Georgia residence permit 2026: grounds, documents, property

The short version: most people get a Georgian residence permit in 2026 on one of four grounds - a job, your own business, buying property, or an investment. You apply at the Public Service Development Agency (the Public Service Hall), and the basic fee is 300 GEL for the standard 30-day track. Two numbers changed and are worth knowing in advance: the property threshold rose to $150,000 on 1 March 2026, and from the same date a work permit for foreigners became mandatory and is issued separately from the permit itself.

Checked on 08.07.2026. This is general reference information, not legal or tax advice. Permit types, amounts and fees all change, and the rules were reworked heavily in 2025-2026. Before you apply, check the requirements for your own case at sda.gov.ge (residence permits) and rs.ge (tax), and take borderline situations to a local lawyer. A permit refusal in Georgia can come without a detailed explanation, so assemble your documents for one specific ground rather than “roughly”.

What you can base a permit on

All permit types are listed in Article 15 of the Law on the Legal Status of Aliens. There are more than a dozen, but only a few really apply to newcomers:

• Work permit - if you are formally employed by a Georgian company or run a business here.
• Property permit (short-term) - if you own residential or commercial property worth the required amount.
• Investment permit - for a large investment in a business or expensive property.
• IT specialist permit - a separate category since September 2025, aimed at tech workers and IT businesses.
• Study and family reunification - for study at an accredited university and for family members of someone who already holds a permit.

Separate from these are the permanent and indefinite permits - the next step, reached after years here or through investment status. One thing newcomers confuse: holding a permit does not automatically make you a tax resident, and living here long-term makes you one even without a permit - more on that below.

Documents, fees and timing

The document pack depends on the ground, but every permit type shares a base: an application form, a copy of your passport, proof that you are lawfully in Georgia when you file, a colour photo 3x4 cm (electronic), and a fee payment receipt. Each ground then adds its own papers: a purchase contract and valuation report for property, an employment contract and turnover evidence for work, and so on. Always check the full list for your case on sda.gov.ge - it changes.

The fee depends not on the permit type but on how fast you want the decision:

• 300 GEL - a decision within 30 calendar days (the standard rate);
• 450 GEL - within 20 days;
• 600 GEL - within 10 days.

Permanent and indefinite permits cost a little more (350 GEL for 30 days, 500 GEL for 20). The IT permit has its own scale: 500 GEL for 90 days and 750 GEL for 60. Amounts get revised periodically, so confirm the current rate on sda.gov.ge before you pay. And plan for more than “exactly 30 days”: gathering, translating and apostilling documents from home often takes longer than the review itself.

While your permit is processed, and especially if you cross the border and re-enter, keep a valid health insurance policy on hand: since 1 January 2026 it is required for your whole stay and checked on every entry. How entry works and what else you need at the border is covered in Do you need a visa for Georgia.

Property permit: the threshold is now $150,000

This is the most popular route among relocators, and it is where the headline number changed in 2026. The short-term ownership permit goes to a foreigner who owns property in Georgia (except agricultural land) with a market value over $150,000 in the GEL equivalent, and it also covers a spouse and children.

The key change: on 1 March 2026 the threshold went up from $100,000 to $150,000. The old $100,000 only survives as an exception - for deals where ownership was registered before 1 March 2026, even if you apply later. If you are buying now, aim for $150,000, not the old figure from last year’s articles - that is exactly the trap that catches people out.

Three more things to know before you buy:

• A valuer confirms the value, not the contract price. You need a valuation report from a certified assessor accredited by Georgia’s Unified National Accreditation Body, and the market figure can differ from what you paid.
• The threshold is counted in total. You can reach $150,000 across several properties, not just one flat - as long as everything is registered to you and valued.
• The permit lives as long as the ownership does. It is granted for 1 year and renewed a year at a time; the moment you sell, the ground for the permit disappears.

If you need property just to live somewhere while your paperwork goes through, see the breakdown of long-term rental in Georgia - deposit, contract and real prices by city are covered there.

Investment permit: $300,000 and the path to indefinite status

For larger sums it makes sense to look past the short-term permit at the investment permit. It is granted for an investment of $300,000 or more - either into a Georgian company (property on the balance sheet, loans, a deposit and so on) or into ownership of property worth over $300,000. The difference is fundamental: it is issued for 5 years straight away, not one.

Then there is a fork. If after 5 years you still own that property, you get a permanent (indefinite) permit. If you went the business route, you also have to meet minimum annual company turnover: $50,000 in year one, $100,000 in year two, and $120,000 in years three to five. Meet those and you move to indefinite status too. It is the most durable of the “money” routes, but the entry bar matches.

Work and business permits: what changed on 1 March

This is the big news of 2026, and it touches almost anyone planning to work or run a business here. From 1 March 2026 a work permit for foreigners became mandatory. You used to be able to register as a sole trader or work without a separate permit - now the process has two stages. Who actually needs the permit after the April amendments, what it costs and how the self-employed apply is covered in our guide to the Georgia work permit 2026.

It works like this:

1. First, the right to work or run a business. Issued by the relevant ministry through the labour-migration portal (labourmigration.moh.gov.ge); the review takes up to 30 days. The self-employed and sole traders can apply themselves.
2. Then the residence permit. If you are already in Georgia, once you have the right to work you have 10 days to apply for a work permit (or IT specialist permit). If you are abroad, you apply for a D1 immigration visa within 30 days.

The work permit requirements are essentially unchanged: income of at least five times the subsistence minimum a month (by the last known figure roughly 1,150-1,500 GEL, but this is revised periodically - check the current one on sda.gov.ge) and an employer’s annual turnover of at least 50,000 GEL per foreign employee (35,000 GEL for educational and medical institutions).

A note on sole traders and small business: if you work for yourself, you get the right to work through the ministry portal, then apply for a work permit on the basis of your business. That is why registering a sole trader “in a day and getting to work” no longer flies - the permit comes first, the status second. How that business is then taxed - 1% small business, 0% micro and where the 1% quietly turns into 20% - is covered separately in Georgia tax for sole traders.

Breaking this is expensive: a fine of 2,000 GEL for a foreigner working illegally, the same again for the employer, rising to 4,000 GEL for a second breach and 12,000 GEL for a third within a year, and in serious cases deportation and refusal to renew. For people already in the ministry’s register of labour migrants as of 1 March 2026, there is a transition period - until 1 January 2027.

A practical step worth taking early is opening a local bank account: it is a convenient way to prove income and turnover. How that works for foreigners, and what banks usually ask for, is in How to open a bank account in Georgia.

IT specialist permit

If you work in IT, since September 2025 there has been a dedicated category - the residence permit for people employed in information technology. It targets IT-sector employees, owners of small IT businesses and administrators of international IT companies, plus their families. The requirements are specific: at least 2 years of experience and annual income of at least $25,000 (or the GEL equivalent). The fee is its own: 500 GEL for 90 days or 750 GEL for 60. For IT freelancers and remote workers this is often a more direct route than the general work permit.

Permanent and indefinite permits

This is not a separate “fast” method but a result. The permanent permit goes to the spouse or minor child of a Georgian citizen, to the parent of a minor citizen, and to a foreigner who has lived here for 10 years on a temporary permit. The indefinite permit goes to investment-permit holders who met the turnover conditions or kept their property for 5 years, and to their families. For most arrivals the path is the same: a temporary permit on one of the grounds above, years of renewals, and only then permanent status.

183 days: when you become a tax resident

This is the part people forget most often, and it is separate from the permit. Length of stay and tax status are governed by different laws. Under the Tax Code (as set out by PwC and OECD), an individual is a tax resident of Georgia if they were physically present for 183 days or more in any continuous 12-month period ending in the current tax year. Days on visa-free entry count too.

Here is what matters and is not obvious:

• A permit and tax residency are not the same thing. You can hold a permit and not be a tax resident (if you spend little time here), or spend 183 days with no permit and become a resident automatically. Two separate counters.
• There is a route without 183 days - the HNWI mechanism. You can get a tax-residency certificate without spending half a year here if you have substantial assets (by Georgian rules, worldwide assets from 3 million GEL or annual income from 200,000 GEL in each of the last three years, plus confirmed assets from $500,000 in Georgia and Georgian-source income). It is renewed annually - a niche option for the wealthy, but worth knowing about.
• The certificate itself is issued by the Revenue Service (rs.ge) - online or in person; in practice it takes from a few weeks to a couple of months.

If you plan to spend most of the year here, reach day 183 already knowing whether any of your income is declarable in Georgia. A full breakdown of the rule is in How long you can stay in Georgia visa-free and what counts as leaving; the point here is simple: a permit settles legal residence, but it does not cancel or replace your tax status.

An honest word on 2026’s hurdles

It is worth saying plainly: getting a residence permit in Georgia has become noticeably stricter. Through 2025-2026 the authorities reworked the migration rules, and in practice that means a few things. Police clearance certificates and extra supporting documents are requested more often. The number of refusals has risen, including on grounds of “state interest” - and such a refusal can lawfully come without a detailed justification. The official reason: far more foreigners were entering than were registered as labour migrants, and the state moved to close that gap.

The takeaway is practical: do not apply on a hope. Decide on your ground in advance, gather documents for that ground specifically, translate and apostille whatever you need from home, and keep a police clearance certificate ready. The overall logic of relocating - from entry and connectivity to housing and money - is easy to walk through in the relocation section.

In short: what to remember

Getting a Georgian permit in 2026 is still realistic, but two numbers and one rule have changed:

• Grounds for most people are work, business, property, investment or IT; the fee starts at 300 GEL, decision usually up to 30 days.
• Property: the threshold since 1 March 2026 is $150,000 (was $100,000), a one-year permit with renewals, value confirmed by an accredited valuer.
• Investment: from $300,000 - 5 years straight away and a path to indefinite status.
• Work and business: since 1 March 2026 a work permit is mandatory and issued separately (first the right to work, then the permit); the fine for working without one is 2,000 GEL.
• 183 days in any 12-month period make you a tax resident, permit or no permit.

Above all: the rules here are a moving target. Anything to do with amounts, deadlines and document lists should be checked on sda.gov.ge and rs.ge before you file, and anything non-standard is best left to a local lawyer - cheaper than fixing a refusal.