Qualifying entrepreneurial activity can support work residence, but business registration alone is not residence or work permission. Assess the labour-law scope and entry basis first.
Route overview
Entrepreneurial basis for work residence
Typical timeline / duration: Validity is set by the granted residence decision; D1 entry validity and the right to work are separate.
Important notes
Prove genuine entrepreneurial activity in Georgia; registration alone is not sufficient.
For covered activities, obtain the right to work through the competent labour authority; apply the current statutory exclusions rather than assuming every overseas service is covered.
For ordinary work residence, monthly income/remuneration or eligible bank resources must support at least five times the current average-consumer subsistence minimum for each permit month; this is not five times the minimum wage.
Show employer/enterprise turnover of at least GEL 50,000 per applicant, or GEL 35,000 for educational/medical institutions, plus identity, lawful-stay, registration-code, photograph and fee evidence under SDA's checklist.
Ordinance 443, dated 8 September 2026, aligns D1 with a previously granted right to work for covered employment/entrepreneurship. It takes effect on publication and applies to relations arising from 1 September; specified law-exempt activities have separate provisions.
The current Labour Migration Law has exceptions, including Article 1(4)(k) for work/services benefiting a non-resident and linked to that person's activities outside Georgia. This is not a blanket exemption for every freelancer, nor a blanket permit requirement for all overseas remote work; classify the actual activity first.
Where Article 13⁵'s follow-up applies, apply for D1 within 30 calendar days after obtaining the right to work if abroad, or the relevant work/IT residence permit within 10 days if already in Georgia. Existing residence holders and stated remote-outside-Georgia cases are excepted. These are filing deadlines, not approval guarantees.
SDA normally requires ordinary work/study residence filings at least 40 calendar days before lawful stay expires, with specific exceptions. China's ordinary-passport short visit is not a one-year stay and should not be used as an assumed in-country conversion plan.
A right-to-work exclusion does not itself grant immigration residence. The IT residence category has its own eligibility and documents; it is not automatic from ordinary business registration.
Preparation checklist
Classify the employer/client, activity and any statutory labour-law exclusion before applying.
Confirm the correct immigration visa or existing residence basis before travelling.
Gather activity/contract, registration and turnover evidence for the chosen residence category.
Calculate resources from the current subsistence indicator over the requested permit period.
Check the applicable post-authorisation filing deadline and remaining lawful-stay period with the authority.
Prepare the passport, lawful-stay evidence, photograph and fee documents, and retain submission records.