Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze has promised the public that ‘Georgia will be fully freed from illegal migrants’. In a video address on Friday morning, Kobakhidze described the issue as one that particularly concerns society.
According to Kobakhidze, public concern over the issue should be ‘welcomed’, especially ‘against the backdrop of ongoing processes in Europe’, clearly alluding to the salience that immigration issues have in politics across the EU.
The ruling party and its allies have repeatedly cited such issues while arguing that Europe is facing an ‘identity problem’.
‘It is natural that every patriotic Georgian wants Georgia to firmly defend and preserve its national and religious identity’, he noted.
Kobakhidze estimated the number of illegal migrants in Georgia at 20,000 — about 7.8% of the country’s total foreign population of 257,000 and 0.5% of the total population, which the National Statistics Office’s preliminary June 2025 census put at 3,914,000.
According to Kobakhidze, about 70% of foreigners in Georgia — roughly 180,000 people — are citizens of post-Soviet and EU countries, the US, and Israel, with at least 40,000 of them being ‘former Georgian citizens or having Georgian surnames’.
‘Turks make up 7.4% of the foreign population in Georgia, and Iranians 3.7%, meaning that, contrary to widespread speculation, the combined share of these two countries in Georgia’s total population is just 0.7%’, he added. Kobakhidze also noted that ‘from countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait, we practically have no migrants at all’.
Speaking about state efforts, Kobakhidze claimed that the Interior Ministry’s Migration Department ‘deported more illegal migrants over the past year than in the previous 10 years combined’.
Noting that ‘there is much to refine and improve’, Kobakhidze announced plans to strengthen the Migration Department, which he said would ‘fully free’ Georgia of illegal migrants within a ‘few years’.
While discussing migration statistics, Kobakhidze did not separately mention Russia, from which arrivals sharply increased in 2022 following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, along with a rise in property purchases and registered businesses.
Although the ethnic breakdown of the census has not been released yet, Russians almost certainly form the overwhelming majority of incoming foreigners in the past four years. The ruling party has repeatedly responded to critics’ concerns about the influx of Russians by accusing them of xenophobia.
Discussing the topic of foreign students in Georgia, Kobakhidze said their number stands at 37,000, most of whom are from India, along with smaller numbers from other countries. According to him, they contribute a total of ₾300 million ($110 million) annually to Georgia’s budget and have created 10,000 jobs.
‘Accordingly, cancelling programmes for foreign students would cause a significant loss to Georgia’s economy, budget, and employment’, he noted, adding that foreign students ‘pose no risk to Georgia’s demographic picture’, as they leave the country immediately after completing their studies.
Mikheil Gvadzabia
Georgian Dream and migration
Recently, appeals to migration issues have intensified from both the ruling party and some of its opponents.
In June 2025, the ruling party passed legislative amendments mainly concerning foreigners who commit crimes, administrative offences, or overstays, as well as the procedure for obtaining asylum. Both the criminal and administrative codes have added expulsion of foreigners and a temporary ban on their entry into the country as a new form of punishment.
Another piece of legislation, coming into effect on 1 March, will restrict the employment of foreigners in Georgia.
The passage of the laws was accompanied by an apparent increase in anti-immigration content on social media, including widely shared videos about the presence of foreigners in Georgia, often highlighting claims about their growing numbers, with a particular focus on South Asian countries. In many cases, attention was drawn to foreigners’ employment in the country, including in delivery services.
Some opposition politicians have also concentrated on migration issues. Among them, Levan Khabeishvili, the currently imprisoned chair of the United National Movement (UNM) political council, noted in May 2025 that ‘our people are fleeing this country for work, while someone else comes, even poorer’.
In response, the ruling party pointed to the stricter immigration laws it had introduced. In one instance, after a session of the parliamentary majority in June 2025, Mamuka Mdinaradze, then-chair of the Georgian Dream parliamentary faction, presented migration as the ‘first issue’ of his briefing, noting that it ‘has recently caused significant concern in our society, based on widely circulated footage and the existing reality’.
The legislative changes were accompanied by an intensification of data releases from the Interior Ministry on deported foreigners, with figures being published several times a month since spring 2025.
In its rhetoric on migration, the ruling party has not focused solely on responding to domestic critics. Georgian Dream officials have repeatedly raised the issue when criticising the EU and UK, with which Georgia’s relations have sharply deteriorated amid a domestic democratic backsliding.
‘You see what migration has done to Europe — in Berlin, the most common baby name last year was Muhammad. Across England, the most common name is also Muhammad’, Kobakhidze remarked in October 2025.
A similar statement emerged this week from ruling party MP Levan Machavariani, who also highlighted the popularity of the name Muhammad in the UK.
Such statements have not prevented Georgian Dream from accusing critics, who question the investment by the UAE-based company Eagle Hills in Georgia, of xenophobia.
Nate Ostiller
