Israel May Allow Georgians Work legally if Illegal Migration doesn't Rise

The government of Israel may accelerate procedures to allow Georgian nationals work legally in Israel if the number of Georgians working illegally in Israel will not rise, as the country found that around 15,000 Georgians worked illegally in different cities and regions of Israel.

“I believe that negotiations over the legal employment will be accelerated in 2019. This issue is really on the agenda of the state of Israel, - Israeli Ambassador to Georgia Shabtai Tsur told the local media IPN.

He said that if the number of Georgians illegally working in Israel does not increase, the process will be further accelerated by 2019.

" Everybody knows that in 2014 when the visa regime was abolished between Georgia and Israel, many tourists started traveling to Georgia. Unfortunately, we discovered that approximately 15,000 Georgian citizens had been illegally working in Israel for the past two years. A dialogue was held on this issue between the Israeli foreign ministry and Georgia.

“Even today there are people who try to work in Israel illegally,” the ambassador said.

Tsur claimed that it has been decided that if the number of Georgians illegally working in Israel does not increase, a dialogue will be held between the foreign ministries of Georgia and Israel about the legitimate employment of Georgian citizens in Israel.

“The statistics of 2018 are positive so far”, said the ambassador.

He said that the number of people illegally traveling to Israel has been decreased by 70percent recently and the contribution of Georgia’s Foreign Ministry was high in the process.