On 21, 23 and 24 September, an official from the Border Guard of Poland met online with 84 border control officers from the MIA Patrol Police Department representing all three international airports (Tbilisi, Kutaisi and Batumi) to discuss visa-free travel from Georgia to Poland.

During the 3 sessions, the Polish specialist guided her Georgian colleagues through all details of the entry requirements, the essential documents that visa-free passengers are supposed to have with them, issues related to using of Polish working invitations, the consequences of overstaying of the 90 days visa-free window, and how COVID-19 imposed restrictions currently affect the visa-free travel scheme for citizens of Georgia.

IOM organized this workshop in close coordination with the IOM Mission to Poland and Border Guard of Poland.

Since 1 January 2021, after the Parliament of Georgia introduced amendments to the law on the exit of citizens of Georgia from their country, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia has committed to checking the credentials of citizens of Georgia who travel on direct flights to destinations in the Schengen Zone and make sure that their travel purpose and supporting documents comply with the requirements of visa-free travel.

This workshop held between Polish and Georgian officials is part of a series of capacity-building events that IOM organizes in 2021, aiming to support the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs in curbing irregular migration from Georgia to the EU.

This course is part of a multi-annual project funded by the Delegation of the European Union to Georgia called “Sustaining Border Management and Migration Governance in Georgia”.