Citizenship of Georgia

Citizenship of Georgia means a legal bond of a person to Georgia. This bond grants a citizen social, economic, political rights (equal rights to personal freedom, dignified life, education, vote, minimum income) and, at the same time, imposes certain obligations (to observe national legislation, et cetera) on him/her.

Residence in Georgia 

A Georgian residence permit grants you the right to unrestricted stay in the country and the right to engage in any lawful activities, such as doing business, working, studying or simply retiring. A resident may invite other foreigners to Georgia. Residents enjoy constitutional rights and freedoms, including rights to work, healthcare, social security, education, property and privacy rights, freedom of speech, conscience, religion and belief. Georgian residents are not obliged to serve in the military. 

• Visa (E-Visa) 
• Permanent Residence 
• Short-Term Residence 
• Work Residence
• Visa/Residence Extension
• Passport (Citizenship)

Refugees and Asylum

Asylum

Granting of asylum is based on the UN 1951 Convention relating to the Status of refugees. according to this Convention, the term refugee applies to the person who “owing to well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country.” aiming at minimizing the cases of misusing the system of asylum the EU countries try to consider the applications in more limited timeframes in order to cut down on time for making decision.

International Protection in Georgia

The issues related to obtaining asylum in Georgia are regulated by the Law of Georgia on International Protection. The Law provides for the following forms of international protection:

• Refugee status;
• Humanitarian status;
• Status of a person under temporary protection.

The decision to grant any of the above-mentioned statuses is made by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia.

Refugee status - shall be granted to an alien or stateless person, who is outside the country of origin due to well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of the country of origin.

Humanitarian status - shall be granted to an alien or stateless person who does not qualify as a refugee but in respect of whom there are reasons to believe that upon return to the country of origin he/she will face a risk of suffering serious harm. The Georgian legislation defines the serious harm as:

a) the death penalty or threat to execution;
b) torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in the country of origin;
c) serious individual threat to life by reason of indiscriminate violence, international or internal armed conflict or mass violation of human rights.

Status of person under temporary protection - The Ministry registers persons who arrive to Georgia in the event of a mass influx and makes a decision to grant them a status of persons under temporary protection, if they are in need of international protection and are unable to return to the country of origin on account of indiscriminate violence, aggression, international or internal armed conflict or mass violation of human rights.

Request for international protection is a direct or indirect, verbal or written expression of a wish of a foreigner or stateless person to seek international protection in Georgia. The foreigner or stateless person may submit a request for international protection at the border, while entering Georgia, or while being on the territory of Georgia.

In case of illegal entry or stay in Georgia, a person shall apply for international protection to any state agency without delay.

International protection application shall be made in written form with assistance of a competent interpreter when needed. The application submitted to the Ministry is registered immediately and an asylum-seeker certificate is issued.

An asylum-seeker shall submit all information (including information on the country of origin) and proof in support of his/her application for international protection and cooperate with the competent official. The asylum-seeker is also obliged to credibly explain the reasons for any lack of supporting information or proof.

Applications for seeking international protection in Georgia are processed according to the set procedures and regulations. Accordingly, in case the provisions defined by the 1951 UN Convention on Status of Refugees and those prescribed by the Law on International Protection of Georgia are not established, the applicant shall be refused the requested status. The applicant may also be refused the status in case there are reasonable grounds to consider that the person represents a threat to state security or territorial integrity of Georgia or its public order, or is convicted for a serious crime in Georgia.

A person registered as the asylum-seeker in Georgia shall be issued a temporary identification card for the period of one year. This document entitles its holder to enjoy different rights according to the law.

Under the regular procedure, an international protection application shall be considered within 6 months upon its registration. This term can be extended for up to 9 months.

Upon granting the status of asylum-seeker, the person shall be issued a temporary residence card. In addition, the person with a refugee status shall be issued a travel document as prescribed by the 1951 UN Convention, while the person with a humanitarian status shall be issued a travel passport. In order to get a temporary residence car or a travel document/passport, a person under international protection shall apply to the territorial office of the Public Service Development Agency, branch of a Public Service Hall or a Community Centre.

Temporary residence card shall be issued free of charge to the person with a humanitarian status for the period of validity of the humanitarian status, and to the person with a refugee status – for the period of 3 years.

Travel document/passport of the person with a refugee/humanitarian status shall be issued free of charge within the period of 10 working days, for the period of 2 years in case of the refugee and for 1 year in case of the humanitarian status holder.