If you came to the Netherlands on a highly skilled migrant permit, odds are nobody told you about the Dutch A2 exam. Not HR, not the relocation agency. And your Dutch colleagues switch to English before you finish your first sentence anyway.
Then a few years later you want permanent residence or a Dutch passport, and surprise: the inburgering exam is a hard dependency.
Do you need it?
If you're required to integrate, DUO sends you a letter. No letter? You're probably on the voluntary route, like most people here for work. But inburgeren.nl is pretty clear:
- Dutch citizenship: pass the integration exam at A2, or the NT2 state exam at B1/B2 (source)
- Permanent residence: you need the integration diploma (source)
So it's not if, it's when.
The spec
| Part | What | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Reading | 25 multiple choice | 65 min |
| Listening | 25 multiple choice | 45 min |
| Writing | 1 form + 3 short texts | 40 min |
| Speaking | 16 video/picture tasks | 35 min |
| KNM (Dutch society) | 40 multiple choice | 45 min |
Plus ONA (Dutch labour market) for most people. You can take parts separately. Mijn Inburgering tells you which ones you need.
A2 is a low level. The hard part isn't the Dutch, it's the format: timers, weird question styles, and a speaking test where you talk to a screen. Kind of like a cert exam you "knew" and still failed.
How I'd approach it
- Run the baseline. Do DUO's free practice exams before studying. Know where you stand.
- Fix the weakest part first. If you speak English at work all day, it's probably speaking and writing.
- Do KNM on the side. How healthcare, renting and work stuff works here. Understand it, don't memorise answer lists.
- Get more reps. DUO's practice sets are good but there aren't many. You'll burn through them in a weekend.
- Finish with timed runs. Then book the parts you're ready for. No need to book everything at once.
20 minutes a day > one Sunday marathon.
What I'd use for the extra reps
For step 4 I'd go with inburgering.org. Why:
- every A2 part (speaking, writing, reading, listening, KNM) in the same format as the DUO exam, so nothing on exam day looks new
- ONA covered properly: all 8 result cards, with examples and feedback on your answers. Most people leave ONA until the last minute, so this saves a lot of stress
- 200 flashcard decks with spaced repetition, if you're the Anki type
- works on your phone, so a set on the train actually happens
- there's a free exercise, so you can see if it clicks before paying
DUO's sets for the baseline, this for the grind and acing your skills.
TL;DR
- On a work permit you probably don't need the exam yet. You will for permanent residence or a passport.
- Baseline with DUO's free practice exams, then grind reps in the real format.
- Start early. Future you, filling in the IND form, will thank you.
Anyone here taken it recently? Especially curious if you also work in English all day.
