Parliament approves changes to Georgia’s new visa law

Changes to Georgia’s new visa and immigration law are on the horizon after Georgian lawmakers approved amendments to the recently implemented law.

In Parliament yesterday, more than 70 Members of Parliament (MPs) approved some changes to the Law of Legal Status of Foreigners and Stateless Persons at its first reading. The amendments must be approved at three separate hearings before the changes can be fully adopted.

The amendment will allow foreigners who currently lawfully lived in Georgia to obtain immigrant visas from within Georgian territory. With this in mind, foreigners should address Georgia’s Foreign Ministry no later than 45 days before the expiry of their lawful stay.

Initially the law stated foreigners could only obtain a relevant visa from a Georgian diplomatic mission abroad. Obtaining a long-term visa was a precondition for obtaining a residency permit, noted official documents.

The law on Legal Status of Foreigners and Stateless Persons came into effect on September 1, 2014. Visa free travel with Georgia was revoked for 24 countries, while citizens from 94 countries were now eligible to enter Georgia without a visa for a maximum 90 days, instead of 360 days as previously allowed.

See the full list of countries eligible in the visa free regime here.

The new changes will come into effect after the amendments are approved at three separate Parliamentary hearings. When this happens Georgia’s Foreign Ministry will be able to issue immigrant visas to foreigners living in Georgia at a cost of 100 GEL.

This would remove the necessity for foreigners to travel to their homeland and apply for a Georgian visa there, which would cost a lot of money and time, officials said earlier.

Changes to the visa and immigration law would see temporary preferential treatment offered to foreigners who wanted to obtain a residency permit. In particular, foreigners who had been issued with a residency permit or who entered Georgia after March 17, 2014, will be exempted from the liability to present a document certifying they adhered to Georgian laws until March 1, 2015.