Overview
- The Berlin Senate told lawmakers on Thursday that police checks found the students were not missing and that there are no reliable indications of human trafficking or an initial suspicion to justify further criminal probes.
- Authorities said the absences were mostly due to ordinary reasons such as denied visas, marriage, moves to other German states and changes of training places.
- Investigations and expert testimony exposed a pattern of high private placement fees, with families reportedly paying about €12,000–€20,000, and many promised language courses proved uncertified or insufficient.
- A Senate project group reported misleading recruitment practices in Vietnam driven by social media and use of artificial intelligence, and it said Berlin currently lacks legal tools to act against those adverts abroad.
- The Senate also acknowledged it does not keep a register of private placement agencies or hold direct supervisory power over them, a gap that advocates warn increases debt, isolation and the risk of informal, precarious work for trainees and calls for clearer rules and safer pathways.