The EU Council has decided to partially suspend the visa exemption agreement with Georgia, meaning that Georgian diplomats and officials will no longer be eligible for visa-free travel to the EU. Instead, they will be required to go through the visa application process once the new rules come into effect. Under the updated regulations, Georgian diplomats and officials will no longer benefit from the expedited procedures and will have to follow the standard application timelines.
Additionally, this group will be required to pay the full Schengen visa fee and may be asked to provide extra supporting documents as part of the application process. The suspension will affect three main categories of Georgian nationals:
- Members of official Georgian delegations attending intergovernmental meetings or events within the EU.
- Members of Georgia’s national and regional governments, including the Constitutional and Supreme Court.
- Holders of Georgian diplomatic passports.
However, Georgian nationals with ordinary passports will not be impacted by this decision and will still be eligible for visa-free travel to the EU for short stays.
This move by the EU comes in response to Georgia’s adoption of laws on the transparency of foreign influence and a legislative package concerning family values and the protection of minors, which the EU views as undermining fundamental human rights in Georgia. The EU also emphasized that these actions violate the principles underpinning the visa exemption agreement.
