Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Georgia's New Immigration Law Criticized For Flaws

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Georgia's New Immigration Law Criticized For Flaws

    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.

Working...
X