Rotterdam: immigrants to pay for integration course

Tens of thousands of Rotterdam immigrants will shortly have to pass a test showing they’re fluent in Dutch. Whoever fails will wind up having to pay for an integration test that could cost up to 8000 euro. Job-seekers, educators and imams will only pay 275 euro.

Utrecht thinks immigrants drop out of such expensive courses and therefore is paying the bill itself, costing 24 million, the immigrant only having to come up with 275 euro.

These new measure are to prepare the municipalities for the new immigration law which, if it passes parliament, will take effect January 1st 2007.

The Rotterdam civil service is the first to work out the plans. Immigrants must reports to an integration office where it will be decided who will be taking the test. For this purpose a list will be composed of those Rotterdam residents who were not born in Europe and have attended Dutch elementary school for less than 8 years. This goes especially for people who have been in the country for a long time and had not been obligated till now to take integration courses.

Guus Extra, professor for multiple languages in the multicultural society says the test is unethical. “If you force ‘old comers’ to take the test, that often have Dutch citizenship, they must also force ethnic Dutch to take the test as well.”

Source: AD.nl (Dutch)

No comments: