Georgia's January 1, 2027 Work Permit Deadline: What Foreigners Must Do Now

Overview

If your employer registered you in Georgia's labour migration database before March 1, 2026, you need a work permit and a matching residence permit by January 1, 2027.
If you're self-employed (an Individual Entrepreneur, with or without the 1% Small Business Status) or a company director, your deadline was May 1, 2026. If you still don't have a permit, you're working without one today.
Some people don't need a permit at all. Holders of permanent residence or an investment residence permit are two of them.
A standard decision takes up to 30 days, and you then have 10 days to file for residence. Start in November. December is too late for most people.

The Georgia work permit deadline is January 1, 2027, and it's closer than the date suggests. The permit itself can take a month. After that you still need a residence permit. If you start in the middle of December, you'll probably miss it.

Until March 1, 2026, Georgia had no work permit system. If you were here legally, you could work. Amendments to the Law on Labour Migration ended that, and the government gave some people extra time to catch up. Your deadline depends on how you work, so start there.

Rules current as of October 28, 2026. The government has changed them several times this year.

Which deadline applies to you

Employees already registered: January 1, 2027

This is the group the January deadline covers. If you work for a Georgian company and your registration in the Ministry's labour migration database (labourmigration.moh.gov.ge) was active on March 1, 2026, you have until January 1, 2027 to get a work permit and the residence permit that goes with it.

Your employer applies for the work permit, not you. Don't assume they've started. Ask HR this week, in writing, when they filed.

Self-employed people and directors: May 1, 2026, already passed

If you were already self-employed in Georgia on March 1, 2026, the rules started to apply to you on May 1, 2026. That covers Individual Entrepreneurs, people with Small Business Status and directors of most small Georgian companies.

There's no grace period left for this group. If you're still working without a permit, apply now. Waiting for January doesn't help you.

People who don't need a permit

You don't need a work permit if one of these applies to you:

You hold a permanent residence permit, an investment residence permit or a special residence permit.
You work fully remotely for a Georgian employer, and the job doesn't need you to come to Georgia.
You work for a person or company that isn't resident in Georgia, and the work is about their business outside Georgia. This one doesn't apply if you need a residence permit to stay here legally.
You own shares in a Georgian LLC but don't work in it. An April 2026 amendment took owners out of the rule.
You're a director or audit committee member of a Category 1, 2 or 3 company under Georgia's accounting law. Most small LLCs are Category 4, so this doesn't cover them.
You do short-term work of no more than 4 months in a calendar year, and your local employer or client registers you in the labour migration system first.
You work for an embassy, a consulate or an international organization, or you're a foreign journalist accredited in Georgia.
You're a refugee, an asylum seeker, or you have subsidiary or temporary protection.

There's a catch. If you're exempt but you want a work residence permit, an IT residence permit or a D1 work visa, you still need the work permit first.

The remote worker question

This is the question we hear most from Americans, Brits and Australians.

If you work remotely for a company back home and you don't have a Georgian business, the exemption for work for a non-resident may cover you. That's more likely if you're here on the visa-free stay and don't need a residence permit to be here legally.

If you registered as an Individual Entrepreneur to get the 1% tax rate, the answer changes. You run a business in Georgia, so you need a permit. A lot of freelancers missed this. They set up the Individual Entrepreneur for tax reasons and didn't connect it to the new labour rules.

Each permit covers one employer and one job, or one field of business. If you direct an LLC and also invoice clients through an Individual Entrepreneur, that's two permits.

The turnover test that catches small freelancers

If you're self-employed, you have to show turnover of at least 50,000 GEL over the last 12 months for each foreign national who applies under your business. Education and medical businesses need 35,000 GEL.

There's one way around it. If you registered your business in the last 3 months, the turnover test doesn't apply, but you still have to submit a document that shows zero turnover. If you plan to get a work residence permit on that basis, file the residence application inside the same 3 months.

If your Individual Entrepreneur earned less than 50,000 GEL last year, talk to a lawyer before you apply. If the Agency refuses you, you have to wait a month to apply again or appeal in court within a month. You may not have that month.

How to get the permit, step by step

Check who applies. If you're an employee, your employer applies. If you're self-employed or a director, you apply yourself.
Collect the documents. Self-employed applicants need a passport that's valid for at least 6 more months, a CV, a business extract, a Revenue Service certificate if you have Small Business Status, and a Revenue Service document that shows your turnover.
File online and pay. You apply on the State Employment Support Agency portal at labourmigration.moh.gov.ge. A decision within 30 calendar days costs 200 GEL. A decision within 10 business days costs 400 GEL.
Do the video interview. Self-employed applicants get a short video interview, usually 5 to 10 minutes, in English or Georgian. Have your original passport with you. If you miss the interview, the Agency rejects the application.
Fix any gaps fast. If the Agency asks for more documents, you have 10 calendar days.
File for residence. After approval, you have 10 calendar days to apply for a work or IT residence permit if you're in Georgia, or 30 calendar days to apply for a D1 visa if you're outside. If you miss that window, the Agency can cancel the permit. If you already hold another type of residence permit, ask us whether you need to change it.

Two rules to remember after you have the permit. If your job or employer changes, you need a new permit. If you're self-employed, you have to come to Georgia at least once every 6 months, or you can lose it.

What it costs to miss the deadline

Work without a permit can cost 2,000 GEL for the foreign worker and another 2,000 GEL for the employer, for each case. A second offence costs 4,000 GEL. Repeated breaks combined with other offences can reach 12,000 GEL.

The fine is the smaller problem. A record of illegal work can count against you when you apply for residence later, and Georgia is checking foreigners more closely than it did a year ago.

A timeline that works

Today is October 28. There are 65 days to January 1.

If you file in the first half of November on the standard 30-day track, you should have a decision by mid-December. That leaves time to file for residence before the holidays. The residence permit decision takes more time after that, so the earlier you start, the safer you are.

If you start after mid-November, pay the 400 GEL for the 10-business-day decision. It costs 200 GEL more, and it buys you weeks.

If your employer hasn't filed by the end of November, that's a problem you need to raise with them in writing, because the fine applies to you too.

How we can help

We check which group you're in, prepare your documents, file the work permit and then the residence permit, and prepare you for the video interview. You get the price in writing before we start, and we can do most of it by video call if you're outside Georgia. See what we do, or ask us about your permit and a lawyer will reply with the next steps.

For more plain-English answers on residence, tax and property, see our guides for expats in Georgia.

This guide is general information, not legal advice for your case. Talk to a lawyer before you act.