How will Georgia benefit from a visa-free regime with the EU?

Georgy Kalatozishvili, Tbilisi. Exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza

The Foreign Minister of Georgia, Maya Pandzhanikidze, stated that there were no obstacles on the way to a visa-free regime between Georgia and the EU. The association agreement with the EU didn’t guarantee progress in the matter of the visa-free regime, but the Georgian parliament fulfilled the main condition of Brussels. It approved “the law against discrimination” of any minorities.

The cancellation of visas with Shengen-zone countries is promised to be launched by the end of 2016. By that time, according to the deputy Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani, “Georgians will buy a ticket and travel all over Europe.”

It is easy for Georgians to be issued a visa even today; but the majority of Georgian citizens want to go to Europe to get a job there, which is absolutely forbidden. Tbilisi embassies of European countries and the USA reject nine out of ten applications for visas due to suspicions that applicants want to leave Georgia and stay in Europe for years.

Despite strict measures and checks, hundreds of thousands of Georgians manage to “sneak” and stay in Europe. In some European cities one can often hear the Georgian language. Hundreds of Georgian citizens are waiting for any job on the streets of European cities. For example, in Greece there is a demand for Georgian babysitters; while Barcelona and the south of France became a center for Georgian gastarbeiters. No one can tell how many Georgians live in Europe, as most of them live there illegally.

After the dissolution of the USSR, more than a million people left Georgia. The majority went to Russia, but the last population census showed that there were not many ethnic Georgians among them.

Today, despite all obstacles, hundreds of thousands of Georgians manage to come to the EU. If visas are to be cancelled, the inflow will rise radically. The Europeans know about this and will take certain measures, like Israel, which has already launched a visa-free regime with Georgia. Israeli border guards demand Georgian citizens show a return ticket (it costs a lot) and a certificate confirming a significant amount of money on a visitor’s account.

Brussels is well aware about the problems and that Georgia takes top place in the number of illegal migrants among the post-Soviet states. Thus, the visa-free regime with Georgia is an economic bonus to a country which has proved its loyalty to the West.