More newcomers voluntarily take part in integration courses

The number of people who voluntarily follow a citizen’s integration course rose in 2013 to 59 percent, up from 33 percent in 2010, according to figures released by Kruispunt Migratie-Integratie.

Flanders and Brussels have pursued an integration policy for ten years. European newcomers and their families are not obliged to take part in integration programmes as they are deemed ‘rights-holders’. Nevertheless, this group has shown increasing interest in taking part in the last three years.

In 2013, 9,797 rights-holding newcomers voluntarily attended an integration programme, as opposed to 6,122 rights-holding newcomers in 2010.

The main reason for this increase is the growing influx of new arrivals from the EU. In 2009, 30.2 percent of new arrivals to Belgium were European. In 2013, EU citizens comprised 48.6 percent of all newcomers.

Migrant families and asylum-seekers are not required to follow integration courses. Those who are required to follow include non-EU families who reunite in Belgium and recognised refugees.