Have you ever traveled to Georgia and faced any problem? Maybe harassed at the immigration, deported, anything?

Georgia is a beautiful country, don’t get me wrong. I did enjoyed my last 2 visits but encountered a setback during my last visit.

It did not happen to me personally, but it did to a person whom i know.

We traveled as a group, 5 expats from the UAE, mixed nationalities. We have arranged everything carefully, local guides, hotel bookings, transportation, round trip tickets, and insurance. Visa was not required since we are all UAE residents. We even checked the Georgia e-visa website to try to see if we can apply for a visa to ensure that we won’t face any hassle, yet, a prompt showed on the website that as UAE residents, we are exempted.

So we proceeded as planned.

Upon arrival at the airport, we headed to passport control. All 4 of us were able to pass but one of us, our team leader, was still at the counter. Then, he was asked to wait at the back. The 4 of us went ahead to collect our luggage. We already collected our luggage still no sign of our team leader.

We waited and waited, and after more than an hour, I received a message from our team leader telling me to proceed with the trip as planned and that he was already on the plane!

Even our local guide was surprised as he has done all documents to support our trip.

After the trip, in Dubai, I learnt how he was treated at the immigration. Ill-treated at the immigration. They treated him worse than a criminal.

He was made to wait for more than an hour, asked him personal questions. Before he knew, he was handed over to a police officer who was leading him to a couple of doors and gates, and only to find out that they are leading him on the plane back to Dubai! They did not even give him a clear explanation as to why he had to go back and no proper documentation/ papers handed over.

This happened in June 2018. During the Eid break. I’ve been trying to follow news to get a clear explanation of what happened, if there’s any way to work around the deportation issue, what people has to do to avoid this experience, yet I could not find any.

Georgia has been one of the most visited country for expats from the UAE. But with this current issue on immigration, I believe we should all reconsider our plans to avoid the hassle and getting into a very messy and disheartening situation. All the preparations, costs, etc will only go to waste, not to mention the terrible experience that anyone might face if this happens.

If you have experienced this, I would love to hear your story. Let’s try to get this out until Georgia government responds and clear this issue for everyone.