Georgia plans to open consulate in Munich
On 11 October, Mikheil Ninua, Georgia’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs announced that Georgia plans to open a consulate in Munich. “There is a large number of Georgian inmates in several prisons of Bavarian lands. In addition, we have direct flights to Munich city and there is a need to have a full-fledged, consular office [located in Munich],” he said.
In 2017, Georgia appointed a Consul for the German Federal Republics of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, as the number of Georgians living there is bigger than in other parts of the country.
According to the Bavarian State Criminal Police Office, there are several Georgian-born criminal "authorities" living permanently in Bavaria who have direct contacts with the top management (self-named "thieves in law") of the Georgian mafia, and who serve as leaders and "mediators" among the numerous recognized Georgian property criminals. According to crime statistics from 2018, Georgia occupied the 10th place amongst the countries of origin with the persons suspected of committing crime, with 633 suspects in total.
In 2018, the Bavarian Minister of Interior Joachim Herrmann stated that “the developments in asylum application numbers" now give reason to closely examine the possibility of a temporary suspension of visa waiver under the EU legal suspension mechanism,” as a response to the growing asylum applications from the Georgian citizens. On 13 September 2019, 19 Georgian citizens were deported from Nurnberg back to their country of origins. Among the deportees there were eleven people who appeared in court during their time in Germany for property offenses or violations of the Narcotics Act.
According to the newest data, the number of Georgian asylum seekers in Germany has decreased by 10% with 2,953 applications in total.