‘The visa-free regime is a very tangible achievement between the European Union and Georgia, and we believe, it is very important to beef up and maintain it,’ French Ambassador to Georgia Diégo Colas stated. As he said, there are bulk of cases of system abuse which undermines Europe’s support for visa-free travel and damages the image of the country.

‘Many Georgian citizens are seeking asylum in France. Georgia is a strong democratic country, hence, this is not relevant. However, that is a problem for Georgia’s image as well as for further support for the visa-free regime. For that reason, several measures will be taken. First, from a safe country like Georgia, applications will be processed very quickly, and in the case of rejection, the answer will also be returned quickly to the applicant.

If the people plan to go to France to access health care programs, they should know that this is an unacceptable strategy. We need to deal with this situation. Regarding this issue, we are discussing several measures,’ Diégo Colas stated.

As the ambassador of France to Georgia added, the visa-free regime applies to stays in the territories of the EU Member States. A person can enter the country without a visa, but has to meet a condition: he/she must have sufficient funds which will be checked at the border before departure.