10,475 Georgian citizens were returned from the European Union in 2025, making Georgians the second-largest group of third-country nationals returned from the bloc, behind 13,405 returns of Turkish citizens, according to the latest data published by Eurostat, the EU’s statistics agency.
According to Eurostat methodology, a “return to a third country” refers to a non-EU citizen who was staying illegally in an EU member state and has officially left the EU territory to go to a country outside of the EU. Across the EU, 135,460 people were returned following an order to leave in 2025, the highest level since 2020. After Turkish and Georgian citizens, the largest groups returned from the EU were Syrians (8,370), Albanians (8,020), and Russians (5,725).
Georgia had ranked first in the previous two years. 12,050 Georgian citizens were returned from the EU in 2024, while the figure stood at 10,360 in 2023.
In total, 14,095 Georgian citizens were ordered to leave the EU in 2025, making Georgians the ninth-largest group on the list. The figure fell from 17,945 in 2024.
Separately, Georgian citizens ranked seventh among nationalities refused entry at the EU’s external borders in 2025, with 4,785 refusals recorded. Of these, 3,635 occurred at air borders, 1,125 at land borders, and 25 at sea borders. The top three nationalities refused entry were Ukrainian, Albanian, and Moldovan citizens.
Across the EU, 132,600 third-country nationals were refused entry into the EU in 2025, up 7.1% compared to 2024. 719,395 third-country nationals were found to be illegally present in the bloc, a 21.7% decrease year-on-year. Germany accounted for the largest share of such cases (23.4%), followed by France (22.2%), Italy (11.5%), Greece (8.5%), and Spain (8.2%).
Note: This article was updated on May 13 at 19:10 to include the number of Georgian citizens ordered to leave the EU in 2025.
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