Tourists with beards not allowed in Georgia

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Georgia is not a welcoming holiday vacation destination if you have a long beard and reside in the United Arab Emirates.

Georgia is not a welcoming holiday vacation destination if you have a long beard and reside in the United Arab Emirates.

A family of four, a banker family from Dubai were looking forward to a relaxing holiday including skiing in the country of Georgia.

Georgia, a country at the intersection of Europe and Asia, is a former Soviet republic thatโ€™s home to Caucasus Mountain villages and Black Sea beaches. Itโ€™s famous for Vardzia, a sprawling cave monastery dating to the 12th century, and the ancient wine-growing region Kakheti. The capital, Tbilisi, is known for the diverse architecture and mazelike, cobblestone streets of its old town.Georgia is known for skiing and is promoting the destination for travel and tourism.

Faizan Hassan, a Pakistani HR manager at a UAE bank in Dubai, said he, his wife and two sons โ€“ aged six months and five years โ€“ flew from Dubai to the Georgian capital Tbilisi on December 18 for a winter holiday on a Fly Dubai flight.

After arriving at Tbilisi international airport the family was treated rudely by officials in Tbilisi and refused an explanation.

For the family, it also meant $3,250 worth of holiday expenses going to waste. They had put money aside for this vacation for some time.

However, an official at the Georgian embassy in Kuwait, which is accredited to the UAE, denied the claims and told UAE newspaper Gulf News by phone that โ€œan explanation is provided to those denied entryโ€.

โ€œAll persons traveling to Georgia may or may not be allowed entry, as per the Ministry of Internal Affairs,โ€ he added.

UAE residents are not required to apply for a visa before leaving for Georgia, but this is a repeat case of a denial to enter the country of Georgia.

In October, an Indian chartered accountant who lives in Ajman, said he was denied entry without an explanation.

Jainulabedin Hakimji, 36, had then told Gulf News he believes he was barred because of his long beard.

Hakimji said his clean-shaven friend who was with him was allowed in.

Hassan, who said he was born and brought up in the UAE, added that there were three other families โ€“ of Pakistani and Syrian nationality โ€“ who experienced โ€œexactly the same storyโ€ on December 18.

He told Golf News:

โ€œUpon arriving at [Tbilisi] airport we proceeded to the passport control and there, just by looking at our passports, the officer rudely told us to go to the last counter. We were then told to go and stand at a waiting point.

โ€œDuring our one-hour wait, three more families โ€“ Pakistani and Syrian families with children โ€“ were asked to wait with us. They then took us to the transit area and handed us boarding passes to return to Dubai without any reason. At this point I demanded a reason and they said โ€˜itโ€™s by [order of] the government of Georgia; you do not meet the profile requirementsโ€™.

โ€œI asked for the requirements and then they called the police. All of a sudden we felt as if we were criminals. My children started to cry and they [officials] said do not do this drama because if we donโ€™t board the flight, the police will take us to a โ€˜special roomโ€™ till the next flight. We boarded the same flight we came from and our passports were handed over back in Dubai.โ€

Hassan said he emailed a complaint to the Georgian embassy in Kuwait on December 19 but has not received a response yet.

He added that an official from the Georgian National Tourism Administration (GNTA) has replied to his email to GNTA, apologizing that their trip โ€œwas ruinedโ€.

GNTA assuredโ€œreligion is not a reason of rejection to cross the [Georgian] borderโ€.

โ€œBut no one asked for my documents and didnโ€™t even give me the chance to show my documents, except my passport. The authorities did not look at my ticket or hotel booking or travel insurance or my financial/property documents or the NOC letter from my company,โ€ Hassan added.

About the author

Avatar of Juergen T Steinmetz

Juergen T Steinmetz

Juergen Thomas Steinmetz has continuously worked in the travel and tourism industry since he was a teenager in Germany (1977).
He founded eTurboNews in 1999 as the first online newsletter for the global travel tourism industry.

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