A Georgia Residence Permit Through Your Own Company: Routes, Conditions and Honest Odds
The work residence permit through your own Georgian LLC, the investment and property routes, family reunification, the legal framework behind them, what each one actually requires, and the reasons applications fail - with worked examples and our fixed fees.
Registering a Georgian company and living in Georgia are two different legal questions, and founders regularly conflate them. The company takes a day; the right to reside is governed by the Law of Georgia on the Legal Status of Aliens and Stateless Persons, decided by the Public Service Development Agency, and granted on conditions. On the work route the first of them, since 1 March 2026, is the right to work under the Law on Labour Migration; once a company is more than three months old, its real turnover is the test. This guide sets out the routes, the conditions in outline, and where applications genuinely fail.
Many nationalities may stay in Georgia visa-free for a full year, which means a permit is often about stability - a residence card, breaking the annual reset, a path to permanence - rather than about lawful presence tomorrow. A founder who works in Georgia is in a different position: since 1 March 2026 the activity needs the right to work together with a residence permit or a D1 visa, unless an exemption applies. Knowing which problem you are solving changes which route is worth paying for.
Who decides, and under what law
Residence permits in Georgia are issued under the Law of Georgia on the Legal Status of Aliens and Stateless Persons. The deciding body is the Public Service Development Agency, an agency of the Ministry of Justice. It is an administrative decision made on documentary evidence: the agency is not persuaded by intention or by the fact of incorporation, only by what the file proves. That framing matters, because it explains why, once its first three months have passed, a company with no turnover to show fails the work route no matter how genuine the founder's plans are.
The routes, side by side
| Route | Basis | Ordinary validity | The condition that decides it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work residence permit | The right to work under the Law on Labour Migration, as an employee or as the manager of your own company | 6-12 months, renewable; 6 months for a first permit without turnover proof | The right to work first; then the entity's annual turnover of at least GEL 50,000 for each foreigner applying, not asked for a first permit while the entity is up to three months old and employs no more than three foreigners |
| Investment permit | Investment of at least USD 300,000, or real property worth more than USD 300,000 | 5 years | Evidence of the investment and, each year, the turnover the Law sets; for property, an appraisal and continued ownership |
| Short-term (property) | Real property other than agricultural land, with a market value above USD 150,000 | 1 year, renewable | Accredited market-value appraisal and continued ownership |
| Family reunification | Family member of a permit holder | Matches the principal | Legalised, translated proof of relationship |
| Permanent residence | Long lawful residence or investment-route maturity | Indefinite | Continuity of lawful residence |
The founder route: a work residence permit through your own LLC
The standard path for our clients is the work residence permit as the manager of their own company. Since 1 March 2026 it starts with the right to work under the Law on Labour Migration: as the Law reads at the time of writing, the permit is issued to a foreigner who has already obtained that right (unless that Law exempts the person), and a person already in Georgia applies for the permit within 10 calendar days of obtaining that right unless they already hold a residence permit. The economic test sits in the file: Revenue Service proof that the company's annual turnover is at least GEL 50,000 for each foreigner applying, the same level for a founder as for hired staff, and monthly income of at least five times the subsistence minimum. A new company has one concession: while it is no more than three months old and employs no more than three foreigners, a first permit is issued without the turnover proof, for six months. So the honest sequence is now company first, the right to work and the permit inside its first three months, and genuine trading before the renewal, which needs the turnover.
A work residence permit is issued to an alien who has obtained the right to work. In cases defined by a resolution of the Government it may also be issued to a person who carries out in Georgia an activity to which the Law on Labour Migration does not apply. To obtain the permit the alien files with the Public Service Development Agency the documents defined by a resolution of the Government.
The documents a work-route file has to carry
The file is judged on the documents the Government's rule lists and on ordinary but unforgiving formalities. The recurring requirements are these:
- A passport valid well beyond the permit period requested, with clean margins for the visa or card.
- Revenue Service proof that the company's annual turnover is at least GEL 50,000 for each foreigner applying (GEL 35,000 for educational and medical institutions), or certificates for the previous 12 months if the company is not registered for VAT. For a first permit in the company's first three months, the company's certificate of how many foreigners it employs takes its place.
- The decision granting the right to work, unless the Agency can verify it electronically, and proof of your activity and role in the company - founder, director or employee, consistently across the documents.
- A criminal-record certificate where required, legalised (apostille or consular legalisation) and translated by a certified translator.
- Proof of monthly income of at least five times the subsistence minimum (the balance on your personal bank account can count), proof of address in Georgia, and the standard identity and photograph requirements the agency sets.
Timing and the two tracks
Applications are filed at the Public Service Development Agency, which offers a regular and an expedited track at different state fees; the faster track shortens the decision window but does not change the evidence required. Renewals are applications in their own right, not administrative rollovers, and should be started well before expiry so the same current evidence can be assembled without a gap in status. We start renewals at least 40 days before expiry for exactly this reason.
An IT founder who timed it right
A founder registers an LLC in month 0 and will manage it from Tbilisi. In the same weeks they apply for the right to work as the manager of a small company, and within 10 days of the grant they file for the work residence permit, all inside the company's first three months.
- 1Eligibility pre-check against the rules in force, before any state fee is paid: the company is under three months old and employs no other foreigner.
- 2The right to work: the founder applies in person, as a self-employed foreigner, with the company's registry extract; no turnover proof is asked in the company's first three months.
- 3File build for the permit: passport margins, the right-to-work decision, proof of monthly income of five times the subsistence minimum from a personal bank balance, the company's certificate of its foreign staff.
- 4Filing at the Public Service Development Agency within 10 calendar days of the grant, with the state fee paid; a first permit without turnover proof is issued for six months.
- 5As the Government's right-to-work rule reads, a first right to work takes effect on the day the permit is received. From then on the founder runs the company and it invoices real clients, and the renewal date goes onto the deadline board.
A six-month permit obtained in the company's first three months, without turnover proof. The renewal will need turnover of at least GEL 50,000 a year for each foreigner applying, and the same file started in month five would have needed it from the start.
Illustrative, on the Law and the Government's rules as they read in October 2026; they do not say on which day the three months are counted, so the founder files early. Eligibility is decided on the facts and the thresholds in force at the time of filing.
Why applications fail
- A company past its first three months with no turnover to show - from then on the turnover level is the test, not the certificate of incorporation.
- Documents that are not legalised or not translated by a certified translator.
- Applying on the wrong basis, from the wrong immigration status, without the right to work, or more than 10 days after it was granted.
- Passport validity margins that do not cover the permit period requested.
- Renewals started too late: a renewal is an application, not a formality, and it needs the same evidence current, including the turnover proof that a first six-month permit did without.
No provider controls the outcome, including us. The Public Service Development Agency decides. Anyone selling a "guaranteed" Georgian residence permit is selling something they do not have.
Next step
Preparing the application properly
Most refusals on this route come from the file rather than the facts: the turnover evidence, the employment documents and the translations. Trustlex prepares the application and says honestly what the odds look like.
See the residence permit routeResidence permit is not tax residency
The renewal refused because the company never traded
A founder registers an LLC only to support a work residence permit. In its first three months it carries a first six-month permit without turnover proof; after that nothing happens in the company.
- 1The first permit rested on a concession for new companies, not on the company's activity: the turnover proof is waived once.
- 2At renewal the file needs Revenue Service proof of annual turnover of at least GEL 50,000 for each foreigner applying, and the extension of the right to work asks for the same; the company has none.
- 3The renewal is refused, and a refusal sits on the applicant's record for the next attempt.
- 4The company itself remains, with its filing obligations, serving no purpose it was created for.
The company has to exist for a business reason that survives inspection. A company built solely as a permit instrument can carry a first permit for six months, then fails as a permit instrument and leaves compliance obligations behind.
Illustrative. Criteria and evidentiary expectations for each route change and are applied case by case.
A residence permit is an immigration status; Georgian tax residency ordinarily follows from presence for 183 days or more in any continuous 12-month period, with a separate high-net-worth route. You can hold a permit and remain tax-resident elsewhere, or become Georgian tax-resident with no permit at all on visa-free presence. Model the two questions separately - the article on Georgian tax residency covers the second.
What Trustlex does, and our fees
€120
Eligibility pre-check
Written route and odds; credited against the full service
From €650
Founder / work route
File build, filing and follow-up to decision
From €300
Renewal
Started 40+ days before expiry, tracked on the deadline board
Family members are from €350 each; investment-route advisory is quoted after legal review. Government fees are passed through at cost, and VAT applies to Trustlex professional fees only. Where we assess your odds as poor, we say so in the pre-check and decline to invoice the full service - a refusal costs you a state fee and months, and costs us a client.