Georgians Travel to EU 553,748 Times since Visa Waiver

Georgia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) reports that 553,748 visits were made by 339,255 Georgians to the Schengen Area after the activation of the visa-free regime with the EU on March 28, 2017, until December 9, 2018.

The MIA stated that Germany was the most visited country by Georgian citizens during the mentioned period with 135,884 visits, followed by Italy with 80,520 visits, Greece is the third with a total of 68,807 visits, Poland – 42,054, Spain was visited 40,914 times, France – 39,120 visits, Hungary -24,120, Cyprus was visited 18,258 times and 16,293 visits took place to Austria.

The Visa-Free regime with the EU took effect on March 28, 2017, meaning all Georgians holding biometric passports can enter the Schengen Area for 90 days within any 180-day period for vacation, business, or any other purpose except work.

Georgians are able to travel without visas to the following 22 EU member states: Belgium, Austria, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Estonia, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Greece, France, Slovenia, Slovakia, Hungary, Finland, Sweden, and the Czech Republic.

Georgians can also travel without visas to four non-EU-member states (Iceland, Lichtenstein, Norway and Switzerland) as well as four Schengen candidate countries (Bulgaria, Cyprus, Romania and Croatia).  

Exceptions for visa-free travel include Ireland and the United Kingdom.

By Thea Morrison