# Council Decision (EU) 2016/1780 of 29 September 2016 establishing the position to be taken on behalf of the European Union within the Joint Committee set up under the Agreement between the European Union and Georgia on the facilitation of the issuance of visas, with regard to the adoption of common guidelines for the implementation of that Agreement, Division 1.1: Purpose and scope of application


Article 1(1) of the Agreement provides that:
‘1. The purpose of this Agreement is to facilitate the issuance of visas for an intended stay of no more than 90 days per period of 180 days to the citizens of Georgia.’.
The Agreement applies to all citizens of Georgia who apply for a short-stay visa, whichever country they reside in.
The Agreement does not apply to stateless persons holding a residence permit issued by Georgia. The rules of the Union visa acquis apply to that category of persons.
Article 1(2) of the Agreement provides that:
‘2. If Georgia reintroduces the visa requirement for the citizens of all Member States or certain categories of citizens of all Member States, the same facilitations granted under this Agreement to the citizens of Georgia would automatically, on the basis of reciprocity, apply to the citizens of the Union concerned.’.
As from 1 June 2006, all citizens of the Union and stateless persons holding a residence permit issued by a Member State are exempted from the visa requirement when travelling to Georgia for a period of time not exceeding 90 days per period of 180 days or when transiting through the territory of Georgia.
In order to avoid discriminatory treatment by Georgia of the citizens of one or more Member States or certain categories of such citizens, in a Declaration annexed to the Agreement, the Union announced its intention to suspend the application of the Agreement, in case Georgia reintroduces the visa requirement for the citizens of one or more Member States or for certain categories of such citizens.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eudn/2016/1780/schedule/ANNEX/division/I./division/1.1. (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/eu-decision-2016-1780/schedule-ANNEX/division-I./division-1.1.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.