In March 2022, about forty people were already waiting outside a Credo Bank branch in Tbilisi, Georgia, half an hour before it opened. All were from Russia or Belarus, and some were making a third consecutive attempt to open an account. Only four people could enter at a time. After receiving a number, applicants continued in another, virtual queue.
Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, sanctions made Russian-issued cards difficult to use abroad, while people who had moved to Georgia needed local accounts. On the day reported, the numbering had reached 642; the previous day it had reached 695. Each application took about thirty minutes, and staff continued working after the official closing time.
What distinguishes this queue is the need to rebuild access to money immediately after crossing a border. A bank account was not merely a convenient product. It was infrastructure for paying rent, buying necessities and beginning life in a new city. A vast geopolitical rupture was compressed into forty people outside a door and a numbered ticket.