Legal Aspects of Labour Migration Governance in Georgia

Abstract

The main goal of the present study is to analyze the legal aspects of labour migration governance in Georgia. For this purpose, an analysis of national legal instruments related to labour migration governance has been carried out. And an overview is given of those international agreements, which are of relevance for Georgia. The study is carried out in the following main directions: First, there is an overview of existing legislative mechanisms; second, an analysis of the coherence of these mechanisms; and, third, a survey of gaps and challenges and recommendations. The content of the study is mainly based on the analysis of legal documents. However, it should be noted that the number of legislative acts and other official documents related to labour migration is very limited. This is due to the liberalization of migration policy, which is a reflection of the extremely liberal policy of the current Georgian government. As a consequence, Georgian legislation does not provide for the overseas employment of Georgian citizens in any form. And as to the access of aliens to the Georgian labour market, there are only some limited mechanisms, which in practice do not have a visible regulatory effect. Namely, legislation does not impose any obligation for aliens to obtain a work permit before starting work. Thus, the Georgian labour market is wide open to citizens of foreign countries. It is recommended that the state changes to a model of labour migration governance which would be both efficient and active. This model should be based on a consideration of economic and demographic effects and it should be developed on the basis of migration flow analysis.