Safe Migration

The key objectives of IOM’s information campaign in Georgia are twofold:

To promote safe migration practices, and
To support potential migrants in Georgia in making informed decisions concerning migration.

Safe migration takes place in a context of effective respect for and protection and fulfilment of the human rights of all migrants, regardless of their migration status and across all stages of the migration cycle. Safe migration excludes all forms of discrimination, including racism, xenophobia and intolerance, against migrants and their families.

Visa-Free Travel in the EU Schengen Area

Citizens of Georgia can travel visa-free to the Schengen area for a short-stay of maximum 90 days within any 180-day period. Georgian nationals, planning to travel to the Schengen area, can download the Schengen/EU Mobile App from Google and App Stores, to calculate the number of days they can remain in the Schengen zone without a visa.

If you stay in EU countries longer than 90 days without a residence permit or a long-term national visa, you will be violating the terms of visa-free travel. The consequence of that may be forced return, a fine and/or a re-entry ban for the Schengen area for a certain number of years.

Make sure you prevent overstay in the Schengen Zone and use the visa calculator available online. Working during your visa-free stay period is not allowed.

As a rule, EU countries do not allow the practice of changing the purpose of stay and obtaining a long-term visa while continuing to live in the EU. Most often, if you want to change your purpose of stay you have return to Georgia and apply for a long-term visa for purposes such as work, study, family reunification, etc.

For more information on this and other migration-related topics, join our FB group Visa-Free to EU and go through our FAQs.

Work Abroad

IOM promotes official labour migration schemes as an indispensable alternative to irregular migration. With EU support, IOM ensures capacity building of the Georgian government in the field of labour migration management and inter-state cooperation and assists nationals of Georgia in finding legal employment abroad. The latter focuses on helping prospective migrant workers with the right profile of experience and skills to contact employers abroad, get detailed information on employment conditions and prepare them for departure.

Pre-Departure Orientation Trainings for Labour Migrants

Labour migrants participate in special pre-departure orientation trainings, through which they receive information about temporary regular employment opportunities in the destination country, labour and social rights of migrants, as well as information about the country's history and traditions, administrative issues related to departure, arrival, living conditions, cultural and ethical norms. All this will help them be successful in their employment and ensure their adaptation to the new environment.

Join our FB Group Visa-Free to EU and receive all relevant updates on legal labour migration in one space.

Study Abroad

Study abroad is a great opportunity for youngsters to gain additional knowledge and broaden their scope of life. Opportunities are in abundance, but it is important to critically assess available information and determine whether pursuing opportunities available in Georgia would actually be a more appropriate choice.

If you are planning to study in one of the EU Member States, visit the web-portal of the European Commission Study in Europe and get informed about study and scholarship opportunities in more than 30 countries.

Unfounded Asylum claims

Over the past decades, Georgia has made steady progress and has become recognized by the international community as a safe country of origin. In terms of requests for asylum lodged by citizens of Georgia in EU countries, this means that, as a rule, citizens of Georgia cannot claim fear of life and persecution as a basis for receiving protection in foreign countries. Commonly, asylum requests lodged by citizens of Georgia will be processed in an accelerated fashion and most likely will be judged as manifestly unfounded.

If an individual has submitted an unfounded asylum claim, the most likely outcome will be that he/she will be returned to Georgia. If that person does not opt for a voluntary return arrangement, then European countries will force that person to return to Georgia (referred to as deportation). In the case of deportation, people usually get imposed a re-entry ban and will not be able to travel to the EU for a number of years, despite the visa-free travel opportunities that other citizens of Georgia enjoy.

Therefore, unfounded asylum claims will take you nowhere. Let us all together take care of visa-free travel.

For more information, contact IOM and join our FB Group Visa-Free to EU.

Prevention of Trafficking in Persons

Combating trafficking in persons has been a crucial IOM programme in Georgia since 2000. IOM’s engagement focuses on all 4 P principles, with our efforts ranging from protection, capacity building for effective prosecution, prevention and partnership with NGOs and other partners in the international community.

Prevention is better than cure, and with that logic IOM carries out information campaigns in Georgia to inform the general public about trafficking in persons, encourage people to report suspected cases, and empower vulnerable populations with the information necessary to better protect themselves from the recruitment tactics of traffickers.

If migrants travel abroad for work irregularly, there is always the risk that some unscrupulous employers will exploit that irregular situation for their own criminal benefit.

This exploitation of labour may imply limited freedom, movement and choice, physical and psychological abuse, limited access to healthcare and other important services.

Another common characteristic of labour exploitation is that people work in hazardous conditions for an inadequate salary, or sometimes even without any pay at all. It is therefore extremely important to collect information on the reality of working abroad, before you actually travel there.

If you need assistance, call the following numbers: