On July 24-28, IOM conducted training courses on pre-departure checks of Georgian nationals departing to the European Union Member States for the border control officers of the Patrol Police Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia. The trainings were held in Tbilisi, Batumi and Kutaisi to train the staff from all three international airports, as well as Sarpi border crossing point. IOM invited an expert from France to share his experience on border checks and interviewing of Georgian nationals arriving to France.

The training sessions envisaged familiarizing Georgian border control officers with the French perspective on irregular migration trends and patterns, in order to enhance their skills in checking Georgian nationals traveling to the EU destinations. The sessions focused on practical aspects and real case scenarios, interview questionnaires and complementary documents requested by French border officials in airports. Overall goal of this activity is to prevent irregular migration and abuse of asylum system by Georgian nationals in the EU, in accordance with relevant EU-Georgia Agreements and the visa liberalization benchmarks.

The activity is organized in coordination with the Embassy of France to Georgia, and it is implemented in the framework of the EU-funded action titled “Border and Migration Management Action for Georgia (BMMAG)” launched in 2022. The overall objective of the project is to support the Government of Georgia in sustaining more effective border management and migration governance.