Georgia Residence Permit Documents

You can assemble a residence permit file twice: once the way a forum thread describes it, and once the way the officer at the counter needs it. Only the second version counts. The list also changes by route, so a property applicant hands over paperwork a work applicant has never seen and skips the document that takes longest to obtain. Here is the checklist for each of the six routes, and what apostilled, certified and biometric actually mean in practice.

The core file: what every route needs

Six routes, one starting point. These items appear on every application whichever category you file under, and none of them is route-specific.

• A completed application, filed at a Public Service Hall or through the online portal and decided by the Public Service Development Agency.
• Your passport, valid comfortably beyond the permit term you are asking for, plus a notarised Georgian translation of the data page. The passport itself is never apostilled, anywhere.
• One photo, 3x4 cm, to the biometric standard set out below.
• Evidence of lawful presence on the day you file: the entry stamp, the current visa, or the permit you are renewing.
• A Georgian address, proved by ownership, a registered lease, or the written consent of the owner. Address registration is where files stall for anyone renting informally.
• Health insurance valid in Georgia. What satisfies a permit application is not identical to the visitor minimum, and the difference is in the insurance rules for permit holders.
• Proof the government fee is paid. GEL 300 to 600, roughly $115 to $230 by processing track, plus GEL 60, about $23, for the card.

One date governs all of it. The Law on the Legal Status of Aliens and Stateless Persons requires the application to be filed at least 40 calendar days before your lawful stay expires, and a file submitted inside that window is refused review rather than assessed. The counting, and the narrow discretion that survives it, sits in the 40-day rule.

Work route

Everything in the core file, plus:

• The Special Labour Permit decision. Mandatory since 1 March 2026 and a prerequisite rather than a parallel step, so the file cannot be completed until the Special Labour Permit is granted. Budget 30 calendar days, or 10 working days on the expedited fee.
• An employment contract with a Georgian employer, or Individual Entrepreneur registration if you work for yourself. IE registration and the 1% regime sit at register-company.ge, and the registration extract is what evidences self-employment here.
• Employer turnover evidence. GEL 50,000, about $19,000, per foreign employee, or GEL 35,000 for educational and medical institutions. It is the employer's document and it belongs to the labour permit application rather than your residence file. New companies should check the start-up relief in the labour permit rules before assembling turnover evidence they do not have.
• Income evidence: contract, payslips, bank statements or invoices, translated but normally not apostilled.
• A home-country criminal record certificate, apostilled or legalised and then translated here. Order this first and everything else second, for reasons set out in the police clearance certificate guide.

IT route

Everything in the core file, plus:

• The Special Labour Permit decision, on the same terms as the work route.
• Evidence of $25,000 in annual income from qualifying IT activity: contracts, invoices, bank statements and, where you are employed, a letter from the employer.
• Evidence of two years of experience: employment letters, contracts, or a documented client history rather than a CV alone.
• A home-country criminal record certificate, same chain as the work route.

The 183 days a year of presence and the 3 years the permit runs are conditions of holding it rather than documents filed on day one, so the evidence question arrives at renewal instead. What counts as qualifying activity is narrower than most applicants assume, and it is set out in the IT residence permit requirements.

Property route

Everything in the core file, plus:

• An extract from the Public Registry showing the property registered in your name. Not the purchase contract, not the payment receipt: the registry entry.
• A valuation report from an assessor accredited through the Unified National Accreditation Body, showing at least $150,000. The threshold rose from $100,000 on 1 March 2026, so treat any lower figure you were quoted as out of date and check when it was given. What a compliant report contains is in the guide to accredited property valuation.
• The purchase agreement and evidence of payment, supporting the registry entry.

No criminal record certificate, and no labour permit. That absence is why the property route at $150,000 is usually the faster file for anyone who qualifies for it and for a work permit at once. Family members joining still need apostilled civil documents of their own.

Investment route

Everything in the core file, plus documentary evidence of a qualifying investment of $300,000. The shape of that evidence follows the shape of the investment: share registration and company filings for a business, registry extracts and valuations for real property, bank confirmations in either case. The permit runs 5 years and its holder is exempt from the labour permit entirely, and no criminal record certificate is required. The route's mechanics are in the investment residence permit guide.

Family reunification

Everything in the core file, plus:

• Your sponsor's documents: their Georgian passport or ID if a citizen, their residence card and permit decision if a resident.
• The relationship document, apostilled and translated. A marriage certificate for a spouse, a birth certificate for a child, both where a child joins a married couple.
• A divorce decree or death certificate where either party's previous marriage ended, apostilled on the same terms.
• Evidence of accommodation and means, which is the sponsor's burden rather than the applicant's.

The relationship documents are the slow items. A birth certificate issued decades ago in a country that has since reorganised its civil registry frequently has to be reissued before it can be apostilled at all. Who may sponsor whom is in the family reunification rules.

Study route

Everything in the core file, plus:

• Confirmation of enrolment from an accredited Georgian institution, naming the programme and its duration.
• Diplomas and transcripts, apostilled and translated. The university normally demands these at admission rather than the Agency at filing, and the competent authority for educational documents is rarely the one that handles police records.
• Evidence that tuition is paid and that you can support yourself.

Study permits follow the course, so the document that ends your permit is the one confirming you graduated. Planning the switch to another route before the final term rather than after is the point of the study residence permit guide.

What "apostilled" means at the counter

In theory an apostille is a certificate under the Hague Convention that replaces consular legalisation. In practice it is a piece of paper stapled to another piece of paper, and three things about that arrangement decide whether your file is accepted.

It has to be attached to the original you physically hand over. Needing the same certificate for two purposes means two originals and two apostilles. A Georgian notary's certified copy of an apostilled document is a different act carrying different weight, and it is not a substitute.

The apostille itself gets translated too. It is a foreign-language document sitting on top of another foreign-language document, and a translation office will translate only the one underneath unless you ask. Files come back over exactly this.

Do not unstaple it, and do not laminate anything. Separating the apostille from the document destroys the link between them, and nothing in Georgia can repair a foreign authority's staple. Where the issuing authority produces an electronic apostille, bring the printout and the online register reference, and expect the officer to check it.

Which authority in your country issues the apostille, which countries need full consular legalisation instead, and what each chain costs in weeks is the subject of the apostille requirements for Georgia.

Certified translation, and why it happens here

Every foreign document has to reach the Agency in Georgian. "Certified" here means a translation whose translator's signature is notarised by a Georgian notary. The notary attests the signature and the translator's identity rather than auditing the translation, which is why picking an office that works with the Public Service Hall routinely matters more than the price per page.

Three habits keep translations out of trouble:

• Translate in Georgia, after the apostille. A translation made abroad carries a foreign notary's seal and becomes one more document needing its own authentication.
• Fix the spelling of your name once and use it everywhere. The Georgian transliteration has to match across the certificate, the translation, your passport data page and your card. Aleksandr against Alexander is a rejection.
• Translate the whole document. Every page, stamp and annex, including the reverse of a page that looks blank but carries a seal.

What a translation costs and who may produce one is covered in the guide to certified translation into Georgian.

The photo, and the biometrics taken on the day

The specification is a 3x4 cm photograph to the standard biometric convention: recent, face square to the camera and filling most of the frame, neutral expression with the mouth closed, eyes open and unobstructed, plain light background, no shadow behind the head and no flash reflection in glasses. Head coverings worn for religious reasons are accepted where the face stays visible from chin to forehead. The online portal takes a biometric photo upload, and a 3x4 cm photograph where you do not have one.

A second set of biometrics is captured from you in person when the card is produced. Since October 2025 that capture has included fingerprints and palm prints alongside the photograph and signature. What is collected and what rights you hold over it is set out in the guide to biometrics for a Georgian residence permit.

Work residence permit

The main route for freelancers, remote workers and employees. Since March 2026 it runs on top of a Special Labour Permit.

See what it costs, from $450

Where files actually get sent back

• An incomplete file on the day. A missing translation sends you home rather than starting a decision clock.
• A stale criminal record certificate, ordered early because it was the hardest document and no longer fresh when the rest caught up.
• Wrong competent authority abroad. Right country, wrong office: civil, judicial and educational documents go to three different places.
• A name that changes spelling between the passport, the translation and the certificate.
• An address with no consent document, where the lease is verbal or the person who handed you the keys does not own the flat.
• A labour permit still undecided on a work or IT file, which is a refusal rather than a delay.

What follows a refusal, and the 10 calendar days you have to appeal one, is in the guide to a refused residence permit. Most of the work of a work residence permit is this document chain rather than the application, and what the Agency examines is in the rules on granting residence permits. The card carries the Georgian personal number the rest of your life here runs on, and how the routes compare is in the residence permit overview.

Key takeaways

• Every route shares a core file: passport and notarised translation, a 3x4 cm photo, address evidence with owner's consent, insurance and the government fee.
• The criminal record certificate is standard on work and IT, and not required on property or investment.
• Work and IT files need the Special Labour Permit already granted, not merely applied for.
• The property route runs on a Public Registry extract plus an accredited valuation at $150,000 or more; family files run on apostilled relationship documents; study files on enrolment and academic records.
• Apostille the original abroad, then translate in Georgia, and have the translation cover the apostille too.
• File at least 40 calendar days before your lawful stay expires, with a complete file on the day.

Frequently asked questions

What documents do I need for a Georgian residence permit?

Every route needs a passport with a notarised Georgian translation of the data page, a 3x4 cm photo, evidence of lawful presence, a Georgian address with the owner's consent, health insurance and proof the fee is paid. On top of that sits a route-specific set: a labour permit and income evidence on work and IT, a registry extract and accredited valuation on property, apostilled relationship documents on family reunification.

Do I need a criminal record certificate for a Georgian residence permit?

On the work and IT routes, yes, from your home country, apostilled or legalised and translated into Georgian. The property and investment routes do not require one, which removes the slowest item from the schedule. Order it before anything else, because it is issued on another country's timetable and no fee paid in Georgia speeds it up.

Do my documents need to be apostilled for a Georgian residence permit?

Public documents issued abroad do: criminal record certificates, marriage and birth certificates, divorce decrees and academic records. Private paperwork such as contracts, payslips and bank statements normally needs only a certified Georgian translation. Your passport is never apostilled, and documents from outside the Hague Convention need full consular legalisation instead.

Can I translate my documents before I arrive in Georgia?

You can, but it usually costs money rather than saving time. A translation made abroad carries a foreign translator's signature and a foreign notary's seal, so it becomes another foreign document needing authentication of its own. Apostille the original at home, send the paper original here, then translate and notarise in Georgia.

What size photo do I need for a Georgian residence permit?

3x4 cm, to the biometric standard: recent, face square to the camera and filling most of the frame, neutral expression, plain light background, no shadows and no reflection in glasses. Head coverings worn for religious reasons are accepted provided the face is visible from chin to forehead.

Do I need a Special Labour Permit before applying for a residence permit in Georgia?

On the work and IT routes, yes, and it must already be granted rather than pending. Since 1 March 2026 it is a prerequisite, issued by a different agency on its own timetable of 30 calendar days, or 10 working days on the expedited fee. Filing without it produces a refusal rather than a delay.

What documents does the Georgian property residence permit need?

An extract from the Public Registry showing the property in your name, a valuation from an assessor accredited through the Unified National Accreditation Body confirming at least $150,000, and the purchase agreement with evidence of payment. The threshold was $100,000 before 1 March 2026, so treat any lower figure as out of date.

How recent do my documents have to be when I file in Georgia?

Recency matters most for the criminal record certificate, and Georgia does not publish a fixed number of months, so the reviewing officer applies a judgement about whether it is current. Civil documents such as birth and marriage certificates do not go stale the same way. Order the police certificate so it arrives, apostilled, shortly before the file goes in.

Do my family members need their own documents for a Georgian residence permit?

Yes. Each family member has a full file of their own: their own photo, their own insurance and their own apostilled civil documents proving the relationship to you. A spouse needs the marriage certificate and a child needs the birth certificate, and where either of you was married before, the decree ending that marriage is normally required too.