Israel not to grant political asylum to Georgian citizens

The State of Israel will not grant political asylum to Georgian citizens any more, since Georgia has been included in the safe countries’ list. Although the asylum seekers’ applications will be considered, but it will done through an expedited procedure and with no right to employment.

As Georgian Foreign Ministry pointed out in its statement, released on February 28, Israel included Georgia in the list of safe countries, which implies that no one in Georgia is under threat of persecution on the grounds of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, political views.

Georgian Foreign Ministry warns its citizens that Georgian citizens’ applications for asylum (unless they are based on real reasons) will not be granted.

Georgia’s inclusion in the safe countries’ list also implies procedural changes in consideration of applications for asylum. Namely:

– An application for asylum will be considered in an extremely expedited manner (maximum within 1 month);

– Georgian citizen applying for asylum to the Israeli Population and Migration Service will no longer be entitled to work in Israel in the period of consideration of his/her application.

According to the Georgian Foreign Ministry, Israel is the fifth after the Kingdom of Belgium, France, Bulgaria and Austria, to have put Georgia on the safe countries’ list.