3000 Foreigners Receive Georgian Citizenship in 2017
In 2017, President Giorgi Margvelashvili granted citizenship of Georgia to 3000 foreign citizens.
The information was released in a report by the Citizenship Issues Commission under the Public Service Development Agency. According to the report, in the period of January-October 2017, the Commission discussed 5,321 applications for citizenship and approved 3,097, which were then sent to the president for approval.
The President approved 3000 applications and rejected 97. According to the report, of the rejected applicants, 70 persons were born in Georgia and 27 were former citizens of Georgia or family members of a Georgian citizen.
Of the 3,097 applicants approved by the commission, 2,550 persons were either born in Georgia (1,945 persons) or were a former citizen of Georgia (1,072 persons), or their family member was a Georgian citizen. Moreover, 277 persons were citizens of EU countries, 219 from American states, 221 - Asian states, 5 persons from African countries, 1 person - Arab states and 11 persons were citizens of other states.
The report also underlines that in 2017, the President of Georgia granted citizenship of Georgia to eight persons without the procedures envisaged by the commission and the law. Three of these people were Russian, three were German, and two were citizens of different countries.
Moreover, the report reads that the President granted Georgian citizenship to 79 Fereidan Georgians.
A citizen of Georgia cannot at the same time be the citizen of another state, except for in exceptional cases specified in the Constitution of Georgia. Georgian citizenship may be acquired at birth or can be granted through an ordinary procedure, a simplified procedure, as an exception or through restoration of citizenship.
To be granted Georgian citizenship through the standard procedure, a foreign citizen can apply to the relevant authorized body.
Georgian citizenship is granted with a simplified procedure to a person married to a Georgian citizen who has been legally and uninterruptedly residing in Georgia for two years prior to the submission of the application. Additionally, a person is required to know the state language, Georgian history, and the basics of the Georgian legislation.
The exceptional procedure of granting Georgian citizenship may be applied to a foreign citizen who has made an outstanding contribution to Georgia or to those cases when granting Georgian citizenship to a person is in the national interests of the country.
Georgian citizenship may be restored to a person whose Georgian citizenship has been terminated unlawfully, due to renunciation of the Georgian citizenship or after the decision of this person’s parents. In order to have the Georgian citizenship restored, a person should know something of the Georgian language.
In case of a negative decision, a person can reapply to an authorized state body with the same request after six months.
Thea Morrison