Foreigners Working in Georgia in 2026

The rules introduced from 1 March 2026, together with subsequent amendments, changed how foreign employment and self-employment are assessed. If you work in Georgia, manage a company or provide services to clients abroad, the useful first step is to identify what the current law requires for your actual activity.

Separate your right to stay from permission to work

A visa, visa-free entry and a residence card concern immigration status. The labour-migration rules deal with permission to carry out covered work or entrepreneurial activity. Some people need a work authorisation followed by the appropriate visa or residence application; others fall within an exception.

We check your nationality, present immigration status, contracts, role, employer or client and where the relevant activity takes place. The description “remote worker”, “shareholder” or “director” is not enough to determine the answer on its own.

Current exceptions matter

The current Labour Migration Law includes several exceptions. These include valid investment-residence holders; certain fully remote work for a local employer that does not require entry into Georgia; and work or services for a non-resident connected with that non-resident’s activity outside Georgia. There are also specified management, short-term professional, public-interest and other exceptions.

A freelancer working for overseas clients should therefore have the actual contracts and service arrangements reviewed. The broad statement that every foreign-client freelancer working from Georgia needs the same authorisation is not an accurate summary of the current law.

Corporate management needs the same attention to detail. The law contains an exception for specified management or governance activity at enterprises in the first, second or third reporting category under the Accounting, Reporting and Audit Law. We check the company’s actual classification and your functions before advising.

Employees, entrepreneurs and company owners

For employment covered by the law, the local employer participates in the right-to-work process. A covered self-employed person makes the relevant application on their own basis. Share ownership, management authority and daily paid work should be identified separately, particularly when one person combines all three roles.

Registering a company or individual entrepreneurship does not itself complete an immigration application. We coordinate the company evidence, any required authorisation and the residence paperwork so the documents describe the real business activity.

The 1 January 2027 transition deadline

The statutory transitional provision applies to labour immigrants who had active registration in the ministry’s unified database on 1 March 2026. Those within that provision must obtain the required right to work and appropriate residence permit by 1 January 2027.

Check the registration record, rather than assuming the transition applies because you arrived or started a company before March. A director or founder may have a different record from an employee. We can review the status and help plan any applications before the deadline.

Deadlines after work authorisation

• If the follow-up obligation applies and you are already in Georgia, apply for the appropriate work or IT residence permit within ten calendar days after receiving the right to work.
• If it applies and you are outside Georgia, apply for a D1 immigration visa within thirty calendar days after receiving the right to work.

The law contains exceptions to these follow-up steps, including for a person already holding a qualifying residence permit. This follow-up exception and an exception from the work-authorisation requirement are different questions.

Evidence for an ordinary work residence application

The residence authority checks the appropriate work or business evidence, the applicant’s finances and the employer or enterprise records. The usual annual turnover threshold is GEL 50,000 for each foreign applicant seeking work residence, with a separate GEL 35,000 threshold for qualifying education and medical institutions.

The income test uses five times the subsistence minimum for the average consumer. This is a changing official figure, not the Georgian minimum wage or one permanently fixed bank balance. The application period and the evidence available matter when funds on a personal account are considered.

The IT residence option

The current IT category covers specified technology employees, qualifying small-business individual entrepreneurs and representatives of qualifying international companies, with family provisions. The professional and income evidence for relevant employee and entrepreneur applications includes at least two years of qualifying experience and annual remuneration of at least USD 25,000 equivalent in GEL.

The Agency’s detailed requirements also address the timing of remuneration receipts and the documentary evidence. Initial IT residence is issued for three years, with a separate application schedule from ordinary work residence. We review the qualifying activity, your work-permission position and your evidence together.

What to send for an assessment

• Your passport, present location and immigration documents.
• Your employment contract, client contracts or a description of the services.
• Company or individual-entrepreneur registration and relevant financial records.
• Your actual management duties and the company’s reporting classification, where relevant.
• Any labour-migration registration and work-authorisation records.
• Your entry date, expiry dates and family circumstances.

We can then explain the documents, sequence of applications and professional assistance appropriate to your case.