Georgia tightens entry rules for citizens of 17 countries

The Georgian government has decided to tighten entry rules for the citizens of 17 countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Ghana, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Yemen, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda.

The government resolution to do so was amended on 17 April and will come into effect on 16 May.

According to the amendment, citizens of the listed countries will no longer be allowed to enter Georgia if their visas or residence permits from Gulf countries, including Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia,and the UAE, have a validity of less than one year on the day they cross into Georgia.

Georgia sometimes makes acquiring visas difficult for citizens of certain countries; Syrian nationals, for example, are usually unable to visit Georgia without having residence permits from the US, the EU, or Gulf countries.

The Interior Ministry clarified on Thursday that ‘the changes serve to tighten the right to visa-free entry to Georgia for citizens of certain countries and serve to combat illegal migration’.

The Interior Ministry said that before the amendment, citizens of the listed countries had the right to enter Georgia even before the amendments were made, if they held a visa or residence permit from a Gulf country.

‘However, the validity period of the visa was not established, therefore, the requirements for the mentioned countries have been tightened’, the statement read.

The amendments will not affect citizens of these 17 countries that have valid visas or residence permits from any of the 50 countries listed by the government, and should be able to stay in Georgia twice a year, for 90 to 180 days each.

Under current legislation, citizens of 94 countries can enter Georgia without a visa. According to the law, they have the right to enter and stay in Georgia for a full year without a visa.

As for China, in 2023 Foreign Affairs Ministry stated that ‘citizens of the People’s Republic of China will be able to enter Georgia without a visa and stay in the territory of the country for 30 days, exclusively for tourism purposes’.

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