As of March 1st of this year, new requirements for foreigners related to work activities in Georgia came into force. In addition to a work permit, self-employed individuals and employed foreigners had to obtain a work residence permit. However, the main condition for obtaining such status created a catch-22 for new businesses: a confirmed annual turnover of the employer of at least 50,000 lari per each foreign employee was required. Newly registered companies, which by definition had no work history whatsoever, could not confirm such turnover and found themselves in a dead end, unable to obtain the necessary document for legal residence in the country.
On July 9th, the Georgian government adopted a decree that eliminated this contradiction. The document introduced a number of significant changes to the requirements for a work residence permit, maintaining the general thresholds but introducing benefits for new enterprises. Now, a business that has existed for less than three months is completely exempt from the requirement to confirm annual turnover. However, this benefit is subject to conditions: there should be no more than three foreign workers on staff, and the applicant must be obtaining a work residence permit for the first time. Instead of financial documents, a certificate from the employer stating the number of foreign workers is sufficient.
An important limitation is the duration of this benefit. A work residence permit under the simplified scheme is issued for six months, not for the standard period. During this time, the company must manage to launch and develop enough to demonstrate actual turnover. After six months, the applicant will be forced to either meet the standard requirements or renew the status under the general procedure. Whether this means that after six months it will be necessary to reach the required turnover, the source does not clarify, which leaves a certain risk for entrepreneurs.
The decree also introduced clarifications regarding turnover for other business categories. For most businesses, the threshold remained at 50,000 lari per year per foreign employee, but for educational institutions and clinics, this threshold was reduced to 35,000 lari. The calculation is transparent: each foreign employee requires a separate package of documents, and thresholds are multiplied by their number. If a standard package cannot be collected for objective reasons, migration authorities are willing to consider other credible evidence that the company achieves the required turnover — for example, bank statements, contracts, or tax reports.
Three groups benefit the most from the July amendments. First — newly registered self-employed individuals and young companies, for which the main barrier to obtaining status has disappeared. Second — employers who plan to hire foreign specialists and now have a transparent calculation scheme for required turnovers. Third — educational and medical institutions with a reduced threshold of 35,000 lari. However, most other residence permit categories were not affected by the amendments. Residence permits on the grounds of study, family, property, and investments continue to operate under the previous rules. Remote workers who work only for foreign clients and do not conduct business activities in Georgia also remain outside the scope of the decree. Furthermore, for persons who were in the Ministry of Labor database on March 1st, a transition period continues until January 1, 2027.
The decree also contains ambiguities that could complicate its implementation in practice. The concepts of "objective reasons" and "other credible evidence" are not clarified, which means: each case will be considered individually, and similar document packages may receive different decisions. A bigger question concerns renewal. The text of the decree does not directly describe what will happen to those who do not reach the required annual turnover rate of 50,000 lari within the allotted six months. If renewal will be carried out according to the general requirements, the benefit only postpones the financing problem rather than solving it. Entrepreneurs who plan to use the simplified scheme are advised to check their company card on the open portal Reportal.ge: migration authorities will take the business category from there, and the data in the application must match the state register.