The Senate is addressing the problem of Vietnamese trainees. This is what Social Senator Cansel Kiziltepe (SPD) tells the taz. Following a resolution by the House of Representatives, an interdisciplinary project group was set up in December, “which will bring together the stakeholders from administration and practice,” said Kiziltepe. The aim is to improve the recruitment and support of Vietnamese trainees. Due to the short time, practical results are not yet available.
While there were only 60 trainees with Vietnamese citizenship in Berlin in 2013, 10 years later there were already 1,600 – and the trend is rising
Due to the demographic situation, Berlin is urgently dependent on the immigration of young trainees from abroad. The group of Vietnamese trainees is the most dynamically growing group. While there were only 60 trainees with Vietnamese citizenship in Berlin in 2013, 10 years later there were already 1,600 – and the trend is rising.
Unlike trainees with Syrian, Afghan or Turkish passports, the Vietnamese were recruited from abroad specifically for training. This means that they had generally not lived in Germany before starting their training and had acquired their German language skills in Vietnam in German courses that were often not practical and were not able to test them in everyday life. This means that they often cannot follow in vocational school.
As a rule, trainees in Vietnam have taken intensive language courses with the usual stubborn memorization for the exam. Afterwards they had to wait months before leaving for Germany, during which they forgot the knowledge they had laboriously acquired. In other cases, the language certificates that allow entry into Germany are also fake.
Almost exclusively in low-wage areas
Kiziltepe has one scientific study on the situation of Vietnamese trainees commissioned, which is now available. It is less informative than a study by the FU, which the taz has already reported on, because, unlike the FU study, it did not carry out any research in Vietnam. It confirms many of the findings of the FU study, but also collects objective labor market data.
They show, for example, that Vietnamese trainees almost exclusively end up in the hospitality industry and the health and care sector, i.e. in low-wage areas. It also confirms the very different expectations of the Vietnamese and German sides: The trainees’ main concern is to live in Europe and to financially support their families in Vietnam with the money they earn here. This is also what Vietnamese state propaganda repeatedly demands of young people. The profession to be learned is usually not the motivation for coming to Berlin.
In order to be able to come to Germany, placement agencies are usually used in Vietnam. These establish contacts with German training companies, organize learning German and the entry formalities. These are private-sector Vietnamese companies.
German authorities and companies are not permitted to recruit workers in Vietnam. According to the study, private companies in Vietnam are primarily interested in finding many paying customers and do not ask about the suitability and interest of those willing to train.
Trainees often get into debt
The trainees who grew up in Vietnam, on the other hand, perceive it as justified to pay fees for the placement of training places, because in Vietnam the prevailing opinion is that free offers are of no use. These costs amount to around 12,000 euros, for which the trainees often go into debt.
But trainees would also be exploited in Berlin. Trainees reported to the study authors about training companies in the catering industry that would not take on their trainees, but would always hire new cheap workers from Vietnam. This confirms taz research results in Vietnamese Facebook groups. The relationship between the training company and the trainees is often harmonious. According to the study, many companies would greatly value the Vietnamese people’s punctuality, willingness to learn and hard work.
A third of the Vietnamese surveyed by the study authors work alongside their training to earn money. A good half have to work overtime in the training company, especially in the hospitality industry. These often take place without pay or are paid well below the minimum wage, which sometimes means that there is no time for vocational school. Let alone additional German learning opportunities, which many trainees need and are also offered to them.
The living situation of trainees in Berlin is particularly precarious. The study describes accommodation in bunk beds in rooms with up to ten people, whereby 300 to 400 euros per bed have to be paid. Since the – often Vietnamese – landlords operate these rooms illegally, the residents cannot register there. You will be given a dummy address for which you have to pay another 80 to 100 euros.
Termination of training
The financial pressure, the language barrier and the precarious living conditions often lead to the termination of training. The study speaks of 30 percent, while the average for all trainees is 15 percent. But what happens then?
Within a few months you either have to find a new training place or, for example, get married in order not to be deported. The study doesn’t say how many manage to do this. But the taz asked around among lawyers and learned that a number of Vietnamese trainees are now visiting lawyers’ offices because they need help with exactly that.
I am touched by what many Vietnamese trainees have to experience in Berlin
Cansel Kiziltepe, Senator
Others, according to the study, would slip into illegality. This means, for example, that you work illegally as a nanny in Vietnamese or German families, at Nail Studios or moonlighting in restaurants. A social worker told the study authors that this is often accompanied by a break in contact with the family in Vietnam. Because the image of the former model child who managed to go to western countries is no longer correct.
Cansel Kiziltepe tells taz: “I’m touched by what many Vietnamese trainees have to experience in Berlin.” Berlin should become a place where international trainees can live safely, learn well and successfully build their professional future. According to Kiziltepe, advice and support for Vietnamese trainees should be strengthened. “We are committed to binding quality standards for recruiting agencies.”