The Dutch Integration Exam

The Dutch integration exam — in Dutch, the inburgeringsexamen — is the official civic integration exam for people who move to the Netherlands from outside the EU. Passing it shows the Dutch government that you can take part in everyday life here: that you speak enough Dutch and understand how the country works.

The exam is administered by DUO (Dienst Uitvoering Onderwijs). It is made up of five parts: four language tests — reading, listening, writing, and speaking — and one knowledge test, KNM (Kennis van de Nederlandse Maatschappij, Knowledge of Dutch Society). You book and sit each part separately.

Most non-EU/EEA citizens who move to the Netherlands on a residence permit have an integration obligation and must pass the exam, usually within three years. You most likely need to sit it if you came for one of these reasons:

• Family reunification — you joined a spouse or partner in the Netherlands. See our guide to the integration exam for spouses and partners.
• Permanent residence — passing the exam is a condition for a permanent residence permit. Read more.
• Dutch citizenship (naturalisation) — you must pass to become Dutch. Read more.

EU, EEA, and Swiss citizens are exempt, as are people under 16 or over the state pension age, and some who already hold a Dutch diploma. If you are unsure, always confirm your personal obligation with DUO or your gemeente.

The integration exam comes at two Dutch language levels. A2 is the basic level — enough Dutch for daily life — and has long been the standard. B1 is a step higher and is taken as the Staatsexamen NT2.

Under the Wet inburgering 2021 (the integration law in force since 2022), the B1 route is now the default for many newcomers. Your gemeente decides your learning route after an intake. Not sure which one applies to you? Our guide to A2 vs B1 guide breaks it down, or take the free Dutch level test to see where you stand.

You book each part of the integration exam separately through DUO, using your DigiD, on the inburgeren.nl website. Under the 2021 law each part costs €50, so sitting all five once costs €250. Retakes cost the same per part.

You may be able to borrow from DUO for exam and course costs; DUO decides how much, based on your income. DUO says the loan is sometimes forgiven, in full or in part, so plan on paying it back. Asylum status holders never have to repay it, and their first 2 attempts at each exam are free. For retake fees and what happens if you miss the deadline, see what happens if you fail the exam.

DUO says the result usually arrives within 8 weeks. For now, Spreken A2 and Schrijven A2 can take up to 16 weeks. That is DUO's own wording, from its results page and its news item of 31 July 2026, and it covers the exams DUO runs itself: the A2 language parts and KNM. You book each part separately, so each part has its own wait. If your deadline is close and you are still waiting on Spreken or Schrijven A2, DUO extends it by 6 months on its own and sends you a letter.

The B1 route is a different exam with a different marker. B1 is sat as the Staatsexamen NT2, which CvTE marks, so DUO's wait times above do not apply to it — look up the results date for your own sitting on staatsexamensnt2.nl.

At B1, there is a number. You pass a component with a score of 500 or higher. That is the official Staatsexamen scale, and you get one score per part. How many correct answers it takes to reach 500 is different for every exam, because exams differ in length and difficulty, so nobody can honestly tell you “get 32 right and you’re through”.

At A2, there is no published pass mark. DUO does not print one. The pass line (the cesuur) is set by the Minister, and nobody may look at a marked exam afterwards, so any exact “x out of y” you find on a forum is somebody’s guess. The one official statement is that not every answer has to be right.

You retake one part, not the whole exam. DUO charges the exam fee for admission to every exam you sign up for, unless you qualify for a free attempt. A retake is booked and paid for like a first sitting, at the fees in costs and registration above.

Two things get repeated wrongly online, so here they are straight. DUO's published rules say nothing about failing, which means “a retake after a fail costs the fee again” is our reading of the admission rule rather than a sentence DUO prints. And “unlimited retakes” is not a promise anyone can make you: the rules state the fee, not a limit on attempts. DUO does print one rebooking rule outright — if you could not come to your exam and have to sit it again, you pay again, and the same applies if you broke the exam rules.

The three-year deadline is what actually bites, not the number of tries. Our guide to what happens if you fail covers what to do next, and the deadline page has the fines and the extensions. Need to move a booking instead? See rescheduling or cancelling an exam.

The exams you take in the Netherlands. It does not cover the basic civic integration exam taken at a Dutch embassy or consulate abroad — that one is prepared for at naarnederland.nl.

This app is built around one thing: working out which parts you keep getting wrong, and drilling you on those. It asks for your exam date when you set it up. Once that date has passed it asks how the exam actually went: passed, did not pass, or have not sat it yet. All three are offered the same way, because a question that only works for good news teaches us nothing.

Your answer is recorded against what the app was telling you about your readiness at the moment it asked. That is the point of asking: the app's own read gets checked against what really happened. App feedback is not an official exam result.

Free practice exams are the place to start if your result was a fail and you want to find the gap before you rebook.

The legal deadline is three years, but how long preparation actually takes depends on your starting level and whether you sit A2 or B1. With focused daily practice, many people are ready for A2 in a few weeks by drilling only their weak spots; B1 takes longer. Our realistic timelines guide and the 8-week study plan show what a sensible schedule looks like.

A focused way to prepare is to practise one skill at a time and find your gaps early. Here is where to start, all free:

• Take the free interactive practice exams — a level test, KNM, reading, and grammar — with no account needed.
• Study all 8 topics in the free KNM study guide.
• Practise writing and speaking with instant AI feedback in the app, including per-word pronunciation practice that shows a word to work on. App feedback is not an official exam result.