You want a straight answer rather than a careful one, so here it is. Georgian family reunification is built on registered marriage, Georgia does not recognise same-sex marriage or registered partnership, and there is therefore no partner or spouse category available to a same-sex couple. That is a question about one route, not about whether you can live here. The rest of this post is about the routes that are open, which are the ones each of you qualifies for individually.
Why the family route is closed
A family residence permit rests on a relationship Georgian law recognises for the purpose. The recognised list is short: spouse, minor children, and, for permanent residents and Georgian citizens, parents and adult children. Everything on it is a formal legal relationship evidenced by a civil document.
"Spouse" means a civilly registered marriage, and nothing else. That is not a rule aimed at same-sex couples in particular. An unmarried opposite-sex couple with fifteen years of shared life and a mortgage is refused the same category for the same reason, and so is a couple married only in a religious ceremony never entered in a civil register. The published position on who can sponsor whom admits no cohabitation category at all.
The difference is what happens next. An unmarried opposite-sex couple can convert their position by registering a marriage, in Georgia or elsewhere, and the category opens. That conversion is not available to a same-sex couple, because Georgia does not recognise same-sex marriage or registered partnership. A marriage or civil partnership validly registered in another country does not produce the recognition either, since the route tests the relationship against Georgian law rather than against the law of the place it was registered.
So there is no partner route, no discretionary version of one, and no document that creates one. We are not going to describe a route around it, because describing one that does not exist is how people end up filing an application that gets refused and paying for the privilege. The same conclusion appears from the other direction in the guide to residence through marriage.
What this does not mean
Worth separating, because the two questions get run together and they are not the same.
The eligibility question above is about one category of one permit type. It says nothing about whether either of you can obtain a Georgian residence permit, because the ordinary routes are granted on your own work, income, enrolment or assets. Those applications ask about your employment, your qualifications, your income and your accommodation. They do not ask this question, and there is no partner-related declaration on the form to worry about.
Nor does any of it affect a lawful stay. Nationals of around 95 countries enter Georgia without a visa for up to 365 days, on the same terms as anyone else, and a couple arriving to look at the country before committing is doing what every other couple does.
What you do lose is derivative status: the ability for one person's permit to carry the other. That is the practical cost, and it is a scheduling and paperwork cost rather than a barrier.
The routes each of you can qualify for
These are the ordinary residence permit categories, and each one is assessed on the applicant in front of the officer.
| Route | What it asks of the applicant | Term |
|---|---|---|
| IT residence permit | $25,000 annual income, two years of experience, presence of 183 days a year | Three years |
| Work residence permit | Employment or registered self-employment, plus a Special Labour Permit | Six to twelve months, then annual |
| Property | Georgian residential property worth at least $150,000 | Twelve months, renewable while owned |
| Investment | $300,000, with exemption from the labour permit | Five years |
| Study | Enrolment at a recognised institution | Follows the course |
The IT route is the strongest for two remote workers. A three-year term against an annual property renewal is a materially different administrative life, and the conditions on the IT residence permit are the ones most couples in this position already meet. Note the presence condition of 183 days a year, which is a real constraint for anyone who travels heavily.
The property route works where only one of you has income. A qualifying purchase at the $150,000 property threshold supports the owner's permit, and it is the route with the least to prove about employment. What it does not do is extend to a partner, because its family coverage runs to a spouse and minor children. Two partners each needing a permit therefore need to look at how ownership is structured, and whether a jointly held property supports two applications is a valuation question rather than an assumption to make: put it to the accredited valuer before you sign anything, since valuations for permit purposes come from bodies accredited by the Unified National Accreditation Body. The detail sits in the guide to accredited property valuation.
The work and IT routes carry a labour permit in front of them. Since 1 March 2026 a Special Labour Permit is granted before either of those residence permits, and it is also what a job with a Georgian employer or Individual Entrepreneur trade with Georgian clients rests on. Investment permit holders and permanent residents are exempt. Because you are applying individually rather than as a couple, each of you carries that stage separately.
Larger capital takes the five-year route. The investment residence permit at $300,000 runs five years and carries the labour permit exemption, which for a couple where one partner has capital and the other has income is often the tidier combination.
What two independent permits are like to hold
The paperwork doubles and the structural risk halves. Both halves of that are worth planning around.
Two of everything. Two files, two sets of apostilled and translated documents, two government fees, two cards, two expiry dates. The document checklist applies to each of you in full, and there is no shared-evidence discount of the kind a family application gets.
Two filing deadlines. An application lodged inside the last 40 days of your lawful stay is refused review. Two permits granted weeks apart means two of those deadlines to diary, and the mitigation is to align the applications from the start even if that means one of you files earlier than strictly necessary.
Nothing is derivative. If one permit is refused or lapses, the other is untouched, because neither rests on the other. A couple on a family permit does not have that: there, everything falls with the sponsor. Whichever way you look at it, two independent permits is the more resilient arrangement, and it is worth saying plainly rather than treating the position as purely a loss.
| Item | Amount, per person |
|---|---|
| Government fee, 30-day decision | $115 |
| Government fee, 10-day decision | up to $230 |
| Residence card | $23 |
| Our fee, work, IT or investment route | $450 |
| Our fee, property route | $570 |
A route-by-route comparison of the real total, agent fees and apostilles included, sits in the breakdown of residence permit costs.
Thirty minutes to establish which route fits, what it costs, and whether you have enough time left on your current stay.
See what it costs
Children, and where the honest answer is that it is unsettled
A child's application rests on documented legal parentage. Where one of you is the child's legal parent on a birth certificate or adoption order, that parent sponsors the child in the ordinary way, and the mechanics are the same as for anybody else bringing children to Georgia.
Where a foreign birth certificate or court order records two same-sex parents, whether Georgian practice gives effect to the second parentage for residence purposes is not squarely addressed in anything published, and we are not going to guess at it in either direction. Take advice on your own documents before you file, and file the application that rests on the parentage nobody can dispute.
The long game: permanent residence and citizenship
Each of you accrues your own clock and neither of you can move the other's.
Permanent residence takes ten years of continuous temporary residence, or five for investment permit holders, and continuity is what decides it: a gap between permits resets the count to zero rather than pausing it. The route to permanent residence is identical to everyone else's, and reaching it removes the labour permit requirement.
Naturalisation takes ten years of residence plus examinations in language, history and law. The five-year reduction attaches to marriage to a Georgian citizen, so it does not arise here. Georgia does not generally permit dual citizenship in any event, which is what decides the question for most people who reach the point of asking it.
The practical layer
Three things a couple in this position should put in place, none of which depends on recognition of the relationship.
Address registration. Both of you can register at the same address. What the registry wants is the owner's consent or the lease, not a statement of who lives with whom, and the requirements are set out in the guide to address registration in Georgia.
Powers of attorney. Georgian law will not treat you as each other's next of kin, so the authority to act for one another in property, banking or medical decisions has to be created by document rather than assumed from status. A properly drafted power of attorney is the instrument, and getting one in place is the single most useful piece of paperwork on this page.
Insurance and everything downstream. Health cover is bought individually, and policies are underwritten per person. Do not plan on a family policy or a spousal add-on.
If you want the position on your own facts rather than in general, that is what a consultation is for. Eligibility for every category, and the grounds on which an application is refused, are set out in the Law on the Legal Status of Aliens and Stateless Persons; applications are decided by the Public Service Development Agency under the procedural rules on granting residence permits.
Key takeaways
- Georgia does not recognise same-sex marriage or registered partnership, so the family reunification route is not available.
- A marriage or civil partnership registered abroad does not open it either.
- Cohabitation opens no category for any couple. The difference is that registering a marriage is not an option here.
- The workable position is each partner holding their own permit on a work, IT, property, investment or study basis.
- The IT permit at $25,000 of income and three years of term is the strongest fit for two remote workers.
- Two independent permits mean double the paperwork and two filing deadlines, but neither permit falls with the other.
- On the work and IT routes a Special Labour Permit comes first, and each of you files one individually.
- Where a child has two recorded same-sex parents on a foreign document, the Georgian position is not settled. Take advice before filing.
Frequently asked questions
Can I get a Georgian residence permit through my same-sex partner?
No. Georgian family reunification recognises registered marriage, and Georgia does not recognise same-sex marriage or registered partnership, so there is no spouse or partner category to apply under. Each partner needs to qualify on their own basis instead, most commonly a work, IT or property permit.
Does Georgia recognise a same-sex marriage registered in another country?
Not for family reunification purposes. The route tests the relationship against Georgian law rather than the law of the country where the marriage was registered, so a foreign certificate does not open the spouse category. It remains a valid document for other purposes in the country that issued it.
Can same-sex couples live in Georgia legally?
Yes. Residence permits are granted on your own employment, income, enrolment or assets, and those applications do not turn on this question. Nationals of around 95 countries can also enter without a visa for up to 365 days, on the same terms as anyone else.
What is the best residence permit route for a same-sex couple in Georgia?
For two remote workers, usually the IT residence permit: it asks $25,000 of annual income and two years of experience, and it runs a three-year term rather than an annual one. Where only one partner has income, a property purchase at $150,000 covers that partner, and the other still needs a basis of their own.
Can we both get residence permits on one property purchase in Georgia?
Not automatically. The property route's family coverage extends to a spouse and minor children, which does not apply here, so each applicant needs to meet the threshold in their own right. Whether a jointly held property supports two applications is a valuation and ownership question to settle with an accredited valuer before you buy.
Do we each need a Special Labour Permit in Georgia?
Only if you are each applying on the work or IT route, taking a job with a Georgian employer, or trading as an Individual Entrepreneur with Georgian clients. In those cases it is assessed per person, so two applications rather than one. Two remote workers billing clients abroad and living here on a property or investment permit need none at all. Permanent residents and investment permit holders are exempt.
Can my partner be added to my Georgian residence permit later?
No. There is no mechanism to add a partner to an existing permit outside the recognised family categories, and time spent living together does not create one. The second permit is a separate application on a separate basis, and it is worth filing both on a similar timetable so the renewals align.
What happens to my partner if my permit is refused?
Nothing, and that is the one structural advantage of this position. Because neither permit is derivative, a refusal or a lapse on one file leaves the other untouched. A couple on a family permit is in the opposite position, where everything falls with the sponsor.
Can we adopt or bring a child to Georgia as a same-sex couple?
A child's residence application rests on documented legal parentage, so the parent named on the birth certificate or adoption order sponsors the child in the ordinary way. Where a foreign document records two same-sex parents, whether the second parentage is given effect for Georgian residence purposes is not addressed in published rules, and that needs advice on your specific documents.
Does either of us get a faster route to Georgian citizenship?
No. The five-year reduction in the residence requirement for naturalisation attaches to marriage to a Georgian citizen, so it does not arise. Both of you are on the ordinary ten-year path, with examinations in language, history and law, and Georgia does not generally permit dual citizenship.
