This week we will adopt a law in a 3rd reading that will simplify the procedure for expelling persons illegally present in Georgia. Such a statement made today the Mamuka Mdinaradze, Executive Secretary of the Georgian Dream.

“We discussed several important topics. This week, we will adopt a law in a third reading that will simplify the procedure for expelling persons illegally present in Georgia.

The 2nd issue concerns labour migration. Employment conditions will be tightened for foreigners in Georgia. If no permit was previously required for a foreigner to work, the Ministry of Health will now issue employment permits under strict conditions, including how scarce a particular profession is and how much excess demand exists.

On the one hand, we have labour market shortages, but on the other, we still have a large number of jobless. This will allow us to identify areas where we can retrain job seekers to hire more Georgians. In terms of punishments, harsh fines will be imposed on both foreign nationals who work without this authorisation and employers who illegally employ foreign citizens. With such legislative rules, we shall be a responsible country, even in terms of visa liberalization; we will rigorously adhere to these conditions.

The 3rd direction is investment permits. You may recall that if a foreign citizen purchases real estate worth USD 100,000 in Georgia, they can be granted residency rights for one year. With appropriate discretion, however, not in all cases.

Over the past six years, 16,000 foreign citizens have received residency permits, and of these, only 3,600 people currently maintain it. Despite this, we are raising and slightly tightening the investment condition, and instead of USD 100,000, it will be the equivalent of USD 150,000, so that more investment comes in and these conditions are also tightened”, - said Mamuka Mdinaradze.