Georgian Illegal Migrants Readmitted from Germany
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Friday, May 11
68 Georgian citizens, who illegally lived in Germany, were readmitted to Georgia via a charter flight on Thursday.
The readmission took place within the deal of Georgia and Germany.
The Georgian Interior Ministry stated that the flight was planned and carried out jointly by them and the German Federal Police and the European Border and Coast Guard Agency- FRONTEX.
“These citizens were deported from Germany, Switzerland, Belgium and Iceland,” the Interior Ministry reported.
“Together with the readmitted individuals, five citizens of Georgia returned home by the same flight on their own will,” the ministry added.
The Government of Georgia has already announced tough measures to decrease the number of Georgian illegal migrants in the EU’s Schengen zone, as the increasing number of Georgian illegal migrants and asylum seekers may create threats to the Georgia-EU visa free deal agreed in March 2017.
As a number of Georgian illegal migrants and asylum seekers increased in Germany since the visa waiver, the German leadership expressed its negative attitude to the fact and launched steps with the Georgian government to address the problem.
The press release by the German Embassy to Georgia from a couple of months ago reads that the number of Georgian asylum seekers in Germany has increased three times since March 2017, the date when Georgia gained the visa waiver with the EU.
“In January alone, more than 700 Georgian citizens asked for asylum in Germany and nearly 100 percent were denied,” the embassy stated.
The embassy reported that the increased number of asylum seekers has caused concerns in Germany.
“In order to change this trend, Germany wishes to further intensify cooperation with Georgia on readmission issues.
Also, Germany will prevent those who have been refused an asylum from entering the Schengen zone for several years”, the embassy announced.
Georgia has asked Germany to put the country in the Safe Country List, which means that no one is politically persecuted in Georgia and no one will receive a political asylum in Germany.
The Georgian Government has already made changing of surnames complicated and stated that illegal migrants will have to cover their readmission expenses if deported.
