Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Aleksandre Darakhvelidze explained, at the plenary session, the cases where the right of study residence of foreign students will be terminated.

According to Darakhvelidze, an additional component of checking the language barrier is being introduced - in particular, a mechanism is being introduced by which the Georgian government will establish a specific list of foreign language certificates that are recognized internationally.

According to the deputy minister, the National Examination Center will have the opportunity to organize a foreign language exam, and after the foreigner confirms his language proficiency, he will be enrolled in a higher education institution.

“As for student residence, there are serious challenges in this regard. The Migration Department has conducted more than 100 raids and checked more than 10,000 foreigners since the new law came into force (this applies to the period after October 1, 2025). We checked a lot of foreign students, who were using student residence, on the street using a random sampling principle, and a very significant part was identified who were not studying at a higher education institution and were using residence. They had their student status suspended and still had residence or could not meet the basic language proficiency component of communication at all.

We have actively worked with the Ministry of Education, presenting a specific mechanism that we believe will significantly insure these risks. In particular, first of all, an additional component of checking the language barrier is being introduced. Currently, only the university carries out the language check and there is no external control mechanism. Therefore, a mechanism is being introduced, by which the Georgian government will establish a specific list of foreign language certificates that are recognized internationally. In addition, the National Examination Center will have the opportunity to organize a foreign language exam itself and, after confirming the competence of foreign language knowledge, they can be admitted to a higher education institution," said Aleksandre Darakhvelidze.

In addition, in order to "not abuse admission to a higher education institution to obtain the right of residence," Darakhvelidze proposed to the parliamentarians a version that would require a study obligation - namely, if a student does not accumulate at least 20 credits during one academic year, he will lose the right of residence.

“In addition, in order to prevent the misuse of higher education admission to obtain residency rights, we offer a version that would require the obligation to study. Specifically, if a student does not accumulate at least a third of the credits, or at least 20 credits, during one academic year, he or she will lose the right to reside.

Also, according to the proposed draft, if a student suspends his or her status for 90 days or more, this will also be considered as a basis for terminating residency, or if he or she leaves the country for 183 days or more without good reason, the study residency will be terminated,” the Deputy Minister said.

According to Aleksandre Darakhvelidze, in order to properly control the aforementioned process, the law requires the creation of a unified electronic information database, where the issues of admission and study of each foreign student will be reflected and the relevant services will have the opportunity to monitor it.

"In the event that the university does not fulfill these requirements, appropriate administrative responsibility is envisaged.

Also, there were frequent cases when a minor student was enrolled in a general education or higher education program and after receiving a study residence permit, requested family reunification and his family members entered the country with him, therefore, it was determined at the legislative level that only an adult person would be issued a study residence permit. As for minors, a special, new D6 category visa is being introduced, which is issued for study purposes for a period of one year. There was also a case when foreigners were enrolled in a certificate course and this was the basis for issuing a residence permit, and it has also been stipulated that a foreigner can only be enrolled in an authorized higher education or professional education program," said Aleksandre Darakhvelidze.