President able to grant, revoke citizenship

Georgia’s President now has the final say on issuing and revoking Georgian citizenships.

From today, the legal act of issuing a citizenship will not be countersigned by the Prime Minister and the President will have full and exclusive authority in this field.

A draft law about Georgian citizenship has been edited to include this change.

The first version of the law that was earlier presented to Parliament included a space for the Prime Minister to sign the document, in support of the President’s order to grant Georgian citizenship to certain people.

According to the earlier version, the President could independently revoke a person’s citizenship but needed the PM’s signature before a person could be approved a Georgian citizenship.

President Giorgi Margvelashvili opposed the first draft law and stated he wanted to keep the right to independently decide whether citizenship should be granted or not.

Yesterday, Deputy Justice Minister Alexander Baramidze said the President’s suggestion had been shared and in accordance with the new rule, all issues relating to Georgian citizenship will be decided by the President.

The new law defined four categories of granting citizenship. These were: granting citizenship in a common way, in a simplified manner, in an exceptional manner and by the rule of restoration.