Follow the Flemish Inburgering integration programme

Authoritative basis

The Flemish Inburgering programme is a regional civic-integration obligation imposed by the Flemish Community on most non-EU residents of working age who register in a Flemish-region commune. The user enrolls with AGii (or the relevant city partner), follows a four-pillar curriculum, and on completion receives the inburgeringsattest — the integration certificate that downstream procedures (notably art. 12bis Belgian nationality declaration) accept as integration evidence. Belgium has no federal integration programme; the obligation is regional and discriminator-dispatched.

• Decreet van 7 juni 2013 betreffende het Vlaamse integratie- en inburgeringsbeleid — the statutory basis. Creates the AGii agency, defines the target group, sets the four-pillar curriculum architecture, and establishes the inburgeringsattest. Materially amended by the 2022 reform decree (entered into force 2022-03-01) which introduced the participation contribution and reframed Pillar 4 as the Participatietraject.
• Agentschap Integratie en Inburgering — Inburgering portal — the live AGii operational portal; the authoritative source for current curriculum, deadlines, contributions, and the inburgeringsattest. Cited for the four-pillar curriculum description as currently published.

Stop at inburgeringsattest issuance. The post-attest follow-up trajectory (vervolgtraject), citizenship downstream (art. 12bis nationality declaration via nationality-application), and Belgian residence-permit consequences are out of scope. EU/EEA/Swiss citizens are exempt under Directive 2004/38 and never enter the target group; they leave this skill at the eligibility-assessment step.

Branching layer

Branch by commune region

The Inburgering target group is defined by commune of registered residence, not by the user's address of correspondence or place of work. Walk the user's residence commune against the Flemish-region commune list:

• Flemish-region commune (any of the ~300 communes in Antwerpen, Limburg, Oost-Vlaanderen, Vlaams-Brabant, West-Vlaanderen) — follow this skill.
• Brussels-Capital commune, Dutch-track elected — switch to bon-integration-parcours-bxl. The Brussels Dutch-speaker BON pathway shares much of the AGii curriculum but operates under a separate legal setting (AGii afdeling Brussel rather than direct AGii) and a separate registration channel.
• Brussels-Capital commune, French-track elected — switch to bapa-integration-parcours-bxl (Walloon-language pathway in Brussels).
• Walloon-region commune — switch to parcours-integration-wallonia.
• German-speaking community commune (Eupen, Sankt Vith and others) — out of scope for the v1.1 corpus.

The dispatcher skill bipl-integration-parcours walks this dispatch in detail; arrive here only after the dispatcher has confirmed a Flemish-region commune.

Branch by city partner

Within the Flemish region, the operational front door differs by city. The user does not pick — the commune determines the operator:

• Antwerp resident — file enrolment with Atlas Antwerpen (the City of Antwerp integration partner). Atlas runs intake, the personalised inburgeringscontract, and pillar coordination on AGii's behalf.
• Ghent resident — file enrolment with the City of Ghent integration service (historically In-Gent; the service was reorganised in 2025-2026 and now operates under the City of Ghent's Amal brand at amal.gent). The substantive procedure is unchanged.
• All other Flemish communes — file enrolment with AGii directly via its regional offices. Contact via integratie-inburgering.be or by phone.

Atlas, Amal/In-Gent, and the AGii regional offices deliver the same curriculum under the same decree. The front door changes; the substantive obligation does not.

Branch by target-group status

Three buckets, each with different consequences:

• Verplichte inburgeraar (obliged participant). Non-EU adult primo-arrivant registering in a Flemish-region commune with a residence intent above the decree threshold. Must enrol within the decree's registration window from commune registration. Late enrolment carries administrative penalties.
• Rechthebbende inburgeraar (entitled participant). A category for whom Inburgering is not mandatory but available — for example, Belgian nationals who also hold a foreign nationality and have specific connections, or certain longer-resident foreign nationals. Pursue when the inburgeringsattest is needed for downstream procedures (notably art. 12bis nationality declaration).
• Vrijgesteld (exempt). EU/EEA/Swiss citizens (Directive 2004/38), minors, persons with disability that prevents participation, prior-qualification holders, and certain protected statuses. Exemption discovery is itself non-trivial — route through inburgering-exemption-vrijstelling before completing enrolment if the user holds prior Dutch-language qualifications, a Flemish or Dutch diploma, completed integration in another EU Member State, or a recognised disability.

If the user has prior Dutch-language qualifications (CnaVT, Selor B/C/D, NT2 certificate from any recognised body), a Flemish or Netherlands secondary or higher diploma, or completed integration in another EU Member State, suggest the user pursue exemption assessment via inburgering-exemption-vrijstelling before enrolling — substantial reductions or full exemption are common. Enrolment without prior exemption assessment locks the user into the full programme and means re-engagement to claim recognition after the fact.

Required documents

For enrolment with AGii (or the city partner)

• Belgian residence document — annex 19 / 15 / 49 / 19ter (whichever was issued at the commune at arrival-declaration-at-commune) or, post-issuance, the residence card (A / B / F / F+ / single-permit Annex 49 / etc.). The decree's target-group test depends on residence-document class. [unresolved]
• Identity document — passport or, for users without a passport, the foreign-national-registration document used to establish identity at the commune.
• NISS / rijksregisternummer — the Belgian national-register identifier. Assigned at commune registration.
• Prior-education evidence (where applicable) — diplomas and transcripts, for equivalence assessment if the user is pursuing pillar exemption via inburgering-exemption-vrijstelling.
• Prior-Dutch-proficiency evidence (where applicable) — NT2 certificates, foreign Dutch-language qualifications (Selor, CnaVT), evidence of having lived in the Dutch-language area for ≥9 years.

For the participation contribution

The 2022 reform introduced a participation contribution payable per pillar (or set of pillars — the contribution structure is portal-defined and was not extractable from the live AGii portal at walk time). Bring identity, NISS, and — for users invoking the low-income exemption — income evidence (recent tax-assessment notice or CPAS/OCMW certificate) and any qualifying status evidence (refugee / subsidiary-protection decision, asylum-seeker confirmation).

Recorded in [Requests for contributions] below.

Process

2. Contact AGii or the city partner. For users in Antwerp city: contact Atlas Antwerpen. For users in Ghent city: contact the City of Ghent integration service (Amal, the successor to In-Gent). For users elsewhere in the Flemish region: contact AGii directly via integratie-inburgering.be or by phone. Schedule the intake interview.

3. Attend the intake interview. The interview establishes the user's profile (prior education, language background, professional experience, family situation, personal goals) and produces the personalised inburgeringscontract — a written agreement on the user's curriculum, expected duration, and milestones. Bring the residence document, identity document, NISS, prior-education evidence, and prior-Dutch-proficiency evidence. Sign the contract; signing is the moment enrolment becomes formal.

4. Pay the participation contribution. The 2022 reform introduced a per-pillar contribution.

Low-income participants, refugees, subsidiary-protection beneficiaries, and asylum-seekers may qualify for partial or full exemption; the AGii intake interviewer confirms the qualifying status during enrolment.

5. Follow the four pillars. The pillars typically run in parallel; NT2 is the time-driver for users starting at low Dutch proficiency.

   • Pillar 1 — Maatschappelijke Oriëntatie (MO). Civic instruction in Dutch (or, exceptionally, in a contact language for users with no Dutch) on Belgian and Flemish institutions, citizens' rights and duties, public services, employment system, healthcare system, regional specifics, anti-discrimination law, and gender-equality awareness. Delivered as group instruction by AGii or the city partner. Closes with a structured assessment; passing produces the MO module record. [unresolved]
   • Pillar 2 — Nederlands Leren (NT2). Dutch language instruction delivered by the Centra voor Volwassenenonderwijs (CVO), Centra voor Basiseducatie (CBE), and the Huizen van het Nederlands (HvN). The 2022 reform tightened the target threshold to A2 written and A2 oral (CEFR); the pre-reform threshold was A2 oral with no formal written requirement. Course hours scale with entry level — a user starting at A0 typically requires extended instruction across 12–24 months; a user with prior Dutch may need only the placement test and the exam.
   • Pillar 3 — Traject naar Werk (VDAB orientation). Vocational and educational orientation in coordination with VDAB (Vlaamse Dienst voor Arbeidsbemiddeling en Beroepsopleiding). The user registers with VDAB and follows orientation — CV preparation, sector mapping, internship matching where applicable, training-plan construction. Mandatory unless the user is already in full-time employment or higher education, in which case the pillar is recorded as administratively completed.
   • Pillar 4 — Participatietraject. A participation requirement — the user undertakes a designated activity that brings them into contact with Flemish civic life: volunteer work (vrijwilligerswerk), stage / internship at a recognised organisation, or participation in a buddy / mentorship programme. The 2022 reform reframed this pillar (previously known informally as buurtgesprek) into a structured participation track; the substance is similar but the documentation is now more formal. [unresolved]

6. Track progress with AGii. AGii holds the central file. The user can request adjustments to the contract (deferral for health, family, or employment displacement) by contacting AGii or the city partner. Each pillar's completion is recorded as the user passes the relevant exam or completes the relevant activity.

7. Collect the inburgeringsattest. Once all four pillars are completed (MO exam passed, NT2 A2 written + oral exam passed, VDAB orientation completed, Participatietraject activity confirmed), AGii issues the inburgeringsattest — an official proof of social integration (officieel bewijs van maatschappelijke integratie). The certificate is registered in the central AGii file. [unresolved]

The inburgeringsattest is accepted as integration evidence for:

• Belgian nationality declaration under art. 12bis (nationality-application) — qualifies as integration evidence under §1, 2°, §1, 3°, and §1, 5° integration requirements.
• Some employment and CPAS / OCMW contexts — Flemish public services and some employers accept the inburgeringsattest as evidence of integration for various administrative purposes.

Stop here. The post-attest vervolgtraject (follow-up trajectory — further Dutch, further employment integration) is a separate optional pathway and is out of scope.

Known surprises

• The 2022 reform is the watershed. Pre-2022 guidance — Inburgering is largely free, A2 oral suffices with no written test, Pillar 4 is an informal buurtgesprek — is no longer current. The reform introduced contributions, tightened NT2 to A2 written + oral, and reframed Pillar 4 as a structured Participatietraject. Verify against the live portal before relying on any specific figures or thresholds.
• AGii is the central agent; Atlas Antwerpen and Amal-Gent (formerly In-Gent) are city partners. In Antwerp and Ghent, the user typically interacts with the city partner rather than AGii directly; the work is the same but the front door differs. Confusion arises because online guidance often points to AGii regardless. The 2025-2026 reorganisation of In-Gent under Amal also confuses users searching for the Ghent operator under the old name.
• NT2 is the time-driver. The four-pillar parallelism is real, but NT2 determines completion timeline for most users. Plan for 12–24 months of NT2 instruction at A0 starting level; substantially less for users with higher entry levels.
• Exemption pathways exist for prior-education holders. Users with foreign higher-education degrees, prior Dutch-language qualifications (CnaVT, Selor B/C/D, NT2 certificate), or completed integration trajectories in another EU Member State should pursue equivalence assessment via inburgering-exemption-vrijstelling before enrolment. Substantial reductions are common; in some cases full exemption applies. Engaging the programme first and claiming exemption later is harder than asserting exemption at intake.
• VDAB registration is gating for the Werk-school pillar. A user who has not yet registered with VDAB cannot complete Pillar 3. The registration runs through VDAB's own onboarding (separate skill, deferred to v1.1); typically a 1–2 week process from contact.
• City-of-residence determines the operator; the user cannot pick. Antwerp residents go to Atlas Antwerpen. Ghent residents go to Amal (formerly In-Gent). Other Flemish communes go to AGii regional offices. A user who attempts to enrol at the "wrong" front door is redirected.
• Brussels Dutch-speakers go to BON, not Inburgering-Flanders. A non-EU resident in a Brussels-Capital commune who has elected the Dutch-speaking pathway follows the BON regime via bon-integration-parcours-bxl. The curriculum is similar but the legal setting and the operator differ. Verify the user's commune is actually Flemish — not Brussels-Capital — before dispatching here. [unresolved]
• The inburgeringsattest is not automatic on completion of just NT2. Users sometimes assume passing the NT2 A2 exam alone qualifies — it does not. All four pillars must be recorded as completed by AGii before the inburgeringsattest issues.

Community observations

Requests for contributions

Help complete this skill by contributing what only first-hand experience or up-to-date portal access can supply:

• Per-pillar participation contribution amounts (post-2022 reform). The integratie-inburgering.be cost pages returned 404 on 2026-05-15. Contribute the current per-pillar contribution amounts (in euros), the exemption qualifying conditions (low-income threshold, refugee / subsidiary-protection status, asylum-seeker status), and the payment-channel mechanics. A screenshot of the live wat-kost-inburgering page (or equivalent) would close this gap.
• Registration deadline after commune registration. The decree's registration window — the number of months from commune registration within which a verplichte inburgeraar must enrol — was not pinned at walk time. Contribute the current deadline (number of months) and the late-start administrative consequence schedule. The 2022 reform may have tightened the historical practice.
• Per-pillar duration and hour figures. Approximate hour figures for MO (historically ~60 hours), NT2 (entry-level dependent), and the Participatietraject (target contact-hour count) at the post-2022 reform thresholds. Confirm against the AGii live portal.
• Atlas Antwerpen vs Amal-Gent vs AGii intake-channel differences. First-hand contributions describing real differences in intake speed, available languages, and information quality across the three front doors would shape routing advice. Particularly: when AGii regional offices serve a user better than the local city partner does (or vice versa).
• Inburgeringsattest delivery — paper, digital, or both. Contribute first-hand details: does AGii issue a paper certificate at completion, a digital record in the Mijn Burgerprofiel portal, both, or something else? When art. 12bis users present the attest at the commune, what form does the commune accept?
• Exemption-discovery practical traps. First-hand accounts of cases where exemption was available but not surfaced at intake, leading to wasted enrolment. Particularly useful for users with prior NT2 certification, Selor language certificates, or completed integration in another EU Member State.