the Participation Act.
- If the purpose is to achieve the highest possible language level, ensure sufficient provision of B2 language teaching.
- The empowerment pathway is intended for participants with ‘expected limited self reliance’. This does not take potential into account. We therefore advise reducing participation in the empowerment pathway and, for those who do follow it, offering routes that start at B1 level and include practical training.
5. Increase bespoke solutions. Recommendations include:
Make the 800 hour language and 800 hour ‘participation’ requirements in the empowerment pathway more flexible.
Consider a legislative amendment so that workplace language training counts towards the civic integration diploma.
Commission research into ways to expand the range, form and location of language teaching.
Fulfil the law’s purpose: employ status holders in the civil service.