Georgian Residency for Foreigners — Visa, Permit, Tax Residency Pathways

What you get#

Five areas cover most foreign professionals' Georgian residency questions. Visa & Entry for short stays. Legal Residency for those building Georgian operational presence. Tax Residency for those planning Georgian fiscal status. Work Permit for the narrow set of activities that require one. Citizenship for the long-path question.

Most foreign professionals don't need all five. The right combination depends on operational profile, intended time-in-Georgia, and whether Georgian tax residency or eventual citizenship is on the table. Residency Scoping is the entry-point engagement that maps your situation to the path or paths that matter.

What we do#

We map your situation through a structured Residency Scoping engagement, scope the specific application work needed, then handle the application end-to-end through Power of Attorney where the residency type allows. Some pathways require physical presence — initial property residence applications at SDA, HNW Tax Residency initial certificate collection — and we surface those during scoping rather than discovering them mid-application.

Sub-pages cover the specific mechanics and per-application timeline for each area.

The five areas we work through#

Visa & Entry — pricing on request#

Visa-free entry from 95+ countries for stays up to 1 year. C-series and D-series visas for specific entry purposes. The C-5 short-stay-with-remote-work visa added in April 2026 for non-resident-employer remote workers. For most 1-year-visa-free clients no application is needed at all.

Legal Residency — pricing on request#

Four pathways: property (USD 150,000+ purchase), work (IE-grounded under Article 15(a)), investment (opens 5-year accelerated permanent residence track), and IT residence (Article 15(l)). Initial application requires physical presence at SDA Public Service Hall; renewals via Power of Attorney. Counts toward the 10-year continuous residence threshold for permanent residence.

Tax Residency — from €490#

Two routes: standard 183-day rule (filed via Power of Attorney for clients reaching 183 days through business or lifestyle presence; from €490) or HNW Tax Residency Programme (three-layer framework: global wealth or income, USD 500,000+ Georgian assets with crypto excluded, Georgian connection; pricing on request). Independent of legal residency.

Work Permit — from €290#

Most foreign founders, IE holders, and LLC directors are categorically exempt under Article 1.3 sub-clauses or Article 13⁹. We confirm exemption with documented evidence at €290 — the entire engagement for most clients. For non-exempt cases (employment by a Georgian employer outside founder roles, certain regulated professions), the full application engagement runs from €1,130 plus GEL state fees.

Citizenship — pricing on request#

Discretionary 10+ year path requiring continuous lawful residence, language and history tests, and presidential approval. Default position is single citizenship under Article 3(2). Most foreign professionals engaging Georgia for tax residency or business operations do not pursue citizenship; the realistic near-term question is usually about Tax Residency or Legal Residency. For multi-decade Georgian commitment plans, we coordinate the residence-permit-to-permanent-residence-to-citizenship pathway.

Not sure which applies?#

Most foreign professionals start with the Visa & Entry framework while assessing whether Georgian operations warrant legal residency. Legal Residency fits when you're building Georgian operational presence (property, work, investment, IT). Tax Residency is the separate fiscal-status question — independent of legal residency. Work Permit is rarely needed by foreign founders (most are exempt). Citizenship is a long-path question typically explored after years of legal residency.

For a structured walk-through, the Residency Scoping engagement is the entry point. Itemised pricing and government fees live on /pricing/residency.

Why Happy Georgia#

Independent advisory. No tied immigration services, no commission for steering you toward residency engagements you don't need. Our recommended path for many readers is "your existing visa-free regime + your founder exemption from work permit + no residence permit needed yet" — the actually-correct minimal answer when that's what fits, even though it means smaller engagement.

Foreign clients only. Our entire practice is foreigners setting up in Georgia. We've worked through the residency-mapping conversation for a Berlin freelancer with a foreign-client IE (visa-free + work-permit exempt + no residence permit yet), the Tel Aviv founder of a Georgian VZ LLC pursuing residency to ground HNW Tax Residency Layer 3 (visa-free + LLC director exempt + property residence permit + HNW programme), the Singapore-based investor planning long-term Georgian presence (visa-free + investment residence permit + tax-residency planning + future citizenship pathway). Different configurations, different answers.

Fixed pricing, no tourist tax. Residency Scoping across the five areas is fixed-price. Specific engagement pricing depends on the path that fits — residence permit, tax residency certificate, work permit application support, C-5 or D-series visa support are each separately quoted. We quote in EUR, we honor the quote, no surprises later.

Trusted by clients across Western Europe, Israel, the UK, Singapore, and beyond.

Frequently asked questions#

Which residency areas matter for my situation?#

Depends on three factors: how much time you intend to spend in Georgia annually, whether Georgian tax residency is on the table, and whether you're building operational presence (company, employment, property). The Residency Scoping engagement maps your situation across the 5 areas in 60-90 minutes and surfaces which specific applications are warranted. For most foreign professionals 2-3 of the 5 areas turn out to be relevant.

Are legal residency and tax residency the same thing?#

No. Legal residency is a permit issued by the State Migration Service granting the right to live in Georgia legally. Tax residency is a fiscal status determined by the Revenue Service based on physical presence (183-day rule) or qualifying under the HNW Programme. You can hold one without the other. Foreign professionals frequently become Georgian tax residents while holding their original country's legal residence; foreign professionals also commonly hold Georgian residence permits without triggering Georgian tax residency.

How does Residency interact with Company Setup, Banking, and Services?#

Residency commonly follows Setup but isn't tied to it. IE registration creates the basis for the work-grounded legal residency pathway under Article 15(a). Banking is independent for personal accounts; corporate banking for foreign-owned LLCs requires substance which sometimes overlaps with residency planning.

What's the typical timeline from first engagement to residency permit in hand?#

Varies by pathway: 1-3 months for work residence (IE-grounded) at the fast end; 3-6 months for investment residence at the slow end. Property and IT residence typically 2-4 months. The Residency Scoping engagement surfaces the realistic timeline for your specific path.

What about HNW Tax Residency planning over multiple years?#

HNW Programme positioning often takes multi-year planning — building Georgian-located assets to satisfy Layer 2 (USD 500,000+, crypto excluded), establishing Georgian connection through residency or income, and timing the application to align with the Revenue Service review window. Initial assessment is part of Residency Scoping; the multi-year structuring is scoped separately.

Ready to map your situation#

Book a free consultation. We map your situation across the 5 areas, identify which applications matter for your specific profile, confirm pricing, and schedule the Residency Scoping engagement to formalize the path.

Georgian residency, mapped to your situation.