Hiring a foreign national in Georgia: the 2026 rules, explained
Georgia rewrote its labour migration rules in 2026, and the change is bigger than most employers realise: being in the country legally no longer means being allowed to work in it. This guide walks through what the published rules require, who applies, what it costs, and where the traps are. It is information, not legal advice, and every figure links to its source at the bottom.
Updated 2026-08-26
What changed on 1 March 2026
Before March, a foreigner who could legally stay in Georgia could generally work in Georgia. That link is now cut. The right to work is a separate administrative permission issued by the State Employment Support Agency, and it is tied to one specific employer and one specific position. Change jobs, and the permission does not follow you.
The obligation to obtain it sits with the employer for employed workers, and with the individual for the self-employed. This is the detail most small businesses miss: your foreign employee cannot fix this for you, because the application is yours to file.
The fine is real and it lands twice
Working without the right to work carries a fine of 2,000 GEL, and it is charged to the employer and to the worker separately. For a small business paying a cleaner or a barista, one inspection can cost more than a month of that person’s salary, twice over.
What the employer must prove first
The published rules put three conditions on the hiring company before any application is filed.
- Turnover: at least 50,000 GEL of annual turnover for each foreign worker you employ, reduced to 35,000 GEL in education and medicine. Three foreign workers means three times the threshold.
- Salary: the worker’s pay must be at least five times Georgia’s subsistence minimum. The minimum is updated periodically, so check the current figure when you plan the offer.
- The labour market test: the vacancy must first be advertised on the state portal worknet.moh.gov.ge for at least ten working days, and every local candidate the agency sends must be answered with a written justification if not hired.
Fees and timelines
The state fee is 200 GEL for a standard decision within 30 calendar days, or 400 GEL for an expedited decision within 10 working days. The employer pays for employees. Applications go through the electronic system at labourmigration.moh.gov.ge, and the employment contract, plus any later changes to it, must be registered there.
Who is exempt
The published exemptions are narrow: holders of permanent or investment residence permits, refugees and asylum seekers, diplomats, and accredited journalists. Separately, some employers skip the labour market test, though not the permit itself: companies with international company status, innovative startups, and roles paying above 15,000 GEL a month that require specialist education.
Quotas apply in a handful of sectors: couriers, passenger transport, tourist guides, and mountain and ski guides. The quota numbers themselves are not in the public summaries, so treat those sectors as ones where a person must check before promising anyone a job.
Students have no shortcut
A study residence permit does not allow work by itself. On the published rules there is no separate student track, no student exemption, and no reduced process: an employer hiring a foreign student applies exactly as for any other foreign worker, with the same turnover requirement and the same salary floor. If you are hiring a student part-time, ask a lawyer specifically how the salary floor applies to part-time pay, because the published summaries do not answer it.
The deadline that matters right now
Foreigners who were already registered and working as of 1 March 2026 have until 1 January 2027 to obtain the right to work and the matching residence documentation. Anyone who started after 1 March has no transition period at all: the permit must exist before the work does. If you employ foreign staff hired under the old rules, the clock is already running.
What to do this week
Count your foreign staff and check each one against the January deadline. Check your turnover against the per-worker threshold before you promise anyone a contract. Budget the state fee and the ten working days of advertising into your hiring timeline. And put an hour with a Georgian immigration lawyer on the calendar before you rely on any of this: the rules are new, the practice is younger than the rules, and this guide is a map, not the territory.