Int’l Organization for Migration: Number of Georgian asylum seekers in EU decreasing

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.

Hulst says that between January and June of 2018:

• 490 Georgian citizens asked for asylum in Sweden.
• 2,485-in Germany.
• 471-in Belgium.
• 81 in Netherlands.

The figures are mostly lower compared to the same period of last year. Georgian citizens have nearly a zero chance of receiving asylum in EU member states,” Hulst told journalists today.

Of those Georgians who were seeking asylum in Germany, only one per cent managed to do this. We speak about two different types of status: one is a refugee status and no one from Georgia has received this status in Germany this year and the second is the status for a temporary stay. The second status is mostly for those who have certain health-related problems,” Hulst says.

Hulst says that those seeking asylum have to live in hard conditions, with no pocket money and education opportunities for their children.

Hulst says that in the situation when Georgia is recognized as a safe country by many of the EU member states it is not clever by Georgians to ask asylum in the EU as their requests  will be dismissed.