You have your own Georgian permit and the children are the next problem. Their applications are the most straightforward ones we file, and they go wrong for reasons that have nothing to do with Georgian law: an unapostilled birth certificate, a separated parent whose consent nobody thought to collect, or a child who turns 18 halfway through a permit cycle. Here is what a minor needs, what changes the day they stop being one, and where school fits.
Minor children and adult children are two different applications
Georgian family reunification sorts children by age before it looks at anything else in the file. A minor child sits in the category that a temporary resident is allowed to sponsor. An adult child sits in the category that only a permanent resident or a Georgian citizen may sponsor, which is the same restriction that stops most people bringing a parent to Georgia.
| Applicant | Parent holds a temporary permit | Parent holds permanent residence or citizenship |
|---|---|---|
| Child under 18 | Yes | Yes |
| Adult child | No | Yes |
| Adopted minor child | Yes, with the adoption order | Yes, with the adoption order |
The rest of the sponsorship map, spouses and parents included, sits in the guide to who can sponsor whom in Georgia. What matters here is that the first column is the one most readers are in. A work permit, an IT permit and a property permit all make you a temporary resident, and all three carry your minor children without difficulty.
For an adult child the sponsoring parent needs status the long way round: ten years of continuous temporary residence to reach permanent residence, five if the parent holds an investment permit, or naturalisation. Dependency is generally expected to be evidenced on top of the relationship, so an adult child in full-time work abroad is a weaker application than one who is genuinely supported.
Where the child is your spouse's rather than yours, the relationship the file rests on is your spouse's. A marriage certificate connects you to your spouse, not to their child, so it is the legal parent who sponsors.
The child of a Georgian citizen is in a different position
A minor child of a Georgian citizen qualifies for permanent residence immediately, with no waiting period and no accrual. That puts the child on the same footing as a citizen's spouse, which is the other half of what marrying a Georgian citizen delivers.
It turns on the parent's citizenship and nothing else. A child whose parent is a long-standing Georgian resident rather than a Georgian national is not covered, and neither is a child born here to foreign parents: the birth changes nothing about citizenship or the right to reside.
The birth certificate decides your timeline
Every child's file rests on one foreign document, and getting that document into a form Georgia accepts takes longer than the residence permit decision does. Start it first.
Authenticate before you translate. Georgia has been a contracting party to the Apostille Convention since 14 May 2007, so a birth certificate issued by another contracting party needs a single apostille from that country's competent authority. Which office that is varies by country and sometimes by document type, and current membership is published in the Hague Conference status table.
Where the Convention does not apply, the chain is two-stage. A certificate from Iran, Egypt, Nigeria or the United Arab Emirates needs full consular legalisation instead: authentication at home, then the Georgian diplomatic mission. That is materially slower and it is the single most common reason a family application slips a month. China, Pakistan and Canada now sit on the apostille side, so anyone working from older knowledge there will start a legalisation chain they do not need. The mechanics of both routes are set out in the guide to apostille and legalisation.
Translation comes last. The stamp is part of the document, so a translation prepared before it lands is incomplete and gets rejected on the counter. What counts as certified translation in Georgia is narrower than applicants assume.
Names also have to reconcile across the file. A child whose surname on the birth certificate differs from the parent's, through a remarriage or a transliteration choice made by a passport office, needs the document connecting the two, on the same chain as everything else.
When the parents are separated or divorced
This is the part that decides whether a straightforward file becomes a difficult one, and it is worth handling before you book flights.
Where the child has two living legal parents and only one of them is moving to Georgia, expect to have to show that the child may lawfully live here with you. In practice that means one of the following, apostilled and translated like every other foreign document:
- A written, notarised consent from the other parent to the child residing in Georgia.
- A custody or residence order giving you the right to determine where the child lives.
- A death certificate, where the other parent has died.
If the other parent will not consent, that is not a problem the Public Service Hall can solve. Custody is decided by the courts of the jurisdiction that governs it, and the Georgian application waits on that outcome. The same document also protects you on the way out: taking a child across a border without the other parent's agreement raises questions in the departing country long before it raises any in Georgia.
School, university and the permit that has to change
A child on a family residence permit attends school in Georgia normally. Public schools, private schools and international schools all enrol children on this basis, and the permit itself is not what schools are assessing. Practically, the two documents a school will ask for are the residence card and the child's Georgian personal number, which is issued alongside it.
University is where the status changes. A student who has aged out of the family category, or who arrives independently, moves to a study residence permit, which runs with the course rather than with a parent. That transition is worth planning during the final school year rather than during the application season, because it is a fresh application with its own evidence and its own decision period.
A child's 18th birthday is a permit event, not just a family one. Once they are an adult, a temporary resident parent no longer has a category to renew them into, so the renewal that would otherwise be routine has nothing to attach to. Start looking at the alternatives around twelve months out.
What actually happens when a child turns 18
At the next renewal there is no minor-child category to renew into, and the options narrow to three:
- Their own study permit, if they are going on to a Georgian institution. This is the common answer and the tidiest one.
- Their own work or IT basis, which since 1 March 2026 means a Special Labour Permit granted before the residence permit rather than alongside it.
- The parent reaching permanent residence, after which the adult-child category opens up. That is a decade-long answer, so it only helps families who were already close.
The published rules do not squarely address what happens to a permit that is already in force on the day a child turns 18, and we are not going to guess at it. Plan around the renewal, which is the point at which the category is tested, and take advice if the birthday and the expiry date fall close together.
Filing, fees and the card
Each child is a separate application with its own government fee and its own residence card, even where the whole family files on the same day with one shared set of accommodation and income evidence. Applications are lodged in person and decided by the Public Service Development Agency, under the categories set out in the Law on the Legal Status of Aliens and Stateless Persons.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Our fee, per child | from $450 |
| Government fee, 30-day decision | $115 |
| Government fee, 10-day decision | up to $230 |
| Residence card, each | $23 |
| Renewal, per family member | from $190 |
Children's applications are the ones where the accommodation test bites hardest. A household applying for two adults and three children is assessed on whether the accommodation suits that household, so a studio flat and a family of five is a refusal waiting to happen. Our family reunification service prices households as a package for that reason, and a full route-by-route comparison sits in the breakdown of residence permit costs.
Your spouse, children and, if you are a citizen or permanent resident, your parents can get permits through their relationship to you.
See what it costs, from $450
Your deadline is their deadline
A child's permit is derivative. It exists because of your status, it expires when yours does, and it falls if yours falls. That makes your renewal date a household date rather than a personal one, which is the whole subject of what happens when a sponsor's permit lapses.
The mechanism that catches families is the filing deadline rather than the expiry itself. An application lodged inside the last 40 days of your lawful stay is refused review, and a refusal on your file is a refusal on every file attached to it. Where children arrived at different times and hold permits on different dates, that is several deadlines a year instead of one, which is an argument for aligning the applications even at the cost of a shorter first permit for somebody.
Where and how applications are lodged is governed by the procedural rules on granting residence permits, and they assume the applicant is present. A child who is abroad on the filing date is a problem to solve before the date, not after.
Key takeaways
- Minor children can join a parent on any residence permit, including a temporary one. Adult children cannot.
- An adult child needs the sponsoring parent to hold permanent residence or Georgian citizenship, and dependency is generally evidenced.
- The minor child of a Georgian citizen qualifies for permanent residence immediately.
- The birth certificate needs apostille or consular legalisation and then certified translation, in that order.
- Where parents are separated, the other parent's consent or a custody order is part of the file.
- School attendance is unaffected. University normally means moving to a study permit.
- Turning 18 removes the category a temporary resident parent can renew into. Plan it twelve months ahead.
- Every child's permit expires with the sponsor's, so the sponsor's filing deadline governs the household.
Frequently asked questions
Can I bring my children to Georgia on my residence permit?
Yes, if they are minors. A minor child can be sponsored by a parent holding any Georgian residence permit, including a temporary one such as a work, IT or property permit. Adult children are a different category and require the sponsoring parent to hold permanent residence or Georgian citizenship.
What age counts as a minor child for a Georgian family residence permit?
Under 18. The distinction is not cosmetic: it decides which sponsorship category the child falls into and therefore whether a temporary resident parent can bring them at all. A child who is 17 at filing and 18 at the next renewal changes category during the cycle.
Do I need the other parent's consent to bring my child to Georgia?
Where the child has two living legal parents and only one is relocating, expect to evidence that the child may lawfully live with you. That is usually a notarised consent from the other parent or a custody order, apostilled and translated. Where the other parent refuses, the question is resolved in the court that governs custody rather than in Georgia.
Can I bring my adult child to Georgia on a family residence permit?
Only if you hold permanent residence or Georgian citizenship. As a temporary resident you cannot, which means ten years of continuous residence first, or five on the investment route. An adult child who wants to come sooner needs their own basis, most often a study or work permit.
What documents does a child need for a Georgian residence permit?
The child's passport, their birth certificate showing the relationship to the sponsoring parent, and where relevant an adoption order or custody order. Every foreign document needs apostille or consular legalisation and then certified Georgian translation. The household's accommodation and income evidence is shared with the rest of the family application.
Can my child go to school in Georgia on a family residence permit?
Yes. Children on a family residence permit enrol in Georgian public, private and international schools normally, and the permit is not what the school is assessing. In practice the school will want the residence card and the child's Georgian personal number, both of which come with the permit.
What happens to my child's residence permit when they turn 18?
At renewal there is no longer a minor-child category for a temporary resident parent to renew into. The realistic answers are a study permit if they are going on to university, their own work basis with a Special Labour Permit granted first, or the parent having reached permanent residence by then. Start looking at this around twelve months before the birthday.
Can my child work in Georgia on a family residence permit?
It depends who pays them. A Georgian employer taking on a foreign national needs a Special Labour Permit for that hire, and the obligation and the fine sit with the employer. Work for clients outside Georgia engages no permit at all, and a family residence permit neither adds to that nor takes anything away.
Does my child get a Georgian residence card and personal number?
Yes. Each approved child is issued their own residence card with its own card fee, and a Georgian personal number comes with it. The personal number is what schools, clinics and banks actually ask for, so it is worth having the card in hand before term starts.
What happens to my children's permits if mine is refused or expires?
They fall with it. Family permits are derivative, so losing your status removes the basis for everyone attached to you, and an appeal does not suspend enforcement. Treat your own filing deadline as the household's deadline and file on the earliest track you can afford if the dates are tight.
Is a child born in Georgia to foreign parents treated differently?
Not for residence purposes. Birth in Georgia does not by itself confer Georgian citizenship or any right to reside, so a baby born here to two foreign parents is added to the family in the ordinary way, using the Georgian birth certificate rather than a foreign one. That removes the apostille step, which is the one genuine advantage.
