This guide concerns the employment of a foreign national by a Georgian company. Individual entrepreneurs, independent contractors and other self-employed foreign nationals are subject to additional rules.
Obtaining the right to work is organised by the Georgian employer. The employee cannot submit the employer’s application in the company’s place.
1. Who the New Procedure Applies To
A permit is generally required where a foreign national does not hold a permanent residence permit, works or intends to work for a local employer, receives salary or another financial benefit, performs the work in Georgia and does not fall within an exemption.
A local employer may be a Georgian company, an individual entrepreneur, a partnership, a registered branch or representative office of a foreign organisation, or an individual legally entitled to act as an employer.
To work from Georgia, the employee must generally have all of the following:
- a written employment agreement;
- an individual right to work;
- a work residence permit, a D1 immigration visa, or another valid Georgian residence permit, unless an exemption applies.
2. What the Right to Work Means
The right to work is an individual authorisation allowing a foreign national to work for a specific Georgian employer, in a specific role and for a defined period. It cannot be transferred.
A new authorisation is required when the employee changes employer or moves to a different role. It is not required where only the employee’s grade, salary or working schedule changes.
Remote work outside Georgia
A permit is not required where a foreign employee works for a Georgian employer entirely from outside Georgia and does not need to enter Georgia to perform the employment duties.
3. What Changed After Worknet Was Abolished
The original version of Resolution No. 70 required employers to advertise each vacancy through Worknet, wait at least 10 business days, consider candidates proposed by the Employment Promotion Agency and justify rejection of a local candidate.
Resolution No. 321 replaced that model from 10 July 2026. Employers no longer need to run an individual Worknet test for each vacancy. Instead, an employer may have to obtain prior approval for the annual number of foreign employees it plans to process.
The annual employer quota does not replace the individual authorisation: a separate right to work is still issued for every foreign employee and remains linked to the company and role.
4. Step-by-Step Procedure for a New Foreign Employee
1 Check whether the permit regime applies
Confirm whether the person has permanent residence, falls under an exemption, will actually work in Georgia, qualifies for the short-term professional activity regime, or is entering an occupation subject to a state quota — including a zero quota. A signed contract alone does not authorise the person to start work.
2 Review the employer’s figures
Establish how many foreign nationals the company already employs and plans to employ during the calendar year, what proportion they represent in the total workforce, whether turnover is sufficient, and whether an annual quota must be approved first.
3 Obtain an annual employer quota when required
Prior approval is required if at least one of these conditions is met:
- the employer plans to employ more than five foreign nationals during the calendar year; or
- foreign nationals exceed 5% of the total workforce.
Where 5% of the workforce is fewer than five people, the minimum threshold is five foreign employees. For example, a company with 20 employees reaches the quota threshold only above five foreign nationals; a company with 200 employees uses the 5% threshold of ten.
The quota request is submitted through labourmigration.moh.gov.ge at least 10 business days before the individual application.
4 Prove sufficient annual turnover
Turnover is normally confirmed with a Revenue Service document. If the company is not VAT-registered, it must provide documents confirming its status and turnover for the preceding continuous 12 calendar months. Ten foreign employees at an ordinary commercial company therefore require at least GEL 500,000 in annual turnover.
5 Sign a compliant employment agreement
Before applying, the employer must sign a written fixed-term employment agreement in Georgian and in the employee’s native language or another language the employee understands.
In addition to the Labour Code essentials, the agreement should state the parties’ identification data, the employer’s legal and actual addresses and banking details, commencement date, term, place and full address of work, and the principal rights, duties and liability of both parties. It is prudent to make commencement conditional on the employee obtaining the required work and migration status.
6 Apply for the named employee
The employer files the application through the labour migration system. It includes company and representative details, employee data, the role and qualification requirements, the employee’s education, skills and experience, and the contract term.
Supporting documents include the passport, employment agreement, turnover evidence, fee receipt and the prescribed confirmation of intent to employ, signed with a qualified electronic signature or electronic seal. The passport must remain valid for at least six months on the filing date.
If the Agency requests corrections or additional information, the applicant normally has no more than 10 calendar days to respond.
7 Receive the decision
For an employee, the state fee is paid by the employer through the electronic system. The decision is sent electronically to the employer and employee and is deemed delivered when dispatched to the nominated email address.
8 Obtain a D1 visa or residence permit
Outside Georgia: the employee must apply to a Georgian embassy or consulate for a D1 immigration visa no later than 30 calendar days after the right to work is granted.
In Georgia: the employee must apply to the Public Service Development Agency within 10 calendar days for a work residence permit or, where applicable, an IT residence permit. This step is not required if the person already holds another valid Georgian residence permit.
For a person without another residence permit, the initial right generally becomes effective when the D1 visa or relevant residence permit is obtained. A holder of another valid residence permit may generally rely on the right from the date it is granted.
5. Employees Hired Before 1 March 2026
The transitional regime applies only if the employee was registered in the unified labour migration database and had active registration status on 1 March 2026. Such an employee must obtain both the right to work and the relevant residence permit by 1 January 2027.
An earlier contract date is not enough. If the person was unregistered or inactive in the database on 1 March, the general procedure applies.
6. More Than Five Foreign Employees, but No New Hires
Having more than five foreign nationals on staff does not, by itself, require an immediate separate approval for the existing workforce. Prior quota approval is tied to filing individual right-to-work applications.
A company that is not hiring, is not yet filing applications and whose existing employees lawfully work under the transitional regime does not need an immediate quota solely because it exceeds five people. However, by 1 January 2027 those employees must obtain individual rights. If the number being processed exceeds the applicable threshold, the annual quota must be approved before the applications are filed.
7. More Than Five Foreign Employees and New Hires
The annual quota must be approved before new foreign employees are processed. It should cover all applications the employer expects to file during the year, including existing staff transitioning into the new regime, new hires, employees needing a new authorisation after a role change, and a reasonable reserve for expansion.
If eight foreign nationals already work at the company and seven more are planned, and all fifteen need authorisation, a quota of at least fifteen is sensible. For an ordinary commercial company, the corresponding turnover requirement would be GEL 750,000.
Applications above the approved quota may be refused. The employer may apply to increase the quota with a reasoned explanation, while unused capacity may be considered when the Agency determines the following year’s quota.
8. A New Company Without Sufficient Turnover
A recently registered employer may omit turnover evidence only where both conditions are met: no more than three months have passed since registration and no more than three foreign nationals are being employed.
The relief concerns turnover evidence only. It does not remove the contract, application, right-to-work, visa or residence-permit requirements.
9. When the Employer’s Prior Quota Does Not Apply
Prior approval of the annual number of foreign employees does not apply in certain cases, including:
- a company holding International Company status;
- a company holding Innovative Startup status;
- international experts in the relevant higher-education expert corps;
- foreign nationals whose personal engagement is supported by a public authority;
- certain highly paid qualified employees.
For the highly paid role exception, gross salary must exceed GEL 15,000 per month and the work must require higher education in a field directly related to the role. The Agency may still apply the general quota procedure if the work does not need to be performed by that particular foreign national.
Important distinction
An exemption from the employer’s annual quota is not automatically an exemption from the employee’s individual right to work. In most of these cases, the individual application is still required.
10. Who Is Fully Exempt from the Permit Procedure
The general regime does not apply to certain categories, including:
- refugees, persons with subsidiary or temporary protection, and registered asylum seekers;
- persons holding a temporary stay right under Article 60 of the relevant immigration legislation;
- staff of accredited diplomatic and consular missions and lawful representations of international organisations;
- accredited foreign journalists and persons covered by a different regime under an international treaty;
- holders of a valid investment residence permit and certain holders of a special residence permit;
- foreign nationals working in public institutions or state-participated enterprises;
- employees of Georgian employers who work fully remotely outside Georgia without needing to enter the country for their duties;
- persons working in Georgia in the interests of a non-resident in connection with that non-resident’s activity outside Georgia, subject to the individual-entrepreneur and residence-status conditions set by law;
- certain directors and governing-body members of larger enterprises;
- persons engaged in conservation, restoration or rehabilitation of cultural heritage sites.
If an application is mistakenly submitted for an exempt person, the Agency may leave it unexamined and the fee is not refunded.
11. Directors of Georgian Companies
Directors and other managers require a separate status analysis. Managers of category I, II or III enterprises and public-interest entities are exempt when they perform the management functions recognised by the Law on Entrepreneurs.
The automatic exemption does not apply to category IV enterprises. A foreign director of such a company is treated as a self-employed foreign national and must obtain the right to work under the relevant procedure.
The enterprise category is checked against the Accounting, Reporting and Auditing Supervision Service’s data and published financial statements. If an enterprise is not identified as a public-interest entity or a category I–III enterprise, it is treated as category IV for Resolution No. 70.
12. Short-Term Professional Activity
A right to work may not be required where a foreign national comes to Georgia for a specific short-term project, event, professional assignment or service. The activity must not become long-term employment in the Georgian labour market.
The total duration may not exceed four months in a calendar year and cannot exceed the person’s lawful stay. Before the activity begins, the employer or service organiser must register the person in the labour migration system free of charge and obtain confirmation.
The short-term regime is unavailable if registration is not confirmed, the person is in Georgia unlawfully, or the activity falls within an occupation subject to a special state quota.
13. Occupations Subject to a State Quota
In addition to an employer’s own annual quota, Resolution No. 70 sets national annual quotas for certain occupations and activities.
A zero quota effectively prevents authorisation for that activity unless a specific exception applies. The relevant quota should be checked before a contract is signed or an application filed.
14. Duration and Renewal
An initial ordinary right to work is issued for six months to one year. During the first five years, each renewal may be granted for up to one year. After five years of continuous renewals, subsequent authorisations may run for one to five years.
For employees and self-employed persons in information technology, the initial and subsequent periods may be up to three years. A renewal application must be filed no later than 30 calendar days before expiry, with the employer updating the previously supplied information and documents.
15. Changing Role or Employer
A new right is required if the employee moves to another company, transfers to a different role, or performs work that does not match the authorised position. The employee should not begin the new work before the new authorisation is obtained.
No new right is required where only the role level, salary or work schedule changes.
16. Termination of Employment
If the employment agreement ends early, the employer must notify the Agency through the labour migration system within five calendar days. Termination of the agreement is a ground for terminating the right to work.
The authorisation may also end if the employee is not performing the authorised role, works in another role requiring a new authorisation, the D1 visa expires or is cancelled before the relevant residence permit is obtained, a residence permit expires or is cancelled, the person fails to apply for the required visa or permit on time, the visa or permit is refused, or an expulsion decision is issued.
17. Grounds for Refusal
The Agency may refuse the right to work where documents are incomplete or improper, defects are not corrected on time, the employer quota was required but not approved or has been exhausted, the state occupational quota is exhausted, turnover is not proved, eligibility evidence is missing, or expulsion proceedings or a decision concern the employee.
A refusal may be challenged in court within one month. The appeal itself does not authorise work, extend lawful stay or suspend consideration of expulsion. A new application after refusal or early termination may generally be filed no earlier than one month later.
18. Liability of the Employer and Employee
Repeated unpermitted-work violations lead to doubled and then tripled fines. Separate liability may arise for non-compliant contracts, failure to report changes, obstruction of inspections, failure to produce identification documents, or work in an unauthorised role or field.
Enforcement is carried out within their respective powers by the Employment Promotion Agency, the Labour Inspection Service and the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
19. Practical Checklist for Employers
- Check whether the employee has permanent residence or another exempt status.
- Determine whether the assignment qualifies as short-term professional activity.
- Check for a zero or restricted national occupational quota.
- Count existing and planned foreign employees for the calendar year.
- Test the “more than five” and 5% thresholds.
- Obtain an annual employer quota if required.
- Confirm sufficient turnover or the new-business exception.
- Prepare a bilingual, legally compliant employment agreement.
- Confirm that the passport remains valid for at least six months.
- Identify the visa or residence permit needed after approval.
- Do not allow the employee to start before all applicable requirements are met.
20. Key Takeaways
Since July 2026, employers no longer need to advertise every foreign-worker vacancy through Worknet or prove that no suitable local candidate exists. The permit regime itself remains in force.
Depending on workforce numbers, the process may have two levels: prior approval of the employer’s annual quota and an individual right to work for each foreign national working from Georgia.
Employers with foreign staff should audit transitional status now. Employees whose registration was active on 1 March 2026 must obtain the right to work and the relevant residence permit by 1 January 2027.
Sequence matters: sign the agreement, obtain the quota where required, secure the individual right to work, complete the visa or residence-permit step, and only then allow the employee to start.
Hiring a foreign employee in Georgia?
JUST Advisors can review the employee’s status, calculate the relevant quota and turnover thresholds, prepare the employment documents and support the permit and residence procedure.
Primary legal sources
- Law of Georgia on Labour Migration
- Government Resolution No. 70 of 20 February 2026
- Government Resolution No. 321 of 9 July 2026
This article reflects legislation verified as in force on 21 October 2026. Before processing a particular employee, check the latest consolidated legislation, current occupational quotas and the live requirements of the electronic system. This guide is general information and is not a substitute for advice on an individual case.