Big picture
- Foreign nationals in Georgia (estimated, incl. irregular): up to 257,000
- Irregular (“illegal”) migrants: about 20,000
- PM said more precise data should be available by April
- Georgia population (2024 census figure cited): 3,914,000
- That would make 257,000 ≈ 6.6% of total population (incl. foreigners)
Residency permits (VNH / residence permits)
- Residence permits issued to citizens of 164 countries: 107,307
- Who they are (PM’s framing): 70%+ are citizens of post-Soviet countries, the EU, the US, and Israel
- Permanent residence permits: 28,363 (26.4% of all permits)
- Work residence permits: 15,699 (14.6%)
Top nationalities among residence-permit holders
- Russia: 32,129 (29.9% of all permits)
- PM claimed many are former Georgian citizens or people with Georgian surnames
- India: 23,930 (mostly students)
Other nationalities mentioned (permit holders / status)
- Ukraine: 6,290 with residence permits (~5.9%); plus up to ~25,000 living in Georgia under refugee-related status (without permits)
- Belarus: 3,738
- Turkey: 3,645 (~3.4%)
- Iran: 3,331
- China: ~2,000 (described as mostly workers on infrastructure projects)
- Jordan: ~2,000 (~1.9%mostly medical students)
- Pakistan: 1,618 (~1.5%students)
- Egypt: 1,341 (~1.2%mostly students)
- USA: 1,000+ (~1%)
- The Russian roundup also lists shares/estimates for Azerbaijan (~6.3%) and Armenia (~4.8%, ~5,000) among permit holders, with the note that many “returned” after acquiring those countries’ citizenships.
Students
- Foreign students in Georgia: 37,000 (PM’s figure)
Entry / stay rules
- Citizens of 96 countries can stay up to 1 year without a residence permit
- PM said these are “mostly European countries,” and also mentioned Central Asia and Gulf countries.
Enforcement / policy claims
- PM said misuse of the asylum system has been “maximally limited.”
- He said about 20% more irregular migrants will be deported this year (relative to the current irregular estimate).
https://www.radiotavisupleba.ge/a/%E1%83%99%E1%83%9D%E1%83%91%E1%83%90%E1%83%AE%E1%83%98%E1%83%AB%E1%83%94-%E1%83%9B%E1%83%98%E1%83%92%E1%83%A0%E1%83%90%E1%83%AA%E1%83%98%E1%83%96%E1%83%94-%E1%83%A8%E1%83%9D%E1%83%91%E1%83%90%E1%83%93%E1%83%9D%E1%83%91%E1%83%90%E1%83%A1%E1%83%90-%E1%83%93%E1%83%90-%E1%83%9E%E1%83%90%E1%83%A2%E1%83%98%E1%83%9D%E1%83%A2%E1%83%98%E1%83%96%E1%83%9B%E1%83%96%E1%83%94/33681776.html
Posted by EsperaDeus
2 Comments
This is so interesting – anyone have a sense of how reliable this data is?
Anecdotally I would have guessed a few hundred US citizen residents. 1000 seems high! But obviously my personal network is not the whole picture haha
It would be curious to look at this data together with other stats like outward migration, Georgian citizens emigrating and birth rate.
Also, does **Georgia population (2024 census figure cited):** **3,914,000** include Georgian citizens living abroad?