Germany has noted a rise in asylum applications from Georgia now that its citizens can enter the EU visa-free. Authorities have warned the Georgian government it must fix the problem or risk losing its travel privileges.
The European Asylum Support Office (EASO) said that in January 2018, there were 54,000 applications for international protection from the 28 member states of the European Union together with Norway and Switzerland (EU+) while 60,000 decisions were made regarding pending applications. Despite these figures, about 450,000 cases are still awaiting a decision.