Vivre ensemble Luxembourg: the English guide to the citizenship exam (2026)

What is the Vivre ensemble test?

« Vivre ensemble au Grand-Duché de Luxembourg » (living together in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg) is the civics requirement for Luxembourg citizenship by naturalisation. It checks that you know the basic rights of citizens, how the State and the communes work, and the main lines of the country's history and its place in Europe.

It is organised by the Service de la formation des adultes (SFA), part of the Ministry of Education, Children and Youth (MENJE). You can meet the requirement in one of two ways: attend a 24-hour course, or sit a 40-question exam without the course. This guide is written for people who want to understand the Vivre ensemble exam in English and prepare for it properly.

40

multiple-choice questions in the exam

3

areas: rights, institutions, history and Europe

24 h

course, if you choose the course instead

Free

registration for course or exam

Why the Vivre ensemble requirement exists

The requirement comes from the law of 8 March 2017 on Luxembourg nationality. That law sets out the conditions for naturalisation: at least five years of legal residence, the Luxembourgish language test (the Sproochentest), good character and the Vivre ensemble requirement. A règlement grand-ducal of 7 April 2017 implements the course and the exam.

The idea is simple. Luxembourg is a small country where close to half of residents are foreign nationals. A new citizen votes in legislative elections, can stand for office and takes part in a democracy with its own institutions and vocabulary. The State wants every new citizen to share a common base of knowledge, whatever their first language.

For many residents the content is not difficult in itself. What makes it tricky is that the system is unfamiliar: a Grand Duke who reigns but does not govern, a Council of State that is not a court, two separate court systems, and a history of changing rulers. You can see the full list of conditions on our page on Luxembourg citizenship requirements.

Course or exam: the short version

The course lasts 24 hours over three modules: fundamental rights (6 hours), State and communal institutions (12 hours), and history of the Grand Duchy and European integration (6 hours). You receive a certificate for attendance. There is no exam at the end. Courses are held in person in Luxembourg-Hollerich, Esch-Belval and Diekirch, and online courses are offered in English.

The exam is a single computer-based multiple-choice test held in Esch-Belval. You study on your own, sit 40 questions, and receive your result from the SFA. It suits people who cannot set aside 24 hours of fixed sessions, or who prefer to prepare at their own pace.

If you hold the citizenship-training certificate from the reception and integration contract (CAI), you can take an 18-hour version of the course. That reduction only applies to the course. If you skip the course and sit the exam, you answer all 40 questions. We compare both options in detail, with a decision guide, in Vivre ensemble: course or exam?

The Vivre ensemble exam format: 40 questions, split 10/20/10

The exam has 40 questions in three areas. The weighting follows the course hours exactly: 10 questions on fundamental rights, 20 on State and communal institutions, and 10 on history and European integration. Half the exam is about institutions, which tells you where to spend most of your study time.

Questions may be classic multiple choice or binary questions such as yes/no or true/false. The official pages do not publish a pass mark; the SFA confirms results. We do not quote an official duration here; check the information the SFA gives you when you register, and plan for a focused sitting rather than a quick quiz.

The table below shows the three areas, the subtopics they cover and what you should be able to answer. The subtopics are the 21 headings we use to organise our own question bank, built from the official study material.

Each area has its own chapter in our study guide: fundamental rights, institutions, courts and justice, communes and elections, history and the European Union.

Languages, registration and exam day

Can you take the Vivre ensemble test in English?

Yes. The course and the exam are organised in Luxembourg's three administrative languages, Luxembourgish, French and German, and in English. This is set out in the règlement grand-ducal of 7 April 2017. Not every session exists in every language, so choose your language when you register and check that a session is offered in it.

The official study material is also available in English. The government information service publishes brochures such as "About the History of Luxembourg", "About Political Institutions in Luxembourg" and "About Luxembourg and the European Union", plus the Constitution in English. We list them all, with what each one covers, on our study materials page.

Even if you sit the exam in English, you will meet French words. Luxembourg's laws are drafted in French, and many institutions are best known by their French names. Learn the main ones in pairs: projet de loi (a bill tabled by the Government) and proposition de loi (a bill tabled by deputies); collège des bourgmestre et échevins (board of mayor and aldermen); Conseil d'État (Council of State); Tribunal administratif and Cour administrative.

How to register for the Vivre ensemble exam

Registration for the course or the exam is free. You register on the official portal, ssl.education.lu/ve-portal, which only works from within Luxembourg. You can also register by email to sfa@men.lu. Sessions and available languages are listed on the portal, so check it for current dates rather than relying on dates you read elsewhere.

Two rules matter. First, registration is final. Second, you can only register again once the date you registered for has passed. Pick a date that gives you enough time to prepare, because you cannot simply move to an earlier or later session once you have signed up.

Exam day at Belval

The Vivre ensemble exam takes place in Esch-Belval, in the south of the country. It is taken on a computer. You read each question on screen and select your answer from the options given.

We keep this section short on purpose. Practical details such as arrival time and what to bring can change, so follow the instructions you receive from the SFA after registering. What you can control is your preparation: if you have practised with questions in the same format and under time pressure, the screen in front of you will feel familiar.

Read every question to the end. Many questions turn on a single word, such as "appeal" versus "first instance", or "proposes" versus "adopts". Binary questions (yes/no, true/false) can look easy, but they often test a precise rule, for example whether aldermen are municipal civil servants. They are not.

What makes the Vivre ensemble exam hard for international residents

The content is not deep, but it is precise. In CivicLearn practice data (391 learners, about 700,000 answers, October 2026), the average miss rate is 15.3%. The subtopics with the highest miss rates are Concept and Sources of rights (28.0%), European Integration (28.0%) and From County to Duchy (20.2%). These are areas full of dates and names that look alike.

The single most-missed question in our data asks whether administrative courts are part of the judicial order. More than half of answers are wrong. Six families of traps explain most of the mistakes.

1. The EU treaties

Five treaties, five dates: the ECSC in 1951, Rome in 1957 (creating the European Economic Community), Maastricht in 1992 (turning the EEC into the European Union), Amsterdam in 1997 (strengthening the European Parliament and citizens' rights) and Lisbon, signed in 2007 and in force from 2009 (creating the permanent President of the European Council). Learners swap Amsterdam and Lisbon more than any other pair.

2. The dates of rights texts

Four texts and four dates: the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789), the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948, United Nations), the European Convention on Human Rights (signed in 1950, Council of Europe) and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU (2000, binding since 2009). Learn each date together with its author.

3. Council of Europe versus European Union

The two names sound similar but they are different organisations. The Council of Europe is the human-rights organisation Luxembourg joined after the Second World War. The European Union grew out of the ECSC and the EEC. The "European Council" is something else again: an EU institution bringing together heads of state or government.

4. Judicial order versus administrative order

Luxembourg has two separate court systems with no hierarchy between them. The judicial order (justices of the peace, district courts, Superior Court of Justice) handles disputes between private parties and criminal cases. The administrative order (Administrative Tribunal at first instance, Administrative Court on appeal) handles disputes with the administration. The Constitutional Court belongs to neither order. Read more in courts and justice.

5. Municipal bodies

The municipal council is elected directly for six years and decides. The board of mayor and aldermen is the executive and answers to the council. Aldermen are not directly elected by citizens, and they are not civil servants. The chapter on communes and elections sets the two bodies side by side.

6. Spanish versus Austrian Netherlands

After the Burgundians, Luxembourg passed to the Habsburgs. It belonged first to the Spanish Netherlands and then, in the 18th century, to the Austrian Netherlands. Spanish first, Austrian second. Revolutionary France annexed it in 1795. The history chapter puts these periods on a timeline.

You will find the 15 questions our learners miss most, with explanations, on the most-missed questions page.

Three practice questions in the exam's format

These questions are written from the official study material. They are not taken from the exam itself. Try each one before you open the answer.

More questions by topic are on our practice questions page.

How to pass the Vivre ensemble exam: a realistic study plan

Most residents can prepare in two to four weeks with regular, short study sessions. If you already follow Luxembourg news and know the EU well, two weeks may be enough. If history and the court system are new to you, give yourself four.

1. Weight your time by the 10/20/10 split

   Spend about half your time on institutions, and a quarter each on rights and on history and Europe. Within institutions, give extra time to the courts, the communes and the Council of State, where mistakes cluster.

2. Read the official English brochures

   Start with "About Political Institutions in Luxembourg", then "About the History of Luxembourg" and "About Luxembourg and the European Union". Keep the English Constitution at hand for rights questions. Our study materials page explains what each document covers.

3. Learn dates in sets, not one by one

   Group dates that belong together: the four rights texts, the five EU treaties, and the history sequence 963, 1354, 1443, 1795, 1815, 1839, 1867, 1890. Most date questions offer the other dates from the same set as wrong answers.

4. Practise in the exam's format

   Answer questions in multiple-choice and yes/no form, then sit at least two full 40-question simulations with the 10/20/10 split under time pressure. This shows you whether your knowledge holds when you have to choose quickly.

5. Review every mistake

   Keep a list of the questions you get wrong and the reason why. Return to it every two or three days. Most errors come from the same confusions, so fixing them early raises your score fastest.

6. Final week: traps and light review

   In the last few days, focus on look-alike pairs (tribunal and court, council and board, Spanish and Austrian) and the most-missed questions. Avoid learning large new topics the night before.

If you want structured practice, the CivicLearn Vivre ensemble course gives you 700+ practice questions in English, French and German, written from the official study material and organised by the three areas and 21 subtopics. It includes timed simulations with the official split and a review list built from your own mistakes.

Where Vivre ensemble fits in the Luxembourg citizenship path

For naturalisation, Vivre ensemble is one of several conditions. You must be at least 18, have at least five years of legal residence (with the final year before your application uninterrupted), pass the Sproochentest in Luxembourgish, complete Vivre ensemble by course or exam, and meet the good-character conditions.

You hand in your application at the commune where you live, to the civil registrar, and the Minister of Justice decides. Your Vivre ensemble certificate is one of the documents in that file. Luxembourg has allowed dual nationality since 1 January 2009.

The order in which you do things is up to you, but many people take Vivre ensemble while they prepare for the language test, because it needs less time. Some course and test costs can be refunded by the Ministry of Justice, up to a ceiling. Our page on Luxembourg citizenship requirements sets out every step in order, including the other routes to citizenship.

The Vivre ensemble study guide, chapter by chapter

Each chapter covers one part of the official programme in plain English, with key facts, common traps and practice questions.

• Fundamental rights: the sources of rights, the Constitution, limits and protection.
• Institutions: the State, the Grand Duke, the Chamber of Deputies, the Government and the Council of State.
• Courts and justice: the judicial order, the administrative order and the Constitutional Court.
• Communes and elections: municipalities, elections, political parties and consultative bodies.
• History: from Sigefroi in 963 to the present.
• The European Union: the treaties, the institutions and Luxembourg's role.
• The Constitution of 2023: the new text in force since 1 July 2023.

To test yourself, go to practice questions or the most-missed questions. A short summary is also available in French and German.

Official sources

• guichet.lu – citizenship procedures and exemptions
• men.public.lu – Ministry of Education, Children and Youth
• lifelong-learning.lu – adult education and Vivre ensemble
• legilux.public.lu – the law of 8 March 2017 and the Constitution
• chd.lu – Chamber of Deputies
• inll.lu – Sproochentest