On June 30, the chairperson of the Georgian Parliament’s temporary investigative commission, Tea Tsulukiani, stated during a commission session that Georgia had been better prepared than Moldova to begin the visa liberalization process with the European Union. However, according to her, the EU gave Moldova a chance to start this process more easily. She claimed that Moldova was granted visa liberalization at a time when the country did not yet have biometric passports.
Tea Tsulukiani [51:05]: “I will give one example. We already had biometric, new-generation passports, and a biometric passport is not just a document – there is an entire system behind it: databases, modern technologies, etc. We were ahead of both countries, especially Moldova. Moldova was granted a visa-free regime when it still had old, non-biometric passports. Back then, they had what was called a chip taped to the back page with Scotch tape, and we were being told we were not yet ready. There were such moments at the negotiation table, where everything is laid out and then comes the debate, bargaining, or negotiation. This was in 2015-16.”
Tsulukiani’s claim that the EU granted visa-free travel to Moldova before the country had biometric passports is not true. In Moldova, obtaining a biometric passport became mandatory in 2011, and visa liberalization came into effect in 2014.
- Biometric Passports in Moldova and Visa Liberalization with the European Union
Simplified visa-free travel between the European Union and Moldova, allowing Moldovan citizens to move within the Schengen Area without a visa using biometric passports, began in 2014. The visa liberalization process was the result of long-term negotiations and the fulfillment of various requirements, which had been ongoing since 2010.
One of the key requirements for Moldovan citizens to move freely within the Schengen Area was the possession of a biometric passport, which is one of the main preconditions for simplified visa access to the EU.
Issuing biometric passports became mandatory in Moldova starting January 1, 2011. Work on introducing these passports began in spring 2010, initiated by Moldovan officials. According to 2008 data, 730 biometric passports had already been issued to Moldovan citizens, meaning that the capacity to issue such documents existed even earlier. Since Moldova began the mass issuance of biometric passports in 2011 and visa-free travel started in 2014, Tea Tsulukiani’s statement does not reflect the truth. For citizens wishing to enter the Schengen Area without restrictions and without a visa, possession of a biometric passport became mandatory starting April 28, 2014. By that time, the necessary databases and technological infrastructure required for visa-free travel had already been established.
- Visa Rule Simplification in Georgia
The first biometric passport in Georgia was issued in 2010 and remains one of the most in-demand services to this day. Georgia worked on this reform for approximately two years with the assistance of the European Union. The visa liberalization process officially began in 2011, and after multi-stage negotiations, visa-free travel to the European Union became available to Georgian citizens starting in March 2017.
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