On August 18, 2017, the Public Defender of Georgia addressed the State Security Service of Georgia and the Public Services Development Agency (legal entity of public law) with a recommendation to re-examine the issue of residence permit in Georgia and make a substantiateddecision.

The Public Services Development Agency refused to grant a residence permit of a former citizen of Georgia to a citizen of the Russian Federation due to the state and/or public safety interests. According to the legislation, the State Security Service of Georgia provides information about the existence of security interests to the Public Services Development Agency. The Public Defender of Georgia requested the documents from the State Security Service, which served as basis for refusing R.P. a residence permit due to state and/or public safety interests.

As a result of studying the provided correspondence, the Public Defender of Georgia considered that the abovementioned decision on the refusal of a residence permit was not justified. At the same time, the Agency's decision did not elaborate on the case specified by law, which led to the need to protect the mentioned interest. Thus, by the decision of the State Security Service and the Public Services Development Agency, the applicant was illegally deprived of the right to live in Georgia.

The Public Defender of Georgia underlined the fact that in the present case, the materials of the State Security Service represent confidential information and the legislation limits the possibility of making them available for a party. However, the abovementioned circumstance does not completely exempt the administrative body from the obligations set forth in the legislation, since in similar cases an administrative-legal act should be justified with full observation of the principle of confidentiality and the legal guarantees of the party.

Based on the abovementioned, the Public Defender addressed the State Security Service of Georgia with a recommendation to prepare a new justified document on issuance of a residence permit for R.P. and to submit it to the Agency. According to the same recommendation, the Public Services Development Agency was requested to cancel the decision on the refusal and make a justified decision as a result of studying the case circumstances in the administrative proceedings.