A French applicant has the shortest document chain of any origin we handle, and the highest chance of being sent to an office that no longer does the job. Apostille competence moved out of the courts of appeal on 1 May 2025, so any instruction telling you to write to a procureur général describes a system that has been switched off. Here is the current route, and the one French tax rule that decides whether you should sell anything before you go.
Can you enter Georgia, and for how long?
Yes, for one full year at a time. The French Republic appears on the list annexed to the Georgian ordinance approving visa-free entry, which fixes the permitted stay at one full year and was last amended on 24 February 2026. We read that text on 1 August 2026, and it is the instrument Georgian border officers apply rather than any summary of it.
That single fact shapes the whole plan. Because you can be lawfully present for a year without asking anyone, the sensible sequence is to land, assemble documents locally and file at a Public Service Hall. Applying through a Georgian mission in France is available and slower, and it takes away your ability to correct a queried document in person.
One condition attaches to the entry itself. Every visitor from 2026 needs travel or health insurance carrying at least GEL 30,000 of cover, checked at the border under the 2026 insurance rule. And the year of visa-free stay, resettable though it is, is presence rather than status, so it accrues nothing toward permanent residence.
Which route actually fits a French applicant
Georgia's routes, thresholds and government fees do not change with your passport. What changes is how much paper has to cross a border, and for a French applicant that quantity is unusually small.
The property route at $150,000 and the investment route need no home-country criminal record certificate, which for most nationalities is the decisive scheduling advantage. It is worth less to you than to almost anyone else, because your certificate is free and fast. Choose those routes on their merits rather than on speed.
Everyone else lands on the work or IT routes, and since 1 March 2026 both sit behind a second permit. The Special Labour Permit is a prerequisite rather than a parallel filing, so a residence permit application submitted before the labour permit has been granted produces a refusal. French freelancers invoicing Paris clients from a Tbilisi flat are inside that sequence too once they decide they want the card, though foreign clients on their own engage no permit at all.
The IT residence permit fits a large part of the French cohort here, at $25,000 of annual income, two years of experience and a three-year term. Its condition of 183 days a year in Georgia reads as a burden and functions as an asset, because it is the cleanest evidence available that your centre of interests has actually moved. The detail of what counts as qualifying work is in the IT permit guide.
Your document chain, and the office that no longer exists
Two documents and one recent change account for everything a French applicant needs to know.
The certificate is the bulletin n° 3. It is the extract of the casier judiciaire that the person concerned may request for themselves, it is issued by the Casier judiciaire national, and the procedure published by the French administration confirms it is free of charge whichever way you ask. Requested online through the Ministry of Justice teleservice with FranceConnect, it is returned within one hour to twenty-four hours; by email without FranceConnect, in about two working days; by post, in roughly a fortnight including postal delays. Anyone born outside France receives it by post only, so that group should plan on the two-week version rather than the one-hour one.
The apostille comes from a notary. Since 1 May 2025 apostilles are issued by the notariat through fifteen regional and interdepartmental councils, replacing the thirty-three prosecutors' offices attached to the courts of appeal. The change was made under an order of 23 December 2024, applying an ordinance of 4 March 2020 and a decree of 17 September 2021, and the courts' own notice of what changed sets out both the online route and the counter route. Legalisations, for countries outside the Convention, moved to the notariat on 1 September 2025. Georgia is inside the Convention, so a single apostille is all you need.
The practical consequence is narrow and expensive. Any checklist that tells you to send documents to a cour d'appel is describing a closed door, and the time you lose finding that out is time your filing deadline does not give back. Order the bulletin n° 3 late rather than early, so that it is fresh on filing day, then take it straight to the notarial route. What actually gets rejected afterwards is set out in the full apostille sequence and the police certificate procedures by country.
Translation happens in Georgia, on the paper original, after the apostille. A translation prepared in France is itself a French document and needs its own authentication, so translating early means paying twice. The whole file by route is in the document checklist.
What France does when you leave
There is no French deregistration office, and for most people leaving is a tax question rather than an administrative one. For shareholders it is a bill.
Article 167 bis of the Code général des impôts taxes unrealised gains when a taxpayer who has been fiscally domiciled in France for at least six of the ten preceding years transfers their tax residence abroad. It engages where the holdings concerned are worth more than EUR 800,000 on the date of transfer, or represent at least 50 per cent of a company's profits. Departure is treated as a disposal and taxed accordingly.
The part that matters for a move to Georgia is the deferral. Payment is deferred automatically when the destination is an EU member state, or a state that has concluded with France both a convention on administrative assistance against tax fraud and evasion and a convention on mutual assistance in recovery comparable to the EU directive. Where those conditions are not met, deferral is granted only on request, and the taxpayer must appoint a French tax representative and provide guarantees.
Whether Georgia satisfies the automatic test is not something we publish, because the answer depends on the instruments France treats as qualifying and we have not verified it from a French source. Put the question to your French adviser before you set a departure date, because the difference between the two answers is a bank guarantee. The tax is relieved once you have held the securities for two years after departure, or five years where the holdings exceeded EUR 2.57 million, and also on death or on a qualifying donation.
None of this is triggered by a Georgian residence permit. It is triggered by the transfer of tax residence, which is a separate event, and the difference between holding a permit and being tax resident is the most expensive misunderstanding in this niche.
The treaty position and the citizenship endgame
Georgia's Ministry of Finance publishes 58 double tax treaties in force and France is among them. That is the comfortable column, and it matters at exactly one moment: when both countries think they have a claim on the same income and something has to break the tie.
Georgia's own residence test is a day count. 183 days in a rolling twelve-month window makes you tax resident here whether or not you hold a permit, and how relief is actually claimed sits in the treaty network guide.
On citizenship, France is not the obstacle. French law does not require a French national who acquires another nationality to give up French nationality. Georgia is the obstacle: it does not generally permit dual citizenship and expects renunciation, with an exception granted by presidential decree on state-interest grounds. So the dual citizenship position decides the endgame on day one, and permanent residence at ten years, which carries no renunciation, is the sensible destination.
Timeline and cost, realistically
Count backwards. Georgian law requires the application to be filed at least 40 calendar days before your lawful stay expires, and anything filed inside that window is refused review rather than assessed. On a work or IT route the labour permit decision sits in front of that again.
For a French applicant the realistic trigger is around two months out rather than four, because neither the certificate nor the apostille is slow. Government fees are identical on every passport, and the full cost breakdown by route covers the state fees alongside ours. The counting rule itself is in the 40-day rule, and how your nationality changes the shape of the file is compared across the guides by nationality.
The verdict
Straightforward, and among the easiest in the whole set. A free certificate returned in hours, a single apostille, a working tax treaty and visa-free entry for a year is close to the best starting position available.
Two things go wrong. People follow instructions written before May 2025 and turn up at a court, and people with a substantial shareholding treat the move as a lifestyle decision rather than a taxable event. Fix both and there is very little left to manage.
A three-year permit for IT professionals earning $25,000+ a year, with two years of experience behind them. Longer than any other work route.
See what it costs, from $450
Key takeaways
- French citizens enter Georgia visa-free for one full year, verified against the Georgian visa-free ordinance on 1 August 2026.
- The criminal record document is the extrait de casier judiciaire, bulletin n° 3, and it is free of charge.
- Requested online with FranceConnect it returns within a day. Anyone born outside France receives it by post only, so budget a fortnight.
- Apostilles have come from notaries since 1 May 2025, through fifteen regional councils. Instructions naming a cour d'appel are out of date.
- Since 1 March 2026 the Special Labour Permit comes before the work or IT residence permit, including for freelancers billing French clients.
- France and Georgia have a double tax treaty, which most non-European origins do not.
- Article 167 bis CGI taxes unrealised gains on departure above EUR 800,000 of holdings or a 50 per cent profit share, and deferral outside the EU can require a guarantee.
Frequently asked questions
Can French citizens enter Georgia without a visa?
Yes, for one full year at a time, and the period resets when you leave and return. The French Republic is on the list annexed to the Georgian ordinance on visa-free entry, checked on 1 August 2026. Every visitor also needs travel or health insurance carrying at least GEL 30,000 of cover, which has applied since 2026.
Which police certificate does Georgia want from a French applicant?
The extrait de casier judiciaire, bulletin n° 3, issued by the Casier judiciaire national, then apostilled. It is the bulletin an individual may request about themselves, and it costs nothing. Request it in the name exactly as your passport spells it, because every later document inherits that spelling.
Who issues an apostille in France now?
A notary. Since 1 May 2025 the notariat has been the competent authority, working through fifteen regional and interdepartmental councils, and it replaced the prosecutors' offices attached to the courts of appeal. You can apply online or at the counter of one of those councils. Legalisation for non-Convention countries moved to the notariat on 1 September 2025.
How long does a French criminal record certificate take?
Online through the Ministry of Justice teleservice with FranceConnect, between one hour and twenty-four hours. By email without FranceConnect, about two working days. By post, roughly a fortnight including postal delays. Anyone born outside France can only receive it by post, so that group should plan against the slowest of the three.
Is there a French tax treaty with Georgia?
Yes. Georgia's Ministry of Finance lists 58 double tax treaties in force and France is among them. That allocates taxing rights and provides a tie-breaker where both countries claim the same income, which is a materially better position than American, Canadian or Australian applicants are in.
Does French exit tax apply if I move to Georgia?
It can. Article 167 bis CGI applies to taxpayers fiscally domiciled in France for at least six of the ten preceding years, where their holdings are worth more than EUR 800,000 or carry at least 50 per cent of a company's profits. Departure is treated as a disposal. Deferral is automatic for EU destinations and conditional elsewhere, so confirm your position before fixing a departure date.
Do I need a French tax representative when I leave for Georgia?
Possibly, and only in connection with the exit tax. Where automatic deferral does not apply, article 167 bis requires the taxpayer to appoint a representative in France and to provide guarantees for the deferred tax. Whether Georgia falls inside or outside the automatic category is a question for a French adviser rather than a Georgian one.
Can a French citizen work remotely from Georgia without a permit?
Yes. The Special Labour Permit follows who pays you rather than where you sit, so invoicing a French company from a Tbilisi flat does not engage it. The permit is required in three situations: employing foreign staff in Georgia, trading as an Individual Entrepreneur with Georgian clients, and applying for a work or IT residence permit. If you want the residence card, the labour permit comes first whoever your clients are.
Which Georgian residence permit is best for a French citizen?
The IT permit for technology workers, at $25,000 of annual income and two years of experience for a three-year term, and the work permit for everyone else. Both need the labour permit granted first. The property route at $150,000 skips the criminal record certificate, but that saving is worth less to a French applicant than to most, because your certificate is free and quick.
Can a French citizen become a Georgian citizen?
In principle, after ten years of continuous residence and exams in Georgian language, history and law. France would not withdraw your nationality for it. Georgia is the obstacle, because it does not generally permit dual citizenship and expects renunciation, with exceptions by presidential decree. Permanent residence is the realistic destination for almost every French applicant.
