The European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA) published summary data for 2022, according to which 28,797 Georgian citizens applied for asylum in EU countries last year. 26,400 citizens submitted the application for the first time, and 2,397 submitted it again. In 2022, the number of asylum seekers doubled compared to 2021.
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The satisfaction rate of Georgian citizens' applications is 4%. Last year, only 468 asylum seekers were granted refugee status, while 18,089 were denied. 258 received subsidiary (temporary) protection. Currently, 15,328 cases are under review.
Georgia is among the ten countries whose citizens submitted the most applications. The number of asylum requests increased from 50% to 100% for citizens of Pakistan (37,000 applications), Bangladesh (34,000), and Georgia (29,000).
The largest number of applications, as in previous years, were submitted by citizens of Syria (about 132,000) and Afghanistan (129,000). The third largest group includes citizens of Turkey (55,000), followed by citizens of Venezuela (51,000) and Colombia (43,000). The European Union's asylum agency writes that last year Turks, Venezuelans, Colombians, Bangladeshis, and Georgians submitted the most applications since at least 2008.
The number of Georgian citizens seeking asylum in EU countries in 2014-2022 was as follows: 2014 - 8,728, 2015 - 8,049, 2016 - 8,573, 2017 - 11,579, 2018 - 19,959, 2019 - 22,118, 2020 - 8,508, 2021 - 14,647, 2022 - 28,797.
In the report published by the EU Agency for Asylum in August last year, which deals with the causes of migration, it is said that the Russian invasion of Ukraine had a significant economic and socio-political impact on Georgia, which forced its citizens to apply for asylum in EU countries. In particular, according to the report:
The outbreak of war prompted citizens of Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia to move to Tbilisi, resulting in increased demand for housing and a 101% increase in rents as of May 2022;
Annual inflation was high at 13%, and the unemployment rate reached 19% in the first quarter of 2022.
According to a survey conducted in March 2022, 81% of 2,024 Georgians who participated in the survey believed that the war in Ukraine would negatively affect the economic well-being of their families in the future.
The Georgian Dream party chairman Irakli Kobakhidze connects the mass migration of citizens from Georgia to the visa-free regime implemented in March 2017 with European Union. According to him, when an economically strong country simplifies the visa regime for the population of an economically weaker country, it is natural that this contributes to the outflow of the population.
