On January 12, Ada Marshania, a member of Alliance of Patriots, while commenting on granting a decision supporting visa liberalization for Georgia made by LIBE committee on air at Day News, a news program of TV Pirveli, stated that this process implied signing labor contracts with European countries, as the population of Georgia had expected job openings.
Ada Marshania, Alliance of Patriots, MP: “You probably know what our population mainly expects. Obviously, they expect job openings in Europe and that is why a lot of people are excited that the visa regime is to be abolished, however, there is a problem – our country has not signed a labor contract with any of the European countries and this will be our work for a while in the near future.”
TV Pirveli, Day News, 12/01/2017
The given statement is false, as visa liberalization does not imply free movement to Europe for business purposes.
Visa-free movement with the EU concerns the following categories:
Touristic, seeing family members/relatives, business-meetings, short-term educational and exchange programs/trainings, courses, participation in cultural or scientific events, medical treatment etc. Any of such visits should not exceed 90 days in duration; Visa-free regime allows the citizens of Georgia to carry out only short-term visits, with duration of 90 days in any given 180-day period, without visa; In case of intending to stay on the territory of an EU/Schengen zone member for a long period, the citizens of Georgia should address an accredited consulate of a respective country in Georgia for receiving visa;
The Government of Georgia, with EU’s support, conducted a wide-scale information campaign on visa-free movement which explained that the visa-free movement with the EU does not imply work visas. A video clip – Guideline for a Visa-Free Movement in the European Union – has been prepared in the framework of the campaign. It has also been translated to Azerbaijani, Armenian, Abkhazian, Ossetian and Russian languages.
Additional information on visa liberalization is available in the materials prepared by Eurocommunicator:
