GEORGIA’S NEW IMMIGRATION LAW CRITICIZED FOR FLAWS
Legal Monitor Worldwide
October 16, 2014 Thursday
-Georgia’s new immigration law has created a lot of problems for
foreigners who already live, study or work in the country.
People DF Watch spoke to say their applications are being rejected
for unclear reasons. They also question why it is required to file
applications for long-term visa outside of Georgia, even if the
applicant already has a visa and is applying for a renewal.
Although a lot of foreign citizens had their paperwork done without
any major obstacles, some stories are far from successful, especially
when it comes to people not from the EU or North America.
For example, an American-Iraqi married couple who have been living
in Tbilisi for the last year and a half, running a business here,
applied for a temporary residence permit with identical documents, as
they both are shareholders in their company. However, E. (an American
citizen) writes in public Facebook groups that she got a five year
residence permit, but her husband, who is a citizen of Iraq, got his
application rejected.
Problems for Armenians
Out of nine new students at the International Business School of
Tbilisi State University (ISET), two Armenian citizens had their
applications rejected and now have to break off their studies and
return to their home country.
Moreover, one of the faculty members, who also has Armenian
citizenship, was also rejected on the basis that she is a threat to
national security. She crossed the Georgian border before September
1, when the new immigration law came into force, so she can stay in
Georgia for a year and continue teaching, but she can not leave the
country as the next entrance will grant her only 90 days visa-free
stay.
Even more Armenians were deprived of their permanent residency permits
in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region. Allegedly, thousands Armenians
there hold Russian or Armenian citizenships, which makes it easier
for them to go to Russia for seasonal work. This issue was discussed
during an official visit to Georgia this week by the head of the
Armenian parliament Galust Sahakyan. Sahakyan asked Georgian PM Irakli
Garibashvili to facilitate the issuing of permanent residency permit to
Armenians who live in Georgia and hold citizenships of other countries.
Struggle with papers
R., a citizen of the Philippines, came to Georgia one of the last
days of August, just before the change of law. She instantly applied
for a one-year visa, so she would have enough time to deal with the
relevant paperwork. But instead of a one-year visa extension, she
was given just 90 days. At the moment, she is struggling to get her
paper work done for her temporary residency permit. To get this she
needs to change her visa status from tourist visa to work visa. R. was
able to fill in the application for this online, however, as she got a
shorter visa period than requested, her appointment with the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs got scheduled just 3 days before her tourist visa
expires. This means that she might need to wait outside of the country
for a decision about her work visa. She is not the only Philippines
citizen who is struggling with the new law. DF Watch was told that
two teachers from the Philippines who are working at an international
school got their residency permit applications rejected.
Rejected because of his race?
An American citizen D., also working as a teacher at a private school,
had his application fo residency permit rejected because, he believes,
his birth place is Ivory Coast.
He told DF Watch that he went to the Public Hall on Monday, September
29, to check his application status, as one month has had already
passed since the application day. He was told that a decision has not
been made, but it can be ready soon. “In five minutes the woman looks
at me and asks, ‘are you a U.S. citizen?’ I answer – yes, I am. Then
she says ‘But you were born in Africa?’ I said – yes, I was. Then
she says ‘I suspect you are not going to get a residence card’. Just
like that,” D. recounted his last visit to the Public Hall during
which his application for residency permit was rejected on the spot,
not hiding his bitterness.
However, just before publishing this article, DF Watch was informed
that the decision got changed and D. was granted 5 years residency
permit.
Georgia should be an open country
According to Erik Livny, the head of ISET Policy Institute, by
tightening its immigration policy Georgia is cutting its legs off. He
argues that the liberal immigration policy Georgia had before allowed
it to satisfy its needs for professionals by allowing them to come
and work in the country without restrictions.
“Openness is a blessing for Georgia. The most industrious and
entrepreneurial Georgians left the country in the 90s, and continue to
leave. Thus, there is a demand and a lack of people in many different
occupations, and the policy of open door was the solution to this
problem. Now a signal has been send that Georgia is becoming less
welcoming, and this is not something Georgia should do from a purely
selfish economic point of view,” Livny explained.
He dismissed a nationalistic argument that ‘foreigners will take
Georgians’ jobs’ as not applicable in this case. In his opinion, a lot
of Westerners, who come to Georgia with their expertise, take those
places which otherwise would be left unfilled. Livny also pointed out,
that foreigners come to invest and to create jobs here, in addition
to paying taxes and supporting local economy with their spendings.
Problems with implementation
However, Livny stressed that the new immigration policy itself is
not bad, but its implementation has a lot of flaws. In particular,
he criticized the need to apply for a visa from outside of Georgia,
even if a person has been already working and living in Georgia for
a while, and also unspecified criteria for rejecting applications.
The requirement to apply for a long term visa from outside of Georgia
seems overly complicated to Livny. He pointed out that the documents
of visa applicants are sent to Georgia and the final decision is
made inside the country. Hence there should be a possibility to apply
straight from Georgia.
He continued by stating that the requirements for residency permit
are minimal, thus people do not expect to get rejected on the basis of
that little information which they provide about themselves. And as the
real causes for rejection remain unspecified, it creates uncertainty
which in itself will prevent foreign experts from coming to Georgia.
Changes are coming?
The government also acknowledged the faulty implementation of the new
immigration law. PM Irakli Garibashvili apologized to foreign citizens
who have faced problems regarding the new visa and immigration policy.
He also stressed that these problems are related to the work process
and should be eradicate over time.
The Public Service Development Agency informed DF Watch that the
current law will undergo some changes in the near future. However, at
this moment it is not clear what will be changed, and more information
will be available in the coming days.
Current changes since September 1
Citizens of countries which Georgia has visa-free regime with, can
stay 90 days out of 180 instead of previous 360 days; Long-term visas
are issued in Georgian diplomatic representations only and process
takes 30 days. It is not possible to apply for a long-term visa in
Georgia; In order to get a temporary residency permit, an applicant
has to present a valid long-term (study, work etc.) visa. 2014 Legal
Monitor Worldwide.