Gov’t announces tough sanctions for Georgians violating Georgia-EU visa deal
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The government of Georgia has announced changes in the law that will introduce tougher sanctions against Georgian citizens violating the Georgia-EU visa-free travel agreement.
The announcement came after today’s special meeting at the government of Georgia headquarters, with the presence of Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili, Interior Minister Giorgi Gakharia, Justice Minister Thea Tsulukiani, Chief Prosecutor Irakli Shotadze, Foreign Minister Mikheil Janelidze and the head of the State Security Service Vakhtang Gomelauri.
The meeting aimed to take steps to prevent the increase of Georgian asylum seekers in EU countries, in order to ensure that the issue will not become an obstacle in future relations with the EU, the government of Georgia press office stated.
The Government of Georgia pays due attention to the concerns of its partner states and plans to take important steps in terms of enforcing tougher legislation, intensifying cooperation with partner states, and conducting an active information campaign throughout the country," the press office stated.
The special meeting was held today. Photo from the Government of Georgia press office.
The amendments include shifting the responsibility of readmission expenses onto Georgian citizens who violate the visa-free regulations, as well as complicating procedures for the changing of surnames.
More amendments will be presented at the upcoming governmental meeting,” the government of Georgia press office reported.
Justice Minister Tsulukiani stated that the sanctions are likely to deter people who may be thinking of violating the visa liberalization rules.
We are taking steps to preserve the success Georgia has achieved through enormous effort,” Tsulukiani stated.
The Georgia-EU visa waiver came into play on March 28, 2017.
Georgian citizens holding biometric passports can travel to the EU’s Schengen Zone for a period of 90 days within any 180-day period for purposes other than working.
From now on, Georgian citizens no longer need a visa to travel to the Schengen Zone. The regulation lifting visa requirements for Georgians entered into effect today, Tuesday, March 28.
Georgia’s Deputy Interior Minister Shalva Khutsishvili says that 55,000 Georgian citizens have made use of Georgia-EU visa-free travel since March 28, 2017. 3,000 of those people have not yet returned back, after the expiration of the 90-day period, Khutsishvili told IPN news agency, saying this may not necessarily mean that the people violated the agreement rule.
Agenda.ge’s team of journalists will be some of the first Georgian citizens to cross the EU border without a visa requirement early tomorrow morning.
Georgian citizens will be able to travel to any of the Schengen Zone countries visa-free in just 20 days. New legislation lifting visa-requirements for Georgians has been published in the European Union’s Official Journal today.
Germany is discussing the issue of listing Georgia in the category of safe countries, Georgia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced.
In total 8,339 Georgian citizens changed surnames in 2017, the Georgian Justice Ministry reports. The statistics come after the Georgian government had announced plans to make the changing of surnames more complicated to prevent the illegal flow of Georgian citizens to the EU countries.
German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer told Deutsche Welle that Germany intends to add Georgia and Armenia to the list of safe countries, which means that no one from those countries will receive asylum in Germany.According to the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees of Germany, 3,462 citizens of Georgia and 3,857 citizens of Armenia applied for asylum in Germany last year.
The countries from which Georgians have been returned include Germany, Switzerland, Belgium and Island.
As the Ministry of Internal Affairs reports, they received 1290 applications about readmission from January 1st to April 30th while 1260 of them were confirmed and only 30 rejected.
The number of Georgian citizens seeking asylum in Germany has decreased dramatically in May, compared to the previous data, the statistics from the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees of Germany has revealed.
Representative of the International Organization for Migration Marc Hulst says that the number of Georgian asylum seekers in the EU member states is decreasing, which benefits the Georgian-EU visa waiver agreed upon last year.
About 1.4 million Georgians have left the country between 2002 and 2017, a study conducted by the NGO Society and Banks with the support of the Ilia University Financial Education Centre reads.
The Georgian parliament has approved a bill with its third and the final reading which provides for imprisonment as punishment for providing support to a Georgian citizen to stay illegally in a foreign country.