Georgia Proposes Tighter Residency Rules for Foreign Students and Spouses Georgia is turning the screws on migration — and doing it fast. A new Interior Ministry package would clamp down on foreign students and foreign spouses, raising the stakes in the country’s already heated debate over who gets to stay.

On paper, officials frame the move as a targeted strike on illegal migration. The Interior Ministry’s draft would “tighten the rules for granting temporary and permanent residency to foreign students and spouses of Georgian citizens,” adding language exams, school quotas and stricter reporting requirements for universities. Authorities say the goal is to get a grip on an estimated 20,000 people living in Georgia without legal status.

Critics, however, see a sweeping anti-foreigner turn wrapped in bureaucratic language. One outlet bluntly sums it up: “Georgia Plans to Tighten Rules for Obtaining Residence Permits for Foreigners,” stressing that student routes and marriage to Georgian citizens are both being narrowed at once. Under the proposals, foreign students must prove they passed a language exam and can only enroll in accredited institutions — which will themselves be capped by quotas and threatened with fines or loss of accreditation if they fail to promptly report expulsions.

The sharpest edge falls on mixed-nationality families. Spouses would lose the current right to immediate permanent residency and instead be shunted onto a new temporary status while a special commission checks whether the marriage is “fictitious.” So‑called sham marriages would be criminalized, with potential prison terms, house arrest, deportation and multi‑year entry bans for foreign nationals.

Supporters call it overdue border hygiene; opponents warn it’s collective punishment that will hit legitimate students and families hardest — especially tens of thousands of Russians and other recent arrivals now woven into Georgia’s social and economic fabric.