On September 1, 2014, the Georgian society woke up to a very unpleasant reality – after years of extremely welcoming visa regime which put the country on the map as an attractive tourist and foreign direct investment destination, a new migration law regulating foreigners admission and stay in Georgia came into effect.

Any observer of the Georgian economy would probably agree that the country has too many people employed (or, rather, under-employed) in agriculture. Historically, many countries have experienced a secular decline in the share of employment (and GDP) related to the agricultural sector. Yet, Georgia has seen limited structural change out of agriculture (other than, perhaps, into seasonal or permanent labor migration).

Some Background on the Georgian PSA The present Population Situation Analysis (PSA) was carried out by the Country Office of UNFPA in Georgia, at the request of the Government Planning & Innovations Unit of the Administration of the Government of Georgia between late July and early November of 2014.

This year, the International School of Economics at Tbilisi State University (ISET) admitted nine Armenian students and one from Azerbaijan. They came to Tbilisi for a preparation course in August and all of them applied for residency permits before the first of September. All applications were exactly identical. Out of ten students, seven got their permits, two were denied, and one is still in process.

On April 7, 2014, ISET hosted Dr. Aleksandr Grigoryan from the American University of Armenia, who presented his paper “Who else emigrates from Armenia? Evidence from intentions”. The paper addressed two main questions: what influences decision-making as to whether to migrate? What was the main trend during recent years?