Georgia’s public services go online for citizens abroad

Georgian citizens living abroad have the possibility to use the country's public services via the Internet, meaning they don't have to be in their homeland to apply for and receive official documentation. 

Georgia’s Public Service Development Agency now provides up to 40 online services via specially created website :www.sda.gove.ge for Georgian migrants.

More than 4,000 Georgians living abroad received passports, certificates of registration, document of compatriot, information cards and other necessary services in 2014.

In addition, Georgians living in other countries can also use the mail service to receive services without leaving their offshore home.

In total 243 people benefited from the amnesty declared for the purpose of correcting false documents and received new, correct documents via online, officials said.

The Amnesty Law on Forged Documents, which was initiated by the Ministry of Justice, was enacted on December 25, 2013.

According to the law people who, until January 1, 2009, for various reasons, acquired forged ID cards, passports (including Soviet passports), other travel documents, birth certificates, refugee certificates, residence certificates, records of civil acts, registration certificates of civil acts, were exempt from criminal liability. The deadline to apply for amnesty was December 31, 2014.

Georgian citizens living abroad can now use a variety of online services to contact the public service centres, including Skype, email or they can call the Public Service Development Agency’s 24-hour hotline.