Georgia Scraps Visa Waiver for 13 Countries

Georgia will reimpose visa requirements for citizens of 13 countries, among them Iraq and several Latin American and Caribbean states, from September 1 after new law tightening visa and migration regulations goes into force.

Georgia will maintain visa free rules for citizens of about 104 countries and territories (the list is available on this link).

The countries with which Georgia is scrapping visa free rules are: Iraq; Bolivia; Chile; Cuba; Guatemala; Paraguay; Peru; Uruguay; Commonwealth of Dominica; Trinidad and Tobago; Saint Kitts and Nevis; Suriname and Saint Lucia.



Citizens of those countries with whom Georgia is keeping visa-free rules will be able to stay in the country without visa for maximum of 90 days in any 180-day period, instead of current 360 days starting from September 1.

Currently Georgian visas are available either upon entry into the country on the border or at the Georgian diplomatic missions abroad.

But the new law, which was passed earlier this year and will go into effect from September 1, will make it possible to obtain Georgian visas only at the diplomatic missions, which will cost USD 50.

According to the law in “special cases” visas can be issued at the entry points; these “special cases” should be defined by a government decree. The list of countries with which Georgia is maintaining visa free rules has also been set through a government decree.



Georgian Foreign Minister, Maia Panjikidze, said on August 26 that new regulations are “fully in line” with Visa Liberalisation Action Plan with the EU – a set of detailed requirements that a country should meet in order to be granted by the EU short-term visa-free regime.