Integration course

You can determine where you want to attend the course. You must take a civic integration exam when the course ends. You must pass your exam within three years. If you do not pass the exam within this time period, you will not be issued a residence permit for an indefinite period.

Are you to blame for not earning your civic integration diploma? The municipality may fine you.

You must pay for the civic integration course and exam. If you cannot pay for the course and exam, you can borrow the money through DUO (Dienst Uitvoering Onderwijs).

Are you unable to pass the exam? You can ask whether you may be exempted from taking the exam.

Conditions

The conditions for following a civic integration course are:

You:

• Live in the Netherlands and
• Do not have a Dutch passport and
• You do not come from an EU country, EEA country, Turkey or Switzerland and
• Are older than 18 but younger than the age that entitles you to receive a state pension and
• Did not reside in the Netherlands more than eight years or longer when you became of compulsory school age and
• Do not have diplomas, certificates or documentary evidence of attending/completing a Dutch language course and
• Are not coming to the Netherlands temporarily to study or work.

What you need to do

If you are required to enrol in this programme, you can contact Stichting Vluchtelingenwerk Amstelland or DUO (Dienst Uitvoering Onderwijs) by telephone or through the Internet if you have any questions.

Were you told that you need to pass the exam before 1 January 2013? And was your residence permit issued before 1 January 2013? The old rules will still apply to you. Please contact the municipality for more information.

You can determine where you want to attend the civic integration course. You can, for example, do this at an education institute such as a Regional Training Centre (in Dutch: regionaal opleidingencentrum (ROC)).

Costs

You are required to pay for the course and exam. You can borrow money to pay for this through DUO.