A Georgian company wants to hire you and somebody has told you to get a D1 visa. For most readers that advice is wrong, because the route that applies runs through a Public Service Hall in Tbilisi and never touches an embassy. For a minority it is exactly right, and acting on the wrong one costs a flight and a month. This post sets out which of the two groups you are in, and what a D1 actually does once you have it.
What a D1 visa actually is
Georgia issues visas by category. A and B cover diplomatic and special cases, C is the ordinary short-term visa for visitors, and D is the immigration category: visas for people arriving to do something rather than to look at something. D1 is the sub-category issued for labour activity.
The word immigration does a lot of work there and misleads people. A D1 is permission to arrive and to begin. It is not a residence permit, it does not by itself let you stay for years, and it does not authorise you to earn. Georgian law splits entry, residence and the right to work into three separate instruments, and since 1 March 2026 it splits them more firmly than before. Both the visa categories and the residence permit categories they feed into are defined in the Law on the Legal Status of Aliens and Stateless Persons.
The remaining D sub-categories, covering study, business activity and family, follow the same logic on a different evidence base and sit with the other D category immigration visas.
Inside Georgia, or arriving on a D1
This is the distinction that decides everything else, and it is the part people get wrong.
If you are lawfully in Georgia with time left on your stay, you apply for the residence permit here. You file at a Public Service Hall, the Public Service Development Agency decides it, and no visa is involved. Roughly 95 nationalities enter without a visa and may remain for 365 days at a time on the visa-free rule, which is a long runway. For that group the D1 solves a problem they do not have.
If you cannot be in Georgia lawfully while the application runs, the D1 is how you get in. That is a smaller but real set of people.
| Your situation | The route that applies |
|---|---|
| Visa-free national, in Georgia, time left on your stay | Labour permit, then residence permit filed inside Georgia |
| Visa-free national, abroad, wants status settled before relocating | Labour permit, then D1 at a mission, then residence permit after arrival |
| Nationality that requires a visa to enter Georgia | Labour permit, then D1, then residence permit after arrival |
| Already in Georgia, lawful stay expired | Neither route yet. Regularise the overstay first |
Whether you fall in row three is a question of passport, not of preference. Indian, Chinese, Egyptian, Nigerian and Pakistani nationals are among those who need a visa to enter Georgia at all, so the D1 is a first step rather than an option, and the nationality by nationality entry position decides it before anything else does.
Row two is a choice, and a defensible one. Filing the D1 from home means you arrive already holding the instrument that says why you are there, rather than moving a household on a tourist entry and hoping the permit lands.
The labour permit comes first, on both routes
Neither route starts with a visa or a permit application. Both start at the Employment Promotion State Agency.
Since 1 March 2026 the Special Labour Permit is a prerequisite document for the work and IT residence permits rather than something you collect afterwards. The full mechanics, the exemptions and the fines are in the guide to the Special Labour Permit and who it catches.
A D1 does not remove that requirement. It never did, and the belief that a work visa carries work rights with it is the same misreading that produces refused files. If you are coming to take a job with a Georgian employer, the labour permit is engaged whatever entry document is in your passport. Who else it catches, and who it leaves alone, is set out in who needs a work permit in Georgia.
So the sequence, from a standing start abroad, is:
- Special Labour Permit applied for through your Georgian employer or, if you are self-employed, directly. Up to 30 calendar days for a decision.
- D1 visa at a Georgian diplomatic mission, on the strength of that approval.
- Entry to Georgia on the D1.
- Residence permit filed at a Public Service Hall after you land.
Four stages, three agencies, three clocks. Anyone describing this as a single application is describing something else.
The window after your labour permit is approved
Approval of the labour permit is not a finish line. It starts a countdown.
Once granted, you are expected to convert that authorisation into status within a limited period: either a residence permit application filed inside Georgia, or a D1 application filed at a mission abroad. Let the period run out and the labour permit sits there, approved and useless, while you start the sequence again and pay for it again.
The 30 calendar days attached to the labour permit is the decision period, the time the agency has to answer you. The window that opens on approval is a different clock and a shorter one. We do not print a fixed number of days for it here, because the figure that binds you is the one on your own approval notice and it is the only one worth working to. Read the notice on the day it arrives and diarise the closing date before you do anything else.
So the D1 file should be built while the labour permit is pending, not after. Police clearance, apostilles and translations take weeks in most countries, and starting them once approval lands is how the window gets missed.
Applying for a D1 from abroad
D1 applications go to a Georgian diplomatic mission or consular post. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs maintains the list of missions and the current application channel, and the mission you file at is the one whose answers bind you.
What the file generally has to establish:
- Who you are. Passport with adequate remaining validity, and biometric photographs to the required specification.
- Why you are coming. The approved Special Labour Permit, and the employment or engagement it rests on.
- That the work is real. The Georgian employer's registration and standing, or, for the self-employed, your own business documentation.
- That you are not a risk. Police clearance from your country of nationality and, in many cases, from any country you have lived in recently.
- That you can support yourself. Evidence of means, in the form the mission accepts.
- Insurance. Georgia has required medical cover of at least GEL 30,000 for arrivals since 2026, and the mandatory insurance rule applies to you on arrival regardless of visa category.
Foreign documents need legalisation before a Georgian authority will read them. Whether that means an apostille or the slower consular chain depends on your country's treaty position, and what needs an apostille for Georgia is the biggest single determinant of how long this route takes. The list overlaps heavily with the residence permit document checklist you will need again after arrival, so collect two certified sets rather than repeating the exercise.
Processing times and the consular fee are set at mission level and we publish no figure for either. Ask the mission, get the answer in writing, and plan on the slow end of it.
What a D1 does not do
Four things, all of them assumed by somebody every month.
It is not a residence permit. It authorises entry for an immigration purpose. Status comes from a separate application to the Public Service Development Agency after you arrive, and the work residence permit is the instrument that actually lets you live here.
It does not authorise work. The labour permit does that, and it has to exist before the D1 is issued anyway.
It does not convert automatically. Nothing turns a D1 into residence by the passage of time. You file, you pay the government fee, you attend for biometrics, you collect a card.
It does not pause the 40-day rule. Once you are here your lawful stay has an expiry date like anybody else's, and an application filed inside the last 40 days of your lawful stay is refused review rather than treated as late. Landing on a D1 and treating the residence permit as an errand for next month is how people lose the route they paid to open.
What it costs
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Special Labour Permit, 30 calendar days | GEL 200, about $75 |
| Special Labour Permit, 10 working days | GEL 400, about $155 |
| D1 consular fee | Set by the mission. Confirm before filing |
| Residence permit government fee | GEL 300 to 600, about $115 to $230 by track |
| Residence card issuance | GEL 60, about $23 |
| Apostille, translation, police clearance | Varies by country, usually the largest line |
The lari figures are statutory and do not move with the exchange rate; the dollar amounts beside them are conversions and drift. Our own fee on the work route is $450, covering the labour permit, the residence permit application and the sequencing between them.
Government authorisation for labour activity in Georgia. Required to employ foreign staff, to trade as an IE with Georgian clients, or to apply for a work or IT residence permit.
See what it costs, from $450
Two groups who land here by mistake
If you were already on the payroll of a Georgian employer before March 2026, your problem is not a visa. It is the transition deadline of 1 January 2027, by which your employer has to have its existing foreign staff on labour permits. You are inside the country lawfully and the filing is done from here.
If you have been working for a Georgian employer without a permit behind you and are wondering whether a D1 tidies it up, it does not. Leaving and returning on a fresh visa erases nothing, and the penalties for unauthorised work are assessed separately from your entry record. If your income comes from clients or an employer outside Georgia, none of this reaches you and a D1 is solving a problem you do not have.
Key takeaways
- The D1 is Georgia's immigration visa for labour activity. It is an entry document, not residence status and not work authorisation.
- Most people who are lawfully in Georgia never need one. They file for the residence permit from inside the country.
- The D1 is the route if your nationality requires a visa to enter Georgia, or if you are abroad and cannot spend the waiting period here.
- The Special Labour Permit comes first on both routes, and a D1 is issued on the strength of it.
- Labour permit approval opens a short window to file. The closing date is on your approval notice.
- After landing on a D1 you still apply for the residence permit, and the 40-day rule applies to you exactly as it does to everyone else.
- Prepare police clearance, apostilles and translations while the labour permit is pending, not after.
Frequently asked questions
What is a D1 visa for Georgia?
It is Georgia's immigration visa issued for labour activity. The D category covers people entering for a defined purpose rather than as visitors, and D1 is the sub-category for work. It authorises entry only: residence status is a separate application made after you arrive, and the authorisation to take the job comes from the Special Labour Permit.
Do I need a D1 visa if I already live in Georgia?
Almost certainly not. If you are lawfully present with time remaining on your stay, you apply for the residence permit at a Public Service Hall inside Georgia and no visa is involved. The D1 exists for people who cannot lawfully be in Georgia while the application runs, which is a different problem.
Does a Georgian D1 visa let me work?
Not by itself. Since 1 March 2026 authorisation to work for a Georgian employer comes from the Special Labour Permit, issued by the Employment Promotion State Agency. In practice the labour permit has to be approved before a D1 is issued, so anyone holding a D1 already has the work authorisation sitting behind it.
Can I get a Georgian residence permit without ever getting a D1 visa?
Yes, and that is the normal path for nationals of the roughly 95 visa-free countries. You enter without a visa, the labour permit is applied for and granted while you are here, and the residence permit is filed from inside Georgia. The D1 becomes relevant only if your nationality needs a visa to enter or you are applying from abroad.
Where do I apply for a Georgian D1 visa?
At a Georgian diplomatic mission or consular post, normally in your country of nationality or lawful residence. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs publishes which missions operate where and what the current filing channel is. Practice varies between posts, so the answers that count are the ones from the mission handling your file.
How long does a D1 visa for Georgia take?
We do not publish a figure, because processing is set at mission level and varies. Ask the mission you are filing at and get the answer in writing. The part you can plan around is the document chain in front of it: police clearance and apostilles routinely take longer than the visa decision itself.
Does a D1 visa turn into a Georgian residence permit automatically?
No. Nothing converts by the passage of time. After entry you file a residence permit application with the Public Service Development Agency, pay the government fee, give biometrics and collect a residence card. The D1 gets you to the counter, and that is the whole of its job.
What happens if I miss the window after my labour permit is approved?
The approval stops being usable and you go back to the start of the sequence, including the fee. The window is short and the closing date appears on the approval notice itself. Because the D1 file needs apostilled documents that take weeks to obtain, the practical answer is to build the file while the labour permit is still pending.
Do I need insurance to enter Georgia on a D1 visa?
Yes. Since 2026 arrivals must hold medical cover with a minimum of GEL 30,000, and the requirement is not limited to tourists. The mission may also want to see it as part of the D1 file, so treat it as a document rather than as something to buy at the airport.
Can my family come with me on a D1 visa?
Not on your D1. Family members either enter on their own basis under their own nationality's rules, or apply in the D category appropriate to them. Once you hold residence status, a spouse and minor children can be brought in through family reunification, which is a separate application with its own evidence on accommodation and means.
Is a D1 visa the same as a Georgian work permit?
No, and confusing the two is expensive. The work permit is the Special Labour Permit, issued by the Employment Promotion State Agency under the procedural rules governing foreign nationals. The D1 is a visa issued by a Georgian mission abroad. One authorises earning, the other authorises entry, and you may well need both.
