TUNIS —
Germany is becoming a key destination for
disillusioned young Tunisians despite a language barrier and the North African
nation’s long history of ties with France.
اضافة اعلان
Europe’s biggest
economy, with its low birth rate, is crying out for labor, and many Tunisians,
exhausted by years of economic crisis, see an opportunity for a legal path to
emigration.
Numbers are still
small but rising fast. Germany granted 5,474 work permits to Tunisians from
January to October — up from 4,462 in the whole of last year and more than
double the numbers for 2020.
The trend has been
stimulated by the fact Germany has no quota restrictions for countries of
origin and increasingly recognizes foreign diplomas.
Germany “has a huge
need for workers, not just in the health and IT sectors but also in
hospitality, building, laying fiber-optic cables, or driving heavy goods
vehicles,” said Narjess Rahmani, a Berlin-based Tunisian who heads the
immigration agency “Get In Germany”.
Some employers
offer contracts to help ease the visa process and even pay for six months of
language tuition to help their future workers.
Yeft Benazzouz, who
runs a language school in Tunis, said demand for German classes has risen
sharply since 2020.
“Before, I had
groups of one or two people,” he said. “Now it’s gone up to six or seven.”
Yeft also teaches
basic German cultural norms, including the line of advice that “being on time
is already late”.
High prices, few jobs
Tunisia’s history as a French colony means its people are used to foreign
languages, Rahmani said. “We are also very open to other cultures, through
tourism and the cultural mix throughout our history.”
The language
school’s students are often highly qualified, thanks to one of the Arab world’s
most reputable education systems, but cursed by unemployment affecting 30
percent among young graduates.
Hydraulic engineer
Nermine Madssia, 25, said she had chosen Germany over France, citing
Islamophobia.
She said she hoped
to get “respect, consideration, and a decent salary”, in contrast to Tunisia
where the average pay is just 1,000 dinars (around $300) per month.
Even highly
sought-after IT technicians can expect to earn a maximum of 2,000 dinars early
in their careers.
Like many who hope
to leave Tunisia, Nermine has had help from her parents in financing German
lessons and the visa application.
“With the increase
in the cost of living, a salary isn’t enough to start and support a family,”
she said.
Inflation topped 9
percent year-on-year in October and Tunisia has endured years of economic
crisis, pre-dating even the 2011 revolution that toppled dictator Zine El
Abidine Ben Ali.
With sluggish
growth, vast public debt and many sectors closed off to new entrants, jobs are
sparse, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and fallout from the
Ukraine war.
Dangerous sea
crossings
President Kais Saied’s 2021 power grab, which has placed Tunisia’s
decade-long democratic transition in doubt, has done little to improve economic
confidence.
One in every two
young people wants to leave, says the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social
Rights group.
Some leave legally
— including more than 40,000 engineers and 3,300 doctors in the past five years
— while many thousands more attempt dangerous journeys to Italy in makeshift
boats, some drowning on the way.
Among the legal
departees is Elyes Jelassi, 28, who packed a bottle of olive oil and some
spices into his suitcase as he prepared for Germany.
As his family
gathered in the town of Korba to wish him goodbye, he said he had never wanted
to leave.
But “after three
years of studies and internships in several hospitals, I decided not to make a
career in Tunisia,” he said.
Jelassi already has
a job contract as a senior nurse in the German city of Wiesbaden, with free
accommodation for the first six months.
As well as a good
salary, he said he expects to find better working conditions than in Tunisia,
where the health system has been crippled by the pandemic and years of neglect.
“Our hospitals
suffer from a lack of equipment, which causes conflict with patients,” he said.
“It’s really stressful.”
He chose Germany
over Canada, France, or
Gulf Arab states because he already has friends there
and will easily be able to further his studies.
But he probably
won’t stay there forever.
“I’d like to come back when I’m 50,” he said.
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