You have been told to get a D visa and nobody has said which one, or whether you need one at all. Both questions have short answers that depend on your passport and your purpose, and getting them wrong costs a consular fee and a month. The D category is where Georgian law puts people arriving to do something rather than to look at something. Here is what each sub-category covers, who genuinely needs one, and what has to happen after you land.
Where the D category sits
Georgian law sorts visas by letter, and the letter tells you what the visa is for rather than how long it lasts.
A is the diplomatic category and B is the special category, both for official and mission travel. C is the ordinary visa, issued to visitors, and it is the short-term instrument that the online e-visa channel delivers. T is transit. D is immigration.
The word immigration is where the confusion starts. In this context it means the purpose of the journey, not the outcome. A D visa gets you across the border with a stated reason for being there. Everything about living in Georgia, working in Georgia and eventually staying in Georgia is decided afterwards by a different agency on a different application.
The six D sub-categories
The categories and their scope sit in the Law on the Legal Status of Aliens and Stateless Persons. Read against that law on 1 August 2026, they are these.
| Category | Issued for | The residence route it usually feeds |
|---|---|---|
| D1 | Labour activity, and entrepreneurial activity under the Law on Entrepreneurs, by someone who has obtained the right to labour activities | Work residence permit |
| D2 | Scientific, sports, cultural and educational missions, freelancers, interns, volunteers, and media workers on official duties | Work residence permit, where the activity continues |
| D3 | Adults studying or conducting research at an authorised Georgian educational institution, including under an international programme | Study residence permit |
| D4 | Family reunification | Family reunification permit |
| D5 | An owner of Georgian real property other than agricultural land, with a market value exceeding $150,000, and that person's spouse and children | Property residence permit |
| D6 | Minors studying at an authorised higher or vocational institution, or in general education until they complete it | Study or family route, depending on the household |
Two rows are worth pausing on.
D5 carries the same threshold as the property permit. Market value above $150,000, agricultural land excluded, spouse and children included. The property permit has required that figure since 1 March 2026, when it rose from $100,000, so treat any lower number as out of date. The property route in full covers the accredited valuation the permit application then needs.
D2 names freelancers explicitly, which is the closest thing in Georgian law to a category built for independent workers. It is an entry document rather than a work authorisation. Where the Special Labour Permit is engaged, by a Georgian employer or by Georgian clients, a visa that describes what you do is not a permit that allows you to do it.
Who actually needs a D visa
Fewer people than assume they do.
Roughly 95 nationalities enter Georgia with no visa and may remain for 365 days at a time. Anyone in that group who is already in the country, with time left on their stay, applies for the residence permit at a Public Service Hall and never touches a Georgian mission. For them the D visa solves a problem they do not have.
| Your position | What applies |
|---|---|
| Visa-free national, in Georgia with time remaining | File the residence permit here. No visa involved |
| Visa-free national, abroad, wanting status settled before moving | A D visa is optional and often sensible |
| Nationality that needs a visa to enter Georgia at all | A D visa is the first step, not a choice |
| In Georgia, lawful stay already expired | Neither. Deal with the overstay before anything else |
Which row you are in is a matter of passport rather than preference, and the entry position by nationality settles it before any of the permit rules become relevant.
The second row deserves more credit than it gets. Arriving with a D visa in your passport means you land already holding the document that explains why you are there, rather than moving a household on a visitor stamp and hoping the permit lands before the year does.
D1 and the order it has to be done in
The work route has a prerequisite that catches almost everyone, and it sits in front of the visa rather than after it.
Since 1 March 2026 the Special Labour Permit is a prerequisite document for the work and IT residence permits, issued by the Employment Promotion State Agency under a government resolution of 20 February 2026, and on the D1 route it is also what the visa is issued on the strength of. Government fees are GEL 200, around $75, for a decision in 30 calendar days, or GEL 400, around $155, for 10 working days.
So the sequence from a standing start abroad is the labour permit, then the visa, then entry, then the residence permit. Four stages and three agencies, none of which will tell you what the others are doing. The mechanics of the labour permit and who it catches run underneath all of it, and the D1 route in detail, including the short window that opens when the labour permit is approved, is the page to read if that is your category.
Where a Georgian employer takes on foreign staff without the permit, the fine is GEL 2,000 on the employer and a separate GEL 2,000 on the worker, doubled on a repeat. Those are statutory lari figures rather than conversions, and no entry stamp changes them.
How long a D visa lasts
A long-term visa is issued with the right of multiple entries, and with either 90 calendar days or a one-year validity and duration of stay. Which of the two you receive depends on the category and the mission's assessment of the file.
That is worth reading twice, because it is the opposite of what people assume. A D visa is not open-ended, and its clock starts running on entry like any other. Landing on a one-year D visa and treating the residence permit as next quarter's problem is how a route somebody paid to open gets closed again.
Note also what a residence permit does to this. Once you hold one, the law lets you enter Georgia without a visa for the entire validity period of the permit, so the visa question disappears the moment the card exists. That is also why travelling while an application is still pending is the awkward interval: the old basis may have lapsed and the new one has not arrived.
Applying from abroad
D applications go to 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 the current filing channel, and the mission handling your file is the only source whose answers bind you.
What a D file generally has to establish, whichever sub-category you are in:
- Identity. A passport with adequate remaining validity, and photographs to the required specification.
- The purpose, evidenced. The approved labour permit for D1, an enrolment document for D3, the marriage or birth certificates for D4, ownership and valuation documents for D5.
- That you can support yourself, in the form the mission accepts.
- Insurance. Georgia has required at least GEL 30,000 of medical cover from every arrival since 2026.
- Clean record, where the category calls for it, usually a police certificate from your country of nationality.
Foreign documents need legalisation before a Georgian authority will read them, and whether that is a one-step apostille or the slower consular chain depends on your country's treaty position. What needs an apostille for Georgia is the single biggest determinant of how long this route takes, and it is almost always longer than the visa decision itself. Collect two certified sets while you are at it, because the residence permit application after arrival asks for the same documents again.
Consular fees and processing times are set at mission level and we publish no figure for either. Ask, get the answer in writing, and plan on the slow end of it.
Converting a D visa into a residence permit
Nothing converts by the passage of time. After you land you make a separate application to the Public Service Development Agency, under the procedural rules on granting residence permits, and that application is what produces status.
The steps are the same for everyone: file at a Public Service Hall, pay the government fee, attend for biometrics, collect the residence card. Government fees run from GEL 300 to GEL 600 by processing track, roughly $115 to $230, with GEL 60 for the card itself.
The trap is timing. An application must be complete at least 40 calendar days before your lawful stay expires, and anything filed inside that window is refused review rather than assessed late. On a 90-day D visa that means filing inside the first seven weeks, with translated and legalised documents already in hand. The visa buys you a runway, not a rest.
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
What a D visa does not do
It is not residence status. It authorises entry for a declared immigration purpose, and status comes from the separate application described above.
It does not authorise work. The Special Labour Permit does that, and on the D1 route it exists before the visa does.
It does not count toward permanent residence. That requires ten years of continuous temporary residence, meaning ten years of held permits, and time on a visa is not time on a permit.
It does not carry your family automatically. Relatives either qualify under their own nationality's entry rules or apply in the category that fits them, and family reunification becomes available once you hold residence status rather than a visa. The same logic applies to a student household, where the study permit route governs what happens after D3 or D6 gets somebody through the door.
Key takeaways
- D is Georgia's immigration visa category, sitting alongside A and B for official travel, C for visits and T for transit.
- D1 covers labour and entrepreneurial activity, D2 missions and freelancers, D3 adult study, D4 family reunification, D5 property above $150,000, and D6 minors in education.
- A long-term visa carries multiple entries with either 90 calendar days or one year of validity and stay.
- Visa-free nationals already in Georgia normally file for the residence permit here and never need a D visa.
- On the work route the Special Labour Permit comes first, at GEL 200 or GEL 400 depending on speed.
- The visa does not become a permit. You file at the Public Service Development Agency after arrival, and the 40-day rule applies.
- Once a residence permit exists, you re-enter Georgia without a visa for as long as it is valid.
Frequently asked questions
What is a D category visa for Georgia?
It is Georgia's immigration visa, issued to people entering for a defined long-term purpose rather than as visitors. The category runs from D1 to D6 and covers labour activity, missions and freelancers, adult study, family reunification, property ownership above $150,000 and minors in education. It authorises entry, not residence and not work.
What is the difference between a C visa and a D visa in Georgia?
C is the ordinary visa for short visits, including the version issued online through the e-visa portal. D is the immigration category for people arriving to work, study, join family or live on the strength of Georgian property. The portal does not issue D visas, and a mission decides them on a documentary file.
Do I need a D visa if I can enter Georgia without one?
Usually not. Nationals of roughly 95 countries enter visa-free and may stay 365 days, and anyone in that group with time left on their stay files for the residence permit inside Georgia. A D visa becomes useful if you are abroad and want status settled before you move, and necessary if your nationality needs a visa to enter at all.
Which D visa do I need to work in Georgia?
D1, and it is issued on the strength of an approved Special Labour Permit rather than instead of one. Since 1 March 2026 that permit is the prerequisite for a work or IT residence permit, and it is applied for through the Employment Promotion State Agency before the visa file is opened at a mission.
How long is a Georgian D visa valid?
A long-term visa is issued with the right of multiple entries and with either 90 calendar days or one year of validity and duration of stay. Which one you get depends on the category and the mission's view of the file. It is not open-ended, and the residence permit application has to be filed well inside it.
Does a D5 visa give me a Georgian residence permit through property?
No. It gets an owner of Georgian property worth more than $150,000 into the country, along with a spouse and children. The residence permit is a separate application to the Public Service Development Agency, and it requires a valuation from an accredited company rather than a purchase price or a cadastral figure.
Can freelancers use the D2 visa for Georgia?
The D2 category names freelancers among the people it is issued to, so the entry route exists. Whether you also need a Special Labour Permit depends on who pays you rather than on the visa: Georgian clients through an Individual Entrepreneur engage it, clients abroad do not. Most freelancers with foreign clients need neither the visa nor the permit, because roughly 95 nationalities enter without a visa and stay 365 days.
Where do I apply for a Georgian D visa?
At a Georgian diplomatic mission or consular post, normally in your country of nationality or lawful residence. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs publishes the network and the current channel. Practice varies between posts, so the binding answers on documents, fees and timing come from the mission handling your file rather than from any article.
How long does a Georgian D visa take to process?
We publish no figure, because processing time is set at mission level and varies between posts. The part you can plan around sits in front of it: police certificates, apostilles and certified translations routinely take longer than the visa decision, and starting them late is what actually delays people.
Do I still need a visa to enter Georgia once I hold a residence permit?
No. The law lets a holder of a Georgian residence permit enter without a visa for the entire validity period of the permit. That is one of the practical advantages of converting from a visa to a permit early, and it is why the gap between a lapsed basis and an issued card is the period that needs planning.
