Gov’t Offers Simplified Procedures for Georgian Passports to People in its Occupied Regions
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Monday, January 21
The Georgian government stated last week that its citizens living in the Russian-occupied regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) will be able to receive Georgian passports free of charge in a month-time and use them to travel visa-free to Europe.
“The passports will enable our citizens living in the occupied regions to use all the benefits and achievements which are available for those living all other regions of the country,” the Georgian government says.
Georgian passport will be available for those who were born and lived in Abkhazia and Tskhinvali until 21 December 1991 or are the offspring of the people who were born and lived in the regions until the above-mentioned period.
An individual who wants to take the Georgian passport or his/her representative should address the Georgian Service Development Agency or the Georgian diplomatic representation abroad with an application and provide an identification document issued in the occupied region.
The individual will also be able to make an appeal to the Service Development Agency with the help of international organizations active in Georgia.
If the information about the person already exists in the database of the agency, there will be no need of presenting any documentation.
In a one-month time, the agency will recheck the validity of the documentation presented and issue the passport or not.
The passport will be ready in 30 days and the service is free of charge. However, if one wants it in an accelerated manner, he/she will have to pay 50 Gel and the passport will be made in 15 days.
The de facto authorities of the breakaway regions have not yet responded to the initiative. However, their attitude to such steps is negative almost every time and they say that the attempts of the central Georgian government to reintegrate Abkhazia and Tskhinvali are useless, “as they are independent republics.”
Since the Russia-Georgia 2008 only Russia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Nauru and Syria have recognized the regions as independent countries.
The rest of the international community says that the regions are occupied by Russia.
