Georgian Immigration Law and process of obtaining residence permit in Georgia

Basic types of Residence Permit in Georgia, Tbilisi

If you are planning to apply for Georgian residence permit, Georgia offers several types of temporary residency permits; the most popular ones are:

Work Residence permit (For those with a work contract or business in Georgia)
Short-term residence permit (based on property ownership)
Residence permit for family reunification
Other types of residence permits (including student residency permits)

Useful Information about Residence Permit in Georgia, Tbilisi

Temporary residence permits are first issued for a period of 6 to 12 months. They may then be extended for an additional period of 1 to 5 years.

Additional extensions can be issued but the total period of issuance of a temporary residence permit in Georgia should not exceed 12 years. After 10 years you would be expected to apply for permanent residency.

For any temporary residence application, your current document proving you are legally in the country (Passport stamp, previous temporary residence permit, visa, etc) must have at least 40 days validity remaining.

First-time applications must be made from within Georgia (with a client presence).

Renewals of an existing permit can be made online from outside Georgia, providing at least 40 days validity remaining on that existing permit.

Who can apply for residence Permit in Georgia?

1. Business / Work residence permit in Georgia, Tbilisi

The work residence permit is granted to individuals who are coming to Georgia due to their entrepreneurial or labor activities. In order to qualify and apply:

Either you must have an employment contract with at least 6 months remaining
OR a document proving ownership of the sponsoring LLC or Individual Entrepreneur (ie. registration documents of the LLC or IE ) & proof of sufficient funds to support oneself for the duration of the residence permit (6 to 12 months for the first permit, up to 11 years for future permits).
Turnover (within any 12 month period) of the sponsoring LLC or IE should exceed 50,000 GEL for each foreigner (owner or employee) in the business – even if those foreigners already have a residence permit via other means. If you are employed at an educational institution or medical facility, your total turnover should exceed 35,000 GEL per applicant.

Turnover can be proven by any of the following:

1. Copy of your VAT turnover statements from the revenue service.

2. Bank statement of your Georgian Business Bank Account in GEL. For IE’s there is some limited scope to use your IE account in some cases, seek advice on this topic.

3. A licensed auditor verifying turnover paid into your foreign bank accounts.

To apply, the following documents should be submitted:

All documents should include a Georgian language version. If the original document is not in Georgian, a legal translation should be included.

Extract from the Registry of Entrepreneurs and Non-Entrepreneurial (Non-Commercial) Legal Entities
Copy of a travel document of the applicant (normally a passport). For the first application, a translated version is normally required. For renewal, so long as you use the same passport, simply a photocopy or the original is sufficient.
Copy of a document certifying the applicants’ legal stay in Georgia (with at least 40 days validity);
Document certifying employment or entrepreneurial activity with net income of at least 5 x Georgian subsistence income per month (labor contract or any other document certifying employment or business ownership). As of June 2021, this amount is 1,028 GEL per month. If this document does not include the legal income of the applicant, proof of sufficient funds can be provided instead.
A document stating how many foreigners are working with IE or in LLC (Signed by a company director and the company accountant)
Document showing total turnover of the LLC or Individual Entrepreneur, as detailed above.
Photo of applicant 3×4 in size;
Receipt certifying the payment of service fees.
You can get the answer on your application within a maximum of 30 days and a minimum of 10 days.

2. Short-term residence permit based on property ownership in Georgia

The short-term residence permit is issued to the person – and his/her family members (dependants or spouse only) – who, according to the rule established by Georgian legislation have the right to immovable property (except for agricultural land), with the market price above 100,000 USD equivalent in GEL. This can be a single property or a portfolio of property with a total value exceeding the threshold.

Note: If you receive residency and subsequently your property is sold or valued below the threshold, your residence becomes automatically invalid.

To grant a short-term residence permit, the market value of the property shall be established by a certified assessor of a body accredited by the Legal Entity under the Public Law Unified National Accreditation Body – Accreditation Centre.

The following documents should be submitted:

Copy of a travel document of the applicant (property owner);
Copy of a document certifying the applicants’ legal stay in Georgia (technically with at least 7 days validity for this type of residency only – though they sometimes request 40 days, so we’d advise always applying early);
A document proving that the applicant owns the immovable property with the value exceeding GEL equivalent of 100,000 USD in the territory of Georgia.
A document certifying the market value of the property; market value determined by the certified appraiser of the accredited body of the legal entity of public law – the Unified National Accreditation Body – Accreditation Center.
Photo 3×4 in size;
Receipt certifying the payment of service fee for the application.

In the event that family members of the property owner also wish to gain residency, their documents must also be provided: Travel document (passport), proof of kinship (birth certificate, marriage certificate etc.), photo 3×4, proof of legal stay in Georgia (if applicable).
Your application done for you? See our residency application service.

3. Residence permit for family reunification

The residence permit for family reunification is issued to family members of a foreigner already holding a residence permit in Georgia or to family members (Children/dependants & Spouse, only) of a Georgian Citizen. The person who already has residence/citizenship would be considered the “sponsor” of those applying.

To obtain a residence permit for family reunification, a the foreign applicant must submit the following documents to the Agency:

Copy of a travel document of the applicant (normally a passport);
Copy of a document certifying the applicants’ legal stay in Georgia (with at least 40 days validity)
A document proving the relationship (might be a marriage or birth certificate);
Proof of income or sufficient funds. Either the sponsor or applicant must provide documentation (eg. employment contract) showing they have an income of at least 400 GEL per month for the length of the permit.
OR the applicant can show they have a Georgian bank account with a total amount exceeding 400 GEL times the number of months of the duration of the permit (ie. For a 6 month permit a Georgian bank account in their name with at least 2,400 GEL)
Photo of applicant 3×4 in size;
Receipt certifying payment of the service fees.
To get a residence permit for family reunification, applicants should already be in Georgia, if they are applying for the first time. However, if they are applying to extend a current residence permit, they can submit an online application from abroad.

4. Other types of residence permits

a) The special residence permit is issued to a foreign citizen who might be a victim of human trafficking. Such instances are specified in the Law of Georgia on Combating Human trafficking.

b) Study (Education) residence permit is granted to persons coming to Georgia to study at authorized educational institutions, typically at a university level.

To apply, you need:

Copy of travel document.
Copy of document proving legal stay in Georgia – with 40 days validity. (Visa or visa stamp) – though there are options if you have even just 1-day validity, that requires an additional process
Certificate issued by an educational institution authorized in Georgia on the study of a foreigner (indicating the estimated duration of the study).
Proof of sufficient funds (around 500 GEL per month, proved by the applicant’s bank statement. If the applicant has a relative who has the income in Georgia, the applicant might use a document that shows the income of the relative submitted with the relevant document proving the relationship between those two)
Photos size 3/4.

c) Temporary residence permit is issued to a foreigner, who according to the Law of Georgia on the elimination of Domestic Violence, Protection of and Support to its Victims, has been recognized as a victim of domestic violence;