Aleksandre Darakhvelidze: The changes, unfortunately, were misinterpreted, as if we had opened visa-free travel with Afghanistan and 16 other countries, which is a complete lie - there has never been and there are no plans to make such a decision

The changes, unfortunately, were misinterpreted as is we had opened visa-free travel to Afghanistan and 16 other countries, which is a complete lie - there has never been and there are no plans to make such a decision, - said Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Aleksandre Darakhvelidze.

According to him, according to the amendments to the government decree, additional restrictions were imposed on citizens of 17 countries, and if before they could enter Georgia with a visa or residence permit, the validity of which, conditionally, lasted 5 days, now the government is demanding a 1-year period.

“Since 2015, a decree has been in effect, which provides for a list of 50 countries and with a visa or residence permit from these countries, a citizen of any country in the world has the right to enter Georgia, although it was not specified what period of validity the visa or residence permit should have. We identified 17 countries and this list is attached to this decree, whose citizens were distinguished by cases of illegal stay. Also, a quarter of asylum requests were made by citizens of these countries. Accordingly, a change was made to the decree of the Government of Georgia and citizens of these 17 countries, if until now they could enter the country with even a 5-day residence permit or visa from the Persian Gulf countries, in this case a lock was imposed, that the visa must be valid for 1 year or more in order to enter the country. Before the adoption of this decree, citizens of 17 countries were able to enter the country with even a 5-day residence permit and we increased this. The purpose of the restriction here was that the citizens of this country were distinguished by a high rate of illegal stay in the country and a high rate of asylum applications. Accordingly, as a result of consultations with various counterpart agencies, restrictions and additional requirements were imposed. We have not opened any visa-free travel to these countries, nor is it planned, nor has it ever been. On the contrary, if before they could easily enter the country, with a 5-day residence or a 10-day visa, now this has been increased to 1 year," Darakhvelidze said.

For information, the changes affected the following 17 countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Ghana, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Yemen, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Congo, Kingdom of Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda.