From COA Reception to a Municipality: The Asylum Migrant's Integration Journey in Numbers

Before an asylum status holder ever starts inburgering in a municipality, they take a journey through the reception system — and according to CBS figures through end 2025, that journey is rarely short or simple. About 87% of asylum migrants moved at least once between reception locations before they were finally housed in a municipality, and only around 3 in 10 were placed in a municipality within 20 kilometres of the COA (the central agency for asylum reception) location they were living in when they were coupled. This page analyses official CBS Statistiek Wet inburgering figures; we are not a government body and do not produce these statistics, we only summarise them.

• This is an asylum-migrant story only. Family migrants and "other" migrants settle directly with their referent (the person they join in the Netherlands) and never pass through COA reception, so the reception journey below does not apply to them.
• Almost everyone moves first. Only about 13% of asylum migrants were housed in a municipality without any interim move; roughly 87% moved at least once, and over 40% moved three or more times.
• Placement is often far from where they were. Around 30% were coupled to a municipality 20 to 60 km from their COA location, and about 40% were placed 60 km away or more; only about 15% stayed in the same place.
• Integration often starts before the municipality does. About 55% of asylum migrants did at least one integration activity during reception, and around 45% took part in voorinburgering (pre-integration).
• Most settle reasonably quickly once obligated. About 46% settled in a municipality within six months of their integration obligation starting, and a further large share were already settled when the obligation began.

An asylum migrant who is granted a residence permit becomes a status holder (statushouder) and is coupled (gekoppeld) to a municipality, which then becomes responsible for housing them and for their integration. While they wait for housing they usually stay in COA (the central agency for asylum reception) locations, and they may be moved between locations several times. During that reception period the municipality starts a brede intake (broad intake interview) and writes a PIP (Persoonlijk plan Inburgering en Participatie, the personal integration and participation plan), and COA offers voorinburgering (pre-integration): basic Dutch and orientation lessons before the formal route begins.

The clearest sign that the reception journey is rarely direct is the number of interim moves. The table below shows how many times asylum migrants moved inside the reception system before they were finally housed in a municipality, across a base of about 67,600 people.

Adding up everyone with at least one move gives roughly 58,700 of 67,600 people, or about 87%. More than 40% moved three or more times, and about 22% moved four or more times. For someone trying to settle, learn the language, and start a route, this churn is part of the lived reality before a municipality even becomes their fixed home.

The second part of the journey is distance. CBS measures, at the moment of coupling, how far the assigned municipality is from the COA reception location the person was living in. The table below shows that distribution for asylum migrants, across a base of about 61,500 people.

The single largest band is 20 to 60 km, at about 30%. Only about 15% were coupled to the same place they were already living, and roughly 40% were placed 60 km away or more — a meaningful distance in a small country, often meaning a new region, a new dialect environment, and a fresh start away from any support network built up during reception.

The integration obligation (inburgeringsplicht) and the move into a municipality do not always happen at the same time. CBS measures the time between the start of the obligation and settling in a municipality. The table below shows that for asylum migrants, across a base of about 71,200 people.

Counting only the time after the obligation began, about 32,400 people — roughly 46% of the whole group — settled within six months, and about 11% took more than a year. A further roughly 23% were already living in a municipality by the time the obligation started. So for most asylum migrants the gap between becoming obligated and having a settled municipal address is months, not years — though for a minority it stretches well past a year.

Integration does not have to wait for the municipal address. During the COA opvangovereenkomst (the reception agreement), asylum migrants can already do a brede intake (broad intake interview), have a PIP set, or take part in voorinburgering (pre-integration). The table below shows uptake of these activities, across a base of about 68,100 people.

About 55% did at least one integration activity during reception, with voorinburgering the most common single activity at about 45%. The brede intake categories overlap with voorinburgering, which is why they do not simply add up to the "at least one" total; the bottom row is the unduplicated figure for anyone who did any of them. The headline is that for a clear majority, integration is already under way before the municipality formally takes over.

Voorinburgering is offered during reception, and participation is recorded as a consent (instemming): yes, no, or unknown. Among asylum migrants, the recorded consent breaks down as follows.

Setting the unknowns aside, about 41,700 asylum migrants consented to voorinburgering and about 13,700 declined — roughly three yeses for every no. Consenting is not the same as completing: it records willingness to take part, not the lessons attended. Even so, the direction is clear: most asylum migrants opt into early integration when it is offered during reception.

Not every coupling sticks. CBS separately counts asylum migrants who were coupled to a municipality more than once. Across all cohorts this was about 2,635 people, and most of those re-couplings (about 62%) happened before the broad intake had even started — so for the large majority, a second coupling did not interrupt an integration process that was already running.

If you are a status holder waiting for housing, these numbers say something reassuring and something honest. The honest part: moving several times and being placed far from where you are now is normal, not a sign that something has gone wrong. The reassuring part: most people settle within months, and more than half are already doing integration activities during reception — so saying yes to voorinburgering and to the broad intake is the common, sensible choice, and it gives you a head start before your municipality takes over.

For the bigger picture of who these newcomers are, see our breakdown of the demographics of new inburgeraars. For what happens once you settle and how fast your PIP is set, see PIP timing by municipality. And for the law that frames this whole journey, read what changed under Wet inburgering 2021.