The exams cost €50 per part, so €250 for the five core parts. (Under the old 2013 law there was also ONA at €40, for €290 in total. The current 2021 law has no separate ONA fee.) Courses cost extra. That is where most of the money goes. A course can cost little if you study efficiently, or a lot if you need many hours of lessons. Who pays depends on which law applies to you. Under the 2021 law the gemeente (municipality) pays for asylum status holders. Family and other migrants can borrow from DUO for approved courses and exams.
That is the short answer. Below you can see what each part costs and where you can save.
What the inburgering exams themselves cost
The inburgeringsexamen is not one test. It has several parts: Reading, Listening, Writing, Speaking, and Knowledge of Dutch Society (KNM). Under the old 2013 law there was also ONA, an exam about the Dutch labour market. Under the 2021 law this is part of your route (the MAP module). It is not a separate exam that you pay for.
You pay €50 per part. According to inburgeren.nl, the official DUO portal, the five core parts add up to €250. Under the old 2013 law, ONA added €40, for €290 in total. Under the old 2013 law the PVT also costs €150, unless you are an asylum status holder. Under the 2021 law the PVT is free. Asylum status holders get their first two attempts at each part for free, as long as they take them at the level set in their PIP. After that, each retake costs €50 again. So the cheapest way is to be well prepared for your first attempt.
On the B1-route your language exams are the Staatsexamen NT2. That also costs €50 per part, so €200 for the four parts, plus €50 for KNM. These fees can change over time. Always check the current amount on inburgeren.nl before you book.
The real cost of inburgeren: courses and study
The exam fees are low. What makes inburgeren expensive for some people is the studying.
A language school charges for hours of teaching. If you are already close to the required level, a course can cost a few hundred euros. If you start from zero and need a long, intensive course, it can cost a few thousand. The exam is the same for both. What changes the bill is the number of lessons you pay for.
We have seen this with people close to us. The exam fees were never the big cost. The course was. So before you pay anyone, look at your three main options:
- Self-study. The cheapest option. But you have to plan everything and stay motivated on your own. You may also study the wrong things.
- A full language course. The most guidance, but also the most expensive. Worth it if you need to learn Dutch from the start.
- Online preparation. Between the two in price. You practise the exact tasks the exam asks for, at a fixed monthly price. You add lessons with a tutor only where you really need them.
Before you pay for anything, find out which route and which exam parts apply to you. Paying for course hours you do not need is the most common way people overspend on inburgeren.
The DUO loan: what you borrow and pay back
Many people do not know about this part.
Whether you borrow depends on which law applies to you and on your status. Under the current 2021 law, asylum status holders do not borrow at all. The gemeente pays for their course and two exam attempts per part. Family and other migrants under the 2021 law pay themselves. They can borrow money from DUO for approved courses and exams. For them, the amount depends on income, as DUO explains on how much you can borrow. DUO decides the exact amount. (You may read about a fixed maximum of €10,000. That is the old 2013-law figure for asylum status holders.) You do not pay everything at the start. You use the loan step by step, when you need it.
What about paying it back? DUO's page on borrowing says asylum status holders never have to pay their loan back. For everyone else, DUO says the loan is sometimes waived, fully or in part. It does not publish the conditions, so do not count on it. Plan as if you will pay the loan back, and ask DUO what applies to you.
So passing on time also saves you money. The exact rules depend on when your inburgering obligation started and which law applies to you. Our page on inburgering explains both laws. Check your own situation with DUO.
Prepare without overspending
Practise the exact tasks DUO scores, at a clear monthly price, and keep your costs down.
See the plansSo, is inburgeren expensive?
It depends almost entirely on one thing: how efficiently you prepare.
The exams cost a few hundred euros. If you add a long course, the bill grows. If you prepare in a focused way and need fewer lessons, the real cost stays low, sometimes not much more than the exam fees.
Inburgeren gets expensive with months of general lessons, missed deadlines and retakes. It stays affordable when you focus on the exam and always know what to study next, and why. That is how our inburgering exam course is built. You can see the full inburgering course cost on our pricing page.
We are not DUO-certified and we cannot promise a pass. Our content follows DUO's published sample materials. Any cost or loan figures here are guidance, not official advice. Always confirm fees, deadlines, and loan eligibility with DUO for your own situation.
If you know the costs and prepare for the exam itself, the cost of inburgeren stays clear and does not keep growing.