On 16 February, the Georgian State Employment Promotion Agency reported that 53 thousand workers applied for seasonal work in Germany after the signing of an agreement with Germany on 12 February which allowed Georgian citizens to find employment in seasonal work in agriculture. 

In just a few hours, almost 1.5% of the Georgian population filled out a questionnaire to apply for seasonal work in Germany. “The registration began on 15 February, and by 15:00 on 16 February, 53,274 people had already registered. So many people went to the site at the same time that it had to be turned off for some time,” stated the Director of the Employment Promotion Agency Nino Veltauri. 

In order to be eligible for seasonal work, Georgian citizens need to fulfil the following requirements: 1) must be a Georgian citizen from 18 to 60 years; 2) an individual must not have visited the Schengen area for three months before leaving for Germany; 3) should have work experience and be physically healthy; 4) mustn’t have any violation that restricts re-entry into the country; and 5) should know basic German or English (the language requirement is determined by employers). According to the program, Georgian citizens will spend from one to three months in Germany, working five to six days a week. The duration of the working day is 8-10 hours. The minimum wage is €9.5 per hour, from which tax and food and lodging expenses will be deducted from this amount. 

The programme was introduced by the German ambassador to Georgia Hubert Knirsch on 11 February after a meeting with Georgian Minister of Internally Displaced Persons, Labour, Health and Social Affairs Ekaterine Tikaradze. “This is not an immigration project in Germany, but rather, a temporary seasonal program that lasts a maximum of 90 days. Many people in Georgia are well acquainted with the field of agriculture and will be able to contribute to the German agriculture and, after their arrival in Georgia, will contribute to the same field of their country,” said Knirsch. 

The seasonal employment program was supposed to start in 2020, though was temporarily delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Georgia was the first country with which Germany has started working in this direction. Tikaradze also said that the Georgian government was negotiating with Bulgaria, Israel and France to implement similar seasonal employment programs in the coming future.