Georgia work-right transition ends on 1 January 2027 for registered labour migrants

Establish whether the January transition covers your record

Georgia’s labour-migration transition requires foreign labour migrants whose registration was active on 1 March 2026 to obtain the right to work and an appropriate residence permit no later than 1 January 2027. The Georgian Embassy in Japan’s February announcement identifies that specific cohort. This is a current deadline follow-up, rather than a new October announcement. An earlier arrival date, an existing business registration or an employment contract alone does not establish membership of the protected group.

Ask the employer to retrieve the labour-migration registration record and establish its status on the specified March date. Keep that evidence alongside the application and eventual decisions. The practical distinction is between proving eligibility for the transition and completing the permissions it requires. Preparing documents in December will not itself establish that the necessary approvals have been obtained. Workers who cannot substantiate the historical registration should obtain an individual answer from the responsible agency rather than assume the January date applies.

Separate an employee application from self-employment

The Georgian Embassy in Norway explains that a local employer submits the employee’s work-right application, while a self-employed foreign national applies directly. The State Employment Support Agency operates the electronic procedure through the labour-migration portal. Employees should therefore arrange cooperation with the employer before planning a filing date; a personal residence application cannot substitute for the employer’s work-right procedure.

The embassy describes permission connected to a particular employer and position, or a specified field of self-employment. A permission decision should consequently be checked against the activity actually proposed, rather than treated as unrestricted access to every job. The portal is the official resource for the current application documents, payment instructions and decision notifications. Its current charge should be confirmed during filing; this report does not present an unverified single work-right fee as a universal tariff.

Check present exemptions against the consolidated law

The current Labour Migration Law on Matsne contains exclusions that matter when reading earlier embassy summaries. These include permanent residence outside the law’s foreign-worker scope, specified protection and diplomatic categories, valid investment residence permits, wholly remote work for a local employer requiring no entry into Georgia, and qualifying services for a non-resident connected with activities outside Georgia. Short-term professional activity depends on the government-defined category and conditions; a short contract alone does not establish exemption.

For people covered by the work-right procedure, the law generally requires a D1 application within 30 calendar days after approval when outside Georgia, or a work or IT residence application within 10 calendar days when already inside. Existing Georgian residence-permit holders have an exception to that subsequent application requirement. Work-right extensions must be sought 30 calendar days before expiry. Check the consolidated law against the actual activity and residence document; nationality-based visitor admission does not answer these employment questions.

Prepare residence evidence and a separate fee budget

The State Services Development Agency publishes the work-residence checklist: application and registration code, passport copy, evidence of lawful stay, employment or entrepreneurial evidence, income documents, employer turnover evidence, foreign-worker numbers, photograph and payment proof. It specifies income of at least five times the relevant average-consumer subsistence minimum, and normally annual turnover of GEL 50,000 per foreign applicant, reduced to GEL 35,000 for educational or medical employers.

The agency lists work-residence processing charges of GEL 300 for the thirtieth calendar day, GEL 450 for the twentieth and GEL 600 for the tenth. These are residence charges, separate from work-right payment. Its page also describes lawful-stay restrictions and advance filing requirements. Because the checklist retains registration terminology, confirm how the current work-right decision must accompany it and reconcile both procedures before submitting. A faster paid residence service cannot repair an ineligible admission basis.

Coordinate the next action before the final months expire

Use the labour-migration portal for employment permission and the State Services Development Agency for residence eligibility and documents. Applicants outside Georgia can use GeoConsul’s consular application service to contact the responsible mission about the D1 route. Retain separate confirmations for each stage and ask which deadline governs the particular file. If an exemption or historical registration remains unresolved, settle that question before relying on the January transition to continue the proposed work.