You are in Tbilisi already, or you will be within the month, and the permit itself is not what keeps you awake. It is whether a bank will open an account, whether the certificate from the MVD arrives before your year of lawful stay runs out, and whether the whole plan survives contact with a compliance officer. Georgian law treats your passport exactly as it treats a German one. Everything that is harder for you sits outside Georgian law, and this page is about that.
Can you enter, and for how long?
Yes, and for a year at a time. Russia sits at item 66 on the annex to the government resolution that carries Georgia's visa-free list, which grants entry and stay for one full year. We checked that list on 1 August 2026. It was last amended on 24 February 2026, so the position is current rather than inherited from an older page.
Two qualifications matter more here than elsewhere. Visa-free status is permission to seek entry, not a right to it: the officer at the border decides, and a refusal is not appealable at the counter. And since 2026 every visitor must hold cover of at least GEL 30,000, which the insurance requirement applies on arrival rather than at the permit stage.
The year is resettable by leaving and returning, which is why so many people postpone the permit. That works indefinitely if you never want the card, but the 365-day visa-free stay accrues nothing toward permanent residence, so the ten-year count does not start until you file.
Which route Russians actually use
Three, in roughly this order.
Self-employment. Register as an Individual Entrepreneur, apply for the small business regime, invoice foreign clients, and use the registration and turnover as the evidence base for a work residence permit. The company side of that is handled on our sister site's guide to Individual Entrepreneur registration, and the way the tax status and the permit interlock is set out in the 1% regime and the permit.
Employment by a relocated company. Your employer applies for the labour permit, and the employer has to show GEL 50,000 of turnover for each foreign employee it sponsors. Small relocated entities fail that test more often than they expect.
The IT permit, for anyone who can document $25,000 of annual income and two years of experience. It runs three years rather than one, which is its whole appeal, and it requires 183 days a year in the country. The conditions are set out in the IT residence permit rules.
Whichever you pick, since 1 March 2026 the Special Labour Permit is a separate approval that comes before the residence permit rather than with it. Filing in the wrong order produces a refusal, not a delay. The property route at $150,000 is the exception: it needs no labour permit and no criminal record certificate, which is why it appeals to people whose paperwork is stuck.
Your document chain
Short, and cheaper than most. Russia has been a party to the Apostille Convention since 31 May 1992, so one stamp replaces a consular chain.
The criminal record certificate is a spravka on the presence or absence of a criminal record, issued by the Ministry of Internal Affairs through its information centres. Apply on Gosuslugi, at an MVD office, or through a Russian consular post. In Tbilisi that post is the Russian Federation Interests Section housed at the Embassy of Switzerland, because Russia and Georgia have had no diplomatic relations since 2008 and consular functions run through the protecting power.
The apostille then goes on it, and this is where people queue at the wrong door. The Hague Conference listing of Russia's competent authorities records several, split by which body issued the paper:
| Document | Who apostilles it |
|---|---|
| MVD criminal record certificate | The Ministry of Internal Affairs itself |
| Birth, marriage and divorce certificates | The civil registry authority of the region that issued them |
| Notarial acts, court documents, federal agency documents | The Ministry of Justice and its territorial bodies |
| Prosecution and investigation documents | The General Prosecutor's Office |
| Archival records of military service | The Ministry of Defence |
One Russian-specific failure costs a fortnight and cannot be repaired after the stamp. Transliteration of your name into Latin script is done separately by the passport office and by the registry office, and the two do not always agree. Aleksandr against Alexander, Dmitrii against Dmitry, and the file stops. Check the certificate against the passport page before you pay for the apostille.
Everything then travels as a paper original to Georgia, where the translation is produced and notarised locally. The order that saves weeks is apostille, ship, translate, in that sequence, and never the reverse.
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
The banking problem, which the permit does not fix
Say this plainly, because it is the single most common disappointment on this route: a Georgian residence permit is not a banking product. It creates no entitlement to an account, and the reasons Russian nationals struggle to open one have nothing to do with immigration status.
The structural facts have not moved much since 2022. Visa and Mastercard suspended operations in Russia in March 2022, so a card issued by a Russian bank does not function outside the country. Acceptance of the Russian domestic card system abroad collapsed after the United States Treasury warned in September 2022 that supporting it carried secondary sanctions exposure, and Georgian lenders withdrew from it. Major Russian banks are cut out of international messaging under European measures, so a direct transfer from a Russian account is no longer a routine operation.
Georgian banks hold correspondent relationships in dollars and euros and are therefore exposed to that same secondary risk. The consequence is enhanced due diligence on Russian nationals and account opening as a commercial decision the bank makes case by case. We do not publish which institution is doing what this quarter, because it changes and we cannot verify it in a way that would be honest to print.
What we can tell you is where it bites. The property route needs funds to arrive in Georgia before a purchase registers. The work route needs income evidence in a form a reviewing officer can read. Address registration and insurance both assume a payment method. Solve the money before you solve the paperwork, or the paperwork will wait for it.
What Russia does when you leave
There is no exit tax and no permission to obtain. There are three trailing obligations, and all three surprise people a year later.
Your Russian salary stays Russian. Since 1 January 2024, payments under an employment contract with a Russian employer to someone working remotely from abroad are treated as Russian-source income and taxed at source whatever your tax residency. From 1 January 2025 comparable logic was extended to civil-law contracts performed using Russian internet resources or software. Leaving the country does not end that liability.
There is no treaty. The Georgian Ministry of Finance list of agreements in force runs to 58 jurisdictions and does not include Russia. So there is no treaty tie-breaker if both systems treat you as resident, and no treaty mechanism to allocate taxing rights. In practice the sting is smaller than it is for Americans, because Georgia taxes resident individuals on Georgian-source income rather than worldwide income, and tax residence is a separate test from your permit in any case.
Currency control follows you. A Russian currency resident who opens an account abroad has to notify the tax authority, and to file annual reports on movements through it. The exemption from the annual report is drawn by reference to OECD or FATF membership and to automatic exchange of information, and Georgia belongs to neither organisation. Treat the report as due and confirm the current position before you file.
One more, for anyone whose plan ends in a Georgian passport. Russia allows its citizens to hold another nationality; Georgia does not. Georgian naturalisation expects renunciation, so the dual citizenship position closes that endgame for most readers, and permanent residence after ten years is the sensible destination instead. The Russian duty to notify the authorities attaches to foreign citizenship or a document confirming a right of permanent residence, so a Georgian temporary card sits outside it and the permanent one is where the question becomes live.
Timeline and cost
Government fees are GEL 300 to GEL 600 by processing track, plus GEL 60 for the card, and the labour permit adds GEL 200 on a 30-day decision or GEL 400 on a ten-working-day one. Our own fee is $450 on the work and IT routes, $570 on property, $765 for the labour permit and work residence permit together, and $1,070 for the complete self-employed package including the company side.
Count backwards, not forwards. The application has to be filed 40 calendar days before your lawful stay expires under the Law on the Legal Status of Aliens and Stateless Persons, the labour permit decision sits in front of that, and the MVD certificate sits in front of both. Realistically that is a three-month runway from a standing start, and the 40-day rule is where late applications are refused review rather than assessed. Around $610 a month is generally accepted as sufficient income on the work route, though it is a practice figure rather than a statutory floor.
The verdict
Works with conditions, and the conditions are financial rather than legal. On the Georgian side a Russian applicant is an ordinary applicant with a short apostille chain and no entry problem, which puts you ahead of most nationalities on this site. On the Russian side you are carrying a banking constraint that no immigration decision touches, and a home tax system that did not let go when you left. Solve the account first. Everything else is a queue.
Key takeaways
- Russian citizens enter Georgia visa-free for 365 days, confirmed against the government list on 1 August 2026.
- The MVD issues the criminal record certificate and apostilles it. Civil registry documents go to the regional registry authority instead, and a diploma goes elsewhere again.
- Check the Latin transliteration of your name on the certificate against your passport before paying for the apostille.
- Banking is a sanctions problem, not an immigration one. A residence permit creates no right to a Georgian account.
- Georgia and Russia have no double tax treaty in force, so there is no tie-breaker and no treaty relief.
- Russian employment income paid from Russia remains taxable at source after you leave.
- Georgia does not generally permit dual citizenship, so permanent residence rather than naturalisation is the realistic endgame.
Frequently asked questions
Can Russian citizens get a Georgian residence permit in 2026?
Yes. Nationality is not a condition on any Georgian residence permit route, and Russian citizens apply on the same terms and pay the same government fees as everyone else. The property, work, IT, investment, family and study routes are all available. What differs is the banking and document layer around the application rather than the application itself.
Do Russians need a visa for Georgia?
No. Russia appears on the annex to the government resolution listing countries whose citizens may enter without a visa, with a permitted stay of one full year. We checked that on 1 August 2026. The period resets when you leave and re-enter, and you must hold insurance with at least GEL 30,000 of cover on arrival.
Can a Russian citizen open a bank account in Georgia with a residence permit?
The permit helps and does not decide it. Georgian banks apply enhanced due diligence to Russian nationals because of secondary sanctions exposure through their own correspondent relationships, and account opening remains a commercial decision made case by case. Plan the money before the paperwork, and do not assume a residence card changes the answer.
Where do I get an apostille on a Russian police certificate?
From the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which is a designated competent authority for its own documents. That is a different office from the one handling birth and marriage certificates, which are apostilled by the civil registry authority of the region that issued them. The Hague Conference publishes the full split, and going to the wrong counter costs a week.
Is there a double tax treaty between Georgia and Russia?
Not one in force. The Georgian Ministry of Finance publishes 58 agreements and Russia is not among them, so there is no treaty tie-breaker if both countries treat you as tax resident and no treaty relief to claim. Georgia taxes resident individuals on Georgian-source income, which limits the practical damage for most people.
Do I still pay Russian tax if I live in Georgia?
On Russian-source income, yes. Since 1 January 2024 salary paid by a Russian employer to a remote worker abroad is treated as Russian-source and taxed at source regardless of where you are tax resident, and civil-law contracts using Russian digital infrastructure were brought into similar treatment from 1 January 2025. Ceasing to be a Russian tax resident does not end it.
Do Russian citizens need a work permit in Georgia?
In three situations, the same as everybody else. A Georgian employer taking on foreign staff needs one, an Individual Entrepreneur with Georgian clients needs one, and it is a prerequisite to the work and IT residence permits rather than something you add later. Remote work for clients outside Georgia engages none of them. An employer hiring foreign staff without a permit faces GEL 2,000, with a separate GEL 2,000 on the worker.
Can Russians buy property in Georgia for a residence permit?
Yes, at $150,000 or more, and the route needs no criminal record certificate and no labour permit. The figure rose from $100,000 on 1 March 2026, so treat any lower number as out of date. The practical obstacle is moving the purchase funds into Georgia rather than any restriction on who may buy.
Do I have to tell the Russian authorities about my Georgian residence permit?
The notification duty in Russian citizenship law attaches to a foreign citizenship or a document confirming a right of permanent residence. A Georgian temporary residence card is neither of those. It becomes a live question if you reach Georgian permanent residence after ten years, and the deadlines and penalties are strict enough to be worth checking before that point.
Can a Russian citizen become a Georgian citizen?
Only by giving up Russian citizenship in practice. Naturalisation takes ten years of continuous residence plus exams in language, history and law, and Georgia does not generally permit dual citizenship, with exceptions granted by presidential decree on state-interest grounds. Russia permits dual nationality at its end, so Georgia is the binding constraint here rather than Russia.
How long does the whole process take for a Russian applicant?
Budget three months from a standing start. The MVD certificate and its apostille come first, the Special Labour Permit decision takes up to 30 calendar days after that, and the residence permit application itself has to be filed 40 calendar days before your lawful stay ends. The document chain is short by international standards; the sequencing is what costs the time.
