Georgia to tighten visa regime
By Jamila Babayeva
Georgia is planning to tighten its visa regime for foreigners as of September.
Based on the decision, the foreigners need to carry out additional procedures to enter the country. Georgia is supposed to establish a new visa regime with certain countries.
Georgia has also begun working on new rules for obtaining visas. Based on the new rules, foreigners can obtain Georgia's visa in return of a certain payment at the diplomatic missions of the country. The new visa regime would be similar to Schengen visa regime.
Georgia's migration policy had not changed in the past years. "Now the new government has started working on this issue," Foreign Minister Maia Panjikidze said.
"In the Association Agreement between Georgia and the EU, lots of issues have been included. These issues are due to be regulated by Georgia. Some of them need to be tightened, some to be changed and some others simplified," she noted.
Executive Secretary of the government's Commission on Migration Giorgi Jashi noted that Georgia is in dialogue with the EU on visa liberalization to legally control the flow of foreigners in the country.
"The law will protect the rights of these people, and if a corresponding decision is adopted to expel the illegal migrants, it will be regulated by the law," he noted.
After adoption of the visa regime, the period of time that a tourist can stay in the country will be limited. The process will be fully controlled by a migration center which will be operating in the near future.
The construction of a temporary accommodation center for foreigners has been completed. The center will accommodate foreign individuals who has violate the visa regime till they are deported from Georgia. The Ministry of Internal Affairs will be responsible for deporting the culprits.