Stop counting visa days. Get legal residency

Through one of six routes: work, IT, property ownership, investment, family reunification or study. Which one applies depends on your circumstances rather than your preference. Since 1 March 2026, the work and IT routes additionally require a Special Labour Permit, obtained first from a separate ministry.

The government decision takes 10 to 30 days depending on the fee you pay, and 60 to 90 days on the IT route. Realistically, budget six to eight weeks end to end on a work route. The labour permit takes up to 30 days on its own, and an apostilled criminal record certificate from your home country usually takes longer than everything else combined.

Our fees run from $380 for a study permit to $1,070 for the complete self-employed package including a labour permit and Individual Entrepreneur registration. Government fees are separate: $115 for a 30-day decision, up to $230 for 10 days, plus $75 to $155 for the labour permit. Fees are quoted in USD and settled in Georgian lari.

$150,000, from 1 March 2026. It was $100,000 before that date, so treat any lower figure as out of date. The value has to be certified by an assessor accredited through Georgia’s Unified National Accreditation Body, so your purchase price alone is not enough.

Not to be present, and not to work remotely for clients or an employer abroad. Most nationalities get 365 visa-free days, resettable on exit, and an Individual Entrepreneur can be registered and run on that basis indefinitely. People take a residence permit to stop the border runs, to open banking that visa-free status limits, to support a tax residency position, and to start the ten-year count toward permanent residence. A Special Labour Permit is a separate question, and it turns on whether your clients are Georgian.

It is government authorisation for labour activity in Georgia, in force since 1 March 2026 and administered separately from the residence permit. It is required in three cases: a company employing non-Georgian nationals here, an Individual Entrepreneur whose clients are Georgian, and anyone applying for a work or IT residence permit. Outside those three it does not arise, so working remotely for foreign clients does not engage it. An employer with unpermitted foreign staff is fined $765, and $765 again lands on the worker.

At least 40 calendar days before your current lawful stay expires. The Agency refuses to review applications filed inside that window, and it does so routinely. This is the most common avoidable failure in Georgian immigration and it has nothing to do with the strength of your case.

Georgian permanent residence requires ten years of continuous temporary residence. Investment residence permit holders qualify after five years, and the spouse or minor child of a Georgian citizen qualifies immediately.

No, and conflating the two is expensive. Tax residency is a separate test, broadly 183 days of physical presence in a rolling 12-month period. A residence permit supports that position with documentation but does not create it, and plenty of people hold one without being tax resident.

Yes, through family reunification. What you can sponsor depends on your own status: a temporary resident can bring a spouse and minor children on showing accommodation and means, while Georgian citizens and permanent residents can also bring parents and adult children.