After Inburgering: Do People Work, Study, or Rely on Benefits?

Among the people who had completed inburgering (people who met their civic-integration obligation, in Dutch voldaan / afronding) by the end of 2025, about 46% worked in 75–100% of the months in their first year afterwards, according to CBS. But read that number carefully: only about 9,000 people had completed at all, drawn from the earliest cohorts of the 2021 law, so this is an early signal — not a settled outcome for everyone who will eventually integrate. This page analyses the official CBS Statistiek Wet inburgering (SWI) figures; we are not a government body and do not produce these statistics, we only summarise them.

• About 46% worked most of their first year. Of people who had completed inburgering, roughly 46% were in paid work for 75–100% of the months in their first year afterwards, while about 42% worked in no month at all.
• Most receive no benefit. In the first year after completing, about 63% received no uitkering (benefit) in any month; about 30% received one in 75–100% of the months.
• Completers out-work the still-obligated. Across 2025, about 60% of people who had completed had worked that year, compared with about 40% of those still integrating.
• Onward study is mostly vocational. Among the small number who entered education after completing (recorded for the B1-route), roughly 58% went into mbo (vocational education), with smaller shares into hbo and university.
• The base is tiny and early. Only about 9,000 people had completed by end 2025 — all from the first cohorts of the 2021 law — so every figure here is an early signal with wide uncertainty, not a final outcome.

In the CBS data, "completed" means a person's status is voldaan / afronding — they have met (completed) their civic-integration obligation under Wet inburgering 2021, the integration law that started on 1 January 2022. Because the law is young and the obligation runs on a multi-year clock, only the earliest entrants have reached this point. That is why the group is small: by the end of 2025, only about 9,000 people had completed. Everything below describes what that early group did in the months right after completing, not what the average future inburgeraar will do.

For the steps and rules around finishing, see our guide to what happens after passing the inburgering exam.

CBS measures work after completion as the share of months in the first year in which a person was in paid work. The table below uses the total group across routes and target groups, for people in their first year after completing. The base for this chart is about 8,990 people — small, so the percentages can shift as more cohorts mature.

So the picture is split: a near-half (about 46%) worked steadily through most of their first year, while about 42% did not work in any month. The remaining ~12% worked for part of the year. Put differently, roughly 58% worked in at least one month. The two big clusters at the top and bottom suggest that, for this early group, completing inburgering coincides with either a fairly stable start in work or none yet — but with only ~8,990 people behind the figure, this is a first read.

The same approach applies to benefits: CBS records the share of months in the first year in which a person received an uitkering (benefit). The base here is smaller still, about 6,100 people, and the underlying benefit detail runs through 2024. The table below is the total group.

About 63% of this early completed group received no benefit in any month of their first year, while about 30% received one in 75–100% of the months — again a split distribution rather than a smooth gradient. Roughly 37% received a benefit in at least one month. Note that work and benefits are not opposites here: a person can hold a part-time job and a supplementary benefit in the same months, so the two tables overlap rather than summing to one population.

A wider CBS chart asks a simpler question — did a person do any paid work during 2025 — across the whole obligated population, broken down by integration status (status inburgeringsplicht). This is a different, much larger base (about 130,600 people), and it lets us compare those who have completed against those still on the clock.

People who had completed were more likely to have worked in 2025 (about 60%) than those still integrating (about 40%), with the whole obligated population at about 43%. The completed group of about 9,975 people behind the 60% figure is, again, small and early. It is also worth noting these are associations, not proof that completing causes employment: people who complete may already differ from those still integrating in age, route, and circumstances.

A minority of people move into Dutch education after completing. In the CBS data this is recorded for the B1-route, and the numbers are very small — about 1,300 people across all levels — so the breakdown is indicative only. The clear pattern is that onward study is mbo-heavy: mbo (vocational education) accounts for roughly 58% of those who enrol, with smaller shares going into hbo (higher professional education) and university (wo).

Within the mbo group, entry-level mbo-1 and mbo-2 dominate over mbo-3 and mbo-4. With only a few hundred people in each cell, the exact shares should not be over-read; the safe takeaway is that, where people study on after completing, vocational education is the most common destination.

These figures describe a small, early group of people who finished first — not a promise about your own path. The most honest summary is that, among the first to complete, roughly half worked steadily in their first year, most received no benefit, and onward study tended toward vocational mbo. As more cohorts of the 2021 law reach completion, the numbers will firm up; until then, treat this as a first look at where the new system leads.

For more on the work-and-income side of integration, see our overview of inburgering, work, and income. To see how language results compare, read which language levels people actually reach, and for the practical next steps once you have finished, see what happens after passing the inburgering exam.