The Parliament of Georgia adopted amendments to the Law on the Legal Status of Foreigners and Stateless Persons in the third reading with 72 votes.

Chair of the parliamentary European Integration Committee, Levan Makhashvili intoduced the amendment to the lawmakers.

According to the draft bill, a new ordinary visa of category C5 is being introduced. A multiple-entry short-term visa of this category will be issued for a period of 5 years and for a 1-year period of stay in Georgia.

An ordinary visa of category C5 will be issued to an individual coming to Georgia for short-term purposes, who enters the territory of Georgia for tourist purposes and who also has the right to carry out activities only for the benefit of a non-resident person – if it is related to the activities of the non-resident person outside Georgia.

A visa of this category will also be issued to theindividual’s spouse and minor child/children.

According to the amendments, the term E-VISA PORTA will be replaced in the law with the entry – “special website”. In addition, it will be possible to make a decision on issuing a visa in an expedited manner based on a legal act of the Government of Georgia.

Another new ground for not providing justification for refusing to issue a C5 visa is defined as state immigration policy, which will not be subject to appeal.