Of the 23 011 positive decisions issued by the Citizenship Commission between 2013 and 2017, 86% were for individuals born in Georgia or who were born in Georgia while also being former citizens of Georgia.
Due to high public interest in this matter, the Citizenship Commission, under the Public Service Development Agency of the Ministry of Justice, today released a report on its operations for the period 2013–2017, focusing on issues that recently drew public attention.
According to the report, between 2013 and 2017, the Commission reviewed 32 523 applications for granting Georgian citizenship by way of exception. Of these, 23 011 were recommended for approval, resulting in a positive conclusion.
In 86% of cases where the commission reached a positive conclusion, the recommendation for granting Georgian citizenship was made to individuals who were either born in Georgia or born in Georgia but were also former citizens of that country or members of their family.
According to Organic Law of Georgia on Citizenship, the naturalization of foreigners is carried out through the granting of Georgian citizenship and there are five types of this process (articles 9 and 31):
– Granting citizenship under regular procedure (those who have lived in Georgia for at least five years, know the Georgian language and either work or own real estate in the country);
– Granting citizenship under simplified procedure (a person who is married to a Georgian citizen and has resided in the country for two years may apply for citizenship);
– Granting citizenship by way of exception (where there are state interests or a person has made a contribution of exceptional merit to the state);
– Granting citizenship by way of its restoration (for example, a person who applied to the state in the past and renunciated of Georgian citizenship voluntarily);
– Granting citizenship under a special procedure (for example, under this procedure, citizenship can be granted to a person who was born in Georgia but is not recognized as a citizen for various reasons).
Under articles 22 and 24 of the Organic Law of Georgia on Citizenship, the Public Service Development Agency (“Agency”) is the state body that reviews applications and submissions related to citizenship issues, prepares an appropriate report and submits it to the President of Georgia for decision. In order to effectively achieve these objectives, the Agency established the Citizenship Commission (“Commission”), which comprises 2 representatives from the Agency, 1 representative from the President’s Office and 1 representative from the State Security Service. According to paragraph 2 of article 12 of the Constitution of Georgia, citizenship by way of exception may be granted to an individual if:
– there are state interests or
– an applicant has made a contribution of exceptional merit to the state.
Unlike other forms of naturalization, one of the two aforementioned conditions is the sole basis for obtaining Georgian citizenship by way of exception and both are subject to review. As stated in today’s report, the Commission’s practice has revealed circumstances where it is considered in the state interests to grant citizenship to a particular individual. These circumstances typically relate to Georgia’s history, including socio-political processes in the recent past. For instance, if other legal requirements are met, the Commission may consider granting Georgian citizenship in the interest of the state for those individuals who:
a) During the 1990s, due to difficult socio-economic conditions in Georgia, emigrated abroad (mainly to the Russian Federation and other former Soviet republics), but have recently expressed a desire to return and settle in their homeland;
b) They left the temporarily occupied territories of Georgia and sought refuge abroad, but today they are returning to their home country;
c) Are family members of persons mentioned in paragraph above and may have been born outside Georgia;
d) Are ethnically Abkhazian or Ossetian and wish to return to Georgia’s legal jurisdiction;
e) Represent ethnic minorities living within our country and regard Georgia as their homeland;
f) Have spouses who are Georgian citizens and have children who hold Georgian citizenship. For these individuals, Georgian nationality is a contributing factor to family unity and integrity, while retaining citizenship of their country of origin remains an essential requirement;
g) Are citizens of other countries who have lived, worked or owned property in Georgia for an extended period of time, also possess knowledge of the Georgian language and/or made significant investments within Georgia;
h) Are foreign athletes, scientists or artists who intend to compete or work in the name of Georgia, among others. According to the report, due to the high level of public interest this year, it has been reported that from 1 January to 9 October 2017, based on a positive recommendation from the relevant authorities, the President of Georgia has granted citizenship to 79 Georgian nationals from Pereidani.
