What are you trying to establish in Georgia?
Georgia has a dedicated IT residence route and several attractive business and tax options. They do not operate as one automatic package. The useful starting point is whether you will be an employee, an independent professional, a founder or an employer moving a team.
IT employee
Check the actual duties against the accepted IT occupations, then connect the employer, right to work, experience, income and residence evidence.
Guide for IT employeesFreelancer or contractor
A foreign-client contract is only the beginning. Review Georgian IE registration, permitted activity, Small Business, VAT, work rights and residence separately.
Guide for freelancersFounder or IT company
Compare an ordinary LLC with Virtual Zone, International Company and innovation or R&D routes before building contracts, payroll and substance around one status.
Guide for IT companiesEmployer relocating a team
Plan the Georgian employer, each employee’s work permission and residence file, payroll, family documents and arrival dates as one timetable.
Team relocation guideA residence permit, work permission and tax status are not the same approval
A person can lawfully stay in Georgia without qualifying for the IT permit, register an IE without receiving the right to work, or obtain Small Business Status without changing immigration status. Each question needs its own answer.
Can the person enter, stay and obtain the appropriate residence permit?
02Right to workMay the person carry out this paid employment or self-employed activity in Georgia?
03Personal taxWhich income is taxable in Georgia, at what rate, and from which date?
04Business structureShould the work run through an IE, an ordinary LLC or a qualifying special-status company?
Four applicant profiles, with different evidence
The dedicated temporary residence permit can cover a qualifying IT employee, an eligible Georgian Individual Entrepreneur with Small Business Status, an authorised manager or representative of a qualifying International Company, and qualifying family members.
For the employee and IE profiles, the main benchmarks include at least two years of relevant IT experience or economic activity, at least USD 25,000 equivalent in GEL of qualifying preceding-year income, and at least two relevant receipts separated by 30 days. The work-right position is checked before filing.
Read the complete permit guide- 2+ years
- Relevant IT work or economic-activity evidence for employee and qualifying IE cases
- USD 25,000
- Qualifying preceding-year income benchmark for those profiles
- 2 receipts
- Relevant payments separated by at least 30 days
- 3 years
- Initial permit validity, subject to continued eligibility
Small Business Status is useful when the activity really qualifies
The 1% rate is not triggered merely because a foreign client pays a Georgian bank account. The professional first registers as an Individual Entrepreneur and separately obtains Small Business Status. The status applies from its effective date to qualifying business income.
- Activities that may fit: software development, programming, testing, systems administration, hosting, data processing and similar technical delivery.
- Activities requiring caution: consulting is on the prohibited list, even though computer consultancy appears in the separate IT residence activity list.
- Income outside the 1% regime: salary, dividends, interest, rent and other excluded categories retain their own treatment.
- Separate VAT question: the customer’s foreign address alone does not decide the place of supply or registration position.
Check who benefits from the work
The labour-migration rules distinguish employment with a Georgian employer, self-employment in Georgia and services for a non-resident beneficiary operating outside Georgia. Some arrangements may fall within a current exemption; others require a profession, position or activity-specific right to work.
A changed employer, new profession, altered business activity or new client arrangement should be checked before the new work begins. A residence card or tax registration does not replace that review.
Read the right-to-work guideChoose the operating model before advertising the tax rate
A Georgian LLC can operate without a special status. Preferential routes become relevant only when the company’s real activity, history, people, contracts and records support their conditions.
Ordinary Georgian LLC
Suitable where the business needs a normal operating company without relying on a special IT status. Profit tax generally arises on distributed or deemed-distributed profit; salary and dividends retain their ordinary treatment.
Open the detailed guideVirtual Zone Person
Potentially relevant where a Georgian legal person creates qualifying IT in Georgia and supplies it outside Georgia. The exemption is not a general zero-tax label for all company revenue.
Open the detailed guideInternational Company
Designed for an experienced business with permitted activities and a supportable Georgian operating presence. The headline 5% company and qualifying payroll treatment depends on the approved scope and continuing conditions.
Open the detailed guideInnovation and R&D statuses
Innovative Startup, Innovative SME and R&D Service Provider are different routes. Funding, company history, R&D expenditure, innovation evidence and continuing requirements vary by status.
Open the detailed guidePrepare the family documents while the principal case is moving
A spouse, minor child and other qualifying family categories may use the linked IT route. Civil-status records often need apostille or legalisation and a certified Georgian translation. The family filing normally follows the principal decision because the principal permit copy is required.
A family residence permit does not automatically give a spouse an independent right to work. The spouse’s own employment or self-employed activity should be assessed separately.
Family reunification guideGo directly to the question you need answered
Each guide gives the short answer first, then explains eligibility, evidence, limitations, process and the practical next step.
Residence and family
Work and independent professionals
Companies and tax statuses
Tax and relocation
Before you choose a route
Where should I start if I am not sure which Georgian route applies?
Start with how you are paid and who receives your work: a Georgian employer, foreign employer, foreign clients through a Georgian Individual Entrepreneur, or clients through a Georgian company. That usually identifies the first residence, work and tax questions. You can also send us those facts for an initial route review.
Does an IT Residence Permit include the right to work and a 1% tax rate?
No. The IT Residence Permit is an immigration status. The right to work is a separate permission or exemption question, while the 1% regime requires Georgian Individual Entrepreneur registration, Small Business Status, a permitted activity and qualifying income.
Can I use Small Business Status for software work for foreign clients?
Often, but not automatically. Genuine software development, programming, testing, systems administration, hosting, data processing and similar technical delivery may fit. Consulting and other prohibited activities require particular care, and VAT and Georgian-source rules remain separate.
Does registering a Georgian company give its owner residence rights?
No. Ownership of an LLC does not itself create an IT residence or work right. A founder or director needs an individual immigration and work assessment, while the company separately chooses its ordinary or special tax position.
Can my spouse and children move under my IT Residence Permit?
Qualifying family members can use the linked IT family route. Their civil-status and translation documents can be prepared while the principal case is pending, but the family filing normally follows the principal decision because the permit copy forms part of the family file.
Send us the real working arrangement
Tell us who employs or contracts with you, what the IT work involves, how you are paid, which Georgian registrations already exist and who will relocate. We will identify the likely route and the information still needed.