It’s a well-paid, if rather unusual, job that Nevena Pejic* accepted two years ago at the “Slavija” hotel, located in the center of the Serbian capital, Belgrade. The rooms were in greater demand than usual and some of them had hastily been converted into teaching premises. From morning to afternoon, more than a hundred people sat behind heavy curtains learning German. Nevena was their teacher.
“These people were promised a job in Germany as soon as they mastered the German language sufficiently. Their hotel accommodation was paid for, their meals too, and they even received a little extra money,” recalls Pejic.
An intermediary agency called “Artigum Management” had been bragging, claiming to belong to a “German employer”. It also attracted many people from neighboring Balkan countries, such as North Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, to Serbia. The aim was to reach the intermediate level (level B2 on the CEFR scale), usually required for those wishing to find a job in Germany, within four months. An almost impossible mission, says the professor.
“Many students dropped out of school very early because it was very difficult to achieve this goal,” she said. “Some complained that they had been deceived by the agency, that they had left their families behind and had pinned all their hopes on this path.”
This is just one example among others of the “emigration industry”, a sector of activity which finds its roots in the misery of the Balkans on the one hand and in the strong demand for professionals of health of Germany on the other hand. For years, intermediary agencies and their intermediaries have been soliciting staff in the Western Balkans and courting German clinics and retirement homes, which offer generous remuneration in exchange for providing staff.
Learn more: Germany turns to the Balkans to recruit healthcare workers
Desperate search for caregivers
In March 2019, the German Federal Employment Agency counted a total of more than 50,000 nationals from six Western Balkan countries (Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro) working in the sector medical. Their number increased by more than 6,500, compared to the previous year.
They aim to meet a massive demand which, according to forecasts, suggests that there will be a shortage of around 200,000 caregivers in Germany within five years. The personnel manager of a large chain of retirement homes, which houses more than 7,000 elderly people, said he was prepared to pay around 10,000 euros ($11,100) per caregiver to intermediaries. Although the network gave an official interview to DW, it was canceled at short notice – and they’re not the only ones unwilling to discuss the subject publicly.
Learn more: “Huge increase” in German work visas for Balkan citizens
Several intermediaries claim to have received up to €15,000 for a caregiver brought to Germany from the Balkans, but these amounts could not be verified. This amount is shared with language schools and local recruiters. The sector is estimated to have an annual turnover of several hundred million euros and is generally not subject to any rules.
“Human trafficking”
Kay Simon, who has a small office in the suburbs of Cologne, smiles wearily at these figures. Simon is the head of intermediary agency IPP Health, one of the largest staff recruitment agencies in the Balkans. “Starting a life in Germany is difficult enough. If an agency promises people the moon, the situation becomes even worse.”
According to Simon, potential recruits are usually lured by promises of high salaries, with recruiters deliberately confusing gross and net salaries. Or recruiters spread the rumor that employees are allowed to bring their entire family with them. “Then they arrive in Germany… it’s cold, it’s raining, they’re far from their families, the money is less than expected. These people are wasted,” Simon said. “It is not appropriate to uproot these people with false promises and lure them to Germany. I consider this human trafficking.”
Another intermediary, who does not want his name mentioned in the media, admits that he headhunts in clinics in the Balkans. An essential part of the procedure is his collaboration with a number of local nurses: “They call me on the phone and tell me that they have, for example, three colleagues who want to come to Germany. If everything goes well, I pay them €300 each.”
Learn more: Exodus of health professionals leaves Romania and Bulgaria suffering
Difficult contracts
Intermediaries know exactly what could ruin their project: if they recruit and finance a candidate’s language courses or other arrangements and the candidate, for whatever reason, does not sign a contract with an employer in Germany .
This is why “Pro Sert”, an agency based in Kragujevac, in central Serbia, makes candidates sign a contract which stipulates that a fine of €3,000 is due if they jump ship. In Serbia, this is equivalent to an average half-yearly salary. Some contracts made available to DW state that candidates must pay this fine if they resign, if their move to Germany is facilitated by another agency or if they reject the first two job offers submitted to them by ” Pro Sert.”
This agency cooperates with the “Dekra-Akademie”, a renowned private educational institution with 150 branches throughout Germany. Dekra also has people trained abroad. The director of the Dekra branch in Serbia is Aleksandra Talic, who until April 2019 headed the controversial agency “Pro Sert”. The circle is thus completed: Dekra trains the candidates in five branches across Serbia, “Pro Sert” takes them to Germany. and pockets the money.
“Applicants must learn German and pass their exams,” Talic said. Asked about looming fines for those who resign prematurely, she said: “If there are not good reasons behind a candidate’s complaints, we have to draw the line and force the candidate…or more precisely, we We must help him make the decision to stay. “.
Learn more: Brain drain to the East threatens the entire EU
A playground for fraudsters
Mario Reljanovic often deals with such contracts. The Belgrade lawyer said there was no reason to impose drastic penalties, but that other contracts were even worse: “There are contracts in circulation which are clearly fraudulent. They contain hidden costs for candidates or rather unfavorable working conditions, for example up to 12 hours a day, seven days a week,” the lawyer said: “This constitutes a violation of Serbian labor law and German.”
However, demand is increasing. Every year, some 200,000 people leave six Balkan countries, or 1% of the population. The emigration industry is thriving, although some middlemen fail in a competitive market.
In the meantime, things have calmed down again at the “Slavija” hotel. The unusual clientele, the emigrants, is no longer there, and the “Artigum Management” agency has ceased to exist. His former manager disconnected all phone numbers. Has its business model collapsed?
German teacher Nevena Pejic only learned that the agency continues to work under a different name. She and other teachers lost their jobs; they never received their remaining monthly salary. Nevena now offers private lessons and she gets paid in cash.
*Name changed by publisher
Research for this article was facilitated by the “Reporters in the Field” fellowship program, a project of the Robert Bosch Foundation and the NGO n-ost.