IDFI: Georgia vs Russia: residents' views on the state of the population.

The organization "Institute for Freedom of Information" (IDFI) conducted a study, the results of which show that in the period from 2018 to 2022, 72% (6,075 people) of the population of Georgia who received refugee status (outside of refugee return status) are citizens of Russia.

According to the organization's data, 723 Georgian citizens were granted refugee status in the first 7 months of 2022, 1,342 in 2021, 629 in 2020 and 1,219 in 2019. In the period from 2018 to 2022, after Russia, the largest number of citizens - 428 - are Ukrainians, followed by citizens of Armenia (404) and the United States (330).

The rules for obtaining the status of a citizen of Georgia usually consist in granting the status to a citizen who has lived in Georgia for the last 10 years without interrupted stay outside Georgia, who has special knowledge of the Georgian language, history of Georgia and basic laws of law. A citizen of a foreign country shall be granted the status of a citizen of Georgia if he/she has an invitation or has real estate in Georgia or is engaged in business activities in Georgia or is engaged in professional activities in the field of sports, science or culture with the desire to represent Georgia. Special conditions for granting the status: a person who was born on the territory of Georgia but is not a citizen of Georgia. Restoration of status: the status of a citizen of Georgia shall be granted to a person who has been deprived of the status of a citizen of Georgia unlawfully, as a result of parental choice, forced emigration or related to political or economic circumstances.

IDFI reports that between 2018 and 2022, 13,644 appeals were made to the agency to provide full administrative services to Georgia citizens, of which 7,360 were positive.

IDFI also points to the increased desire of Russian citizens to obtain Georgian citizenship status due to the situation created after Russia's war with Ukraine in 2022, which makes it difficult to obtain reliable data on the actual population of Georgia. IDFI also notes that for a full assessment of this situation, the availability of such complex data related to the adoption of certain legal measures for the admission of the Georgian population is important. For example, residency rights, legal support for refugees, statistics on refugee return, etc. "Unfortunately, the full administrative service agency did not provide the requested information. IDFI is reaching out to relevant legal institutions to obtain such data," the organization said in a statement.

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