“Defeating the Russian regime in Georgia is crucial for maintaining visa-free travel with the European Union, initiating EU accession negotiations, and potentially achieving visa-free travel with the United States,” the Opposition MP Salome Samadashvili stated.

Samadashvili commented on a question about the high visa refusal rate for Georgian citizens in the US.

“Megobari Act, being discussed in the US legislature, supports visa-free travel to the US for Georgia but stipulates that this requires a democratic government in Georgia, not one allied with Russia.

If Bidzina Ivanishvili remains in power, it would become increasingly difficult for Georgians to obtain US visas and could jeopardize Georgia’s visa-free access to the European Union. If we succeed and defeat the Russian regime, we will maintain visa-free travel with the European Union. We will start negotiations on joining the European Union and have visa-free travel with America very soon,” Samadashvili said.

According to 2023 data from the US State Department, the visa refusal rate for Georgian citizens is 49.23%. For comparison, the refusal rate for Belarus is 32.80%, and for Russia 39.49%.