The Georgian government has approved amendments to the rules governing the issuance of work residence permits for foreign nationals.
The changes to the resolution ‘On Approval of the Procedure for Consideration and Decision-Making of the Issue of Residence Permits in Georgia’ require foreigners engaged in activities covered by the Law on Labor Migration to submit documentation confirming their employment, along with other required documents.
The amendments also allow applicants who cannot provide standard certificates for objective reasons to submit other reliable evidence showing that their employer meets the required annual turnover threshold. The minimum turnover remains GEL 50,000 per foreign employee for regular businesses and GEL 35,000 per foreign employee for educational and medical institutions.
The new rules introduce simplified requirements for newly established companies. Businesses registered no more than three months earlier, employing no more than three foreign workers, and applying for a work residence permit for a foreign employee for the first time will no longer need to submit turnover documents. Instead, they must provide a company certificate confirming the number of foreign employees. In such cases, however, the residence permit will be issued for a maximum of six months.
The amendments also require applicants, in certain cases, to provide information on the size category of the enterprise or its public interest entity status. The data will be verified using information published by Georgia’s Accounting, Reporting and Audit Supervision Service.
