The head of the ruling party "Georgian Dream" Iraklii Kobakhidze reprimanded the USA for its "tough visa policy" towards Georgian citizens. It should be noted that the statement published by the politician on the social network coincided with the visit of American senators to Tbilisi.
"For example, in 2021, the United States approved 71 percent of visa applications from Russian citizens and only 37 percent of visa applications from Georgian citizens," Kobakhidze noted.
He says that "this circumstance causes serious inconvenience to the citizens of Georgia, including forcing some to take risks and move to the United States through Mexico."
"However, on the other hand, the strict visa policy significantly hinders immigration from Georgia to the USA, which has its own positive effect. Of course, the balance of migration will worsen in the conditions of the weakening of the US visa regime," the politician said.
Kobakhidze says that when an economically strong country simplifies the visa regime for the population of an economically weaker country, this fact naturally contributes to the outflow of the population.
At the same time, the leader of the "Georgian Dream" claims that after the introduction by the European Union of the visa-free regime for citizens of Georgia, the migration balance in the country will be negative in 2018-2021. was only 29 thousand. Kobakhidze cites the examples of Lithuania and Latvia, in which, according to him, the population decreased by 600 and 400 thousand, respectively, after joining the EU.
Kobakhidze added that "the demographic situation and trends in Georgia require serious attention," however, he said, "speculative statements" on this topic require a proper response.