Who qualifies for the property-based permit
You qualify if you own non-agricultural property in Georgia worth more than $150,000, confirmed by an accredited appraiser. The permit is issued for one year and renewed each year while you keep the property. It covers your spouse and children. It is not citizenship, it is not permanent residence, and it ends when your ownership of the property ends.
The rule looks simple and most of the questions we receive come from the words inside it. "Non-agricultural" excludes farmland and plots classed as agricultural, which matters for houses outside the cities. "More than $150,000" is read against one property: the article speaks of one immovable thing, and adding a $90,000 apartment to a $70,000 one has not been confirmed in agency practice. "Accredited appraiser" means the valuation that counts is a formal report, not the price in your contract and not an online estimate. And "renewed each year" means the permit is a relationship with the state that has to be maintained, not a one-time stamp.
Key facts
| Property value threshold | More than $150,000, non-agricultural property, since 1 March 2026 |
|---|---|
| Previous threshold | $100,000, in force from 2019 to 28 February 2026 |
| Proof of value | Report by an accredited appraiser |
| Term | One year, renewable annually while the property is owned |
| Family | Spouse and children can be included |
| Ends when | Your ownership of the property ends, for example by sale or gift |
| Permits granted before the change | Renewable as long as the qualifying property stays in the holder's name |
| Investment permit | From $300,000 invested, or non-agricultural property worth more than $300,000; five-year term (Law, Article 15(h)) |
Sources: IMI Daily and EIG Law on the 1 March 2026 change; Healy Consultants on the investment permit; checked 10 October 2026. Official text to be added after lawyer review.
What the permit gives, and what it does not
A residence permit lets you live in Georgia for its term without visa runs, register an address, and deal with banks, schools and clinics as a resident rather than a visitor. With it, a property you bought becomes a base for living here. Family members included in the permit get the same right to stay.
It does not give citizenship or a passport, and it does not by itself give permanent residence. It does not include the right to work for an employer: since 1 March 2026 foreign employees need a work permit, and at the time we checked our source the list of exemptions had not yet been finalised. It does not exempt you from tax rules that depend on how many days you spend in the country. And it does not survive the sale of the property: ownership is the reason the permit exists, so without continued ownership there is no permit.
The property route compared with the other routes
Property is one of several ways to get a residence permit, and for some readers it is not the best one. The comparison below is deliberately short; each route will get its own page in the list above.
| Property-based permit | Own more than $150,000 of non-agricultural property. One year, renewable. No requirement to run a business or earn income in Georgia. Suits buyers who want a home or a rental and a legal base in one step. |
|---|---|
| Investment permit | Invest $300,000 or more, or own non-agricultural property worth more than $300,000 (Article 15(h) of the law). Five-year term; if the conditions continue to be met, a permit for indefinite stay may come next. Suits larger investors who want a longer term. |
| IT residence permit | Introduced in September 2025 for people working in technology who have two or more years of experience and earn over $25,000 a year. Three-year term. Does not require property at all. |
| Work and other permits | Employment, study, family reunification and other grounds have their own documents and terms. Work permits for foreign employees have been mandatory since 1 March 2026. |
The routes are not exclusive. A buyer with an IT permit may still purchase property for its own sake; a property-permit holder may later switch to a longer-term ground. What matters is to choose the route for the life you plan, not for the document alone.
From purchase to card: the sequence
Own the property
The application rests on a Public Registry extract in your name. A preliminary contract or a paid deposit is not ownership. How to get from viewing to extract is the subject of the Buying & law section.
Get the valuation
The property is inspected by an accredited appraiser, who then writes a report. Should that report put the market value under $150,000, the application fails, whatever price you paid. Buyers close to the line should get an indicative valuation before they sign.
Assemble the file
Passport, the registry extract, the valuation report, proof of legal stay at the time of filing, photographs, and documents for family members with translations and legalisation where required. The exact list and its order will be on the dedicated guide once the partner lawyer has reviewed it.
File at the Public Service Hall
The application is submitted in person or through a representative under a power of attorney. A fee depends on the processing speed chosen.
Decision and card
After the decision the residence card is issued. Renewal starts before the current permit expires, with proof that the property is still yours; no new valuation is needed while you keep the same property.
The state fee is GEL 300, 450 or 600 for a decision within 30, 20 or 10 days of a complete file, according to the Public Service Development Agency. The complete guide sets out the documents, the valuation and the renewal in detail, from the text of the law.
Where applications go wrong
- Valuation below the threshold. The purchase price is not the test; the appraiser's market value is. New apartments bought at a premium, or paid for in instalments, can be valued lower than their contract price.
- Agricultural land. A village house on a plot registered as agricultural land does not count towards the threshold, however much it cost.
- Ownership not yet registered. Buyers who file with a contract instead of an extract are refused. Finish registration first.
- Legal stay lapsed. Filing while your visa-free period or visa has expired creates a problem that no property solves. Plan the filing date around your permitted stay.
- Selling too early. The permit depends on the property. Selling it, giving it to a relative or moving it into a company can end the permit. Plan changes of ownership around renewal dates and with advice.
- Valuation at the start. The value is tested when you first apply; an owner who keeps the same property is exempt from a new valuation at renewal. Buyers near $150,000 carry the risk at the first application, not later.
Documents from abroad
Most refusals that are not about the property are about paper. Documents issued outside Georgia, such as marriage and birth certificates for family members or a criminal record certificate where it is requested, have to be legalised for use in Georgia: with an apostille if the issuing country is party to the Hague Convention, otherwise through consular legalisation. They then have to be translated into Georgian by a certified translator, and the notary often certifies that translator's signature. Names must match across passport, certificates and translations letter for letter, which is a frequent problem for applicants whose names are transliterated differently in different documents. Start collecting these documents before you travel, because obtaining an apostille from abroad while you are in Georgia costs weeks.
Documents issued in Georgia, such as the registry extract and the appraiser's report, need no legalisation. A power of attorney for a representative who files on your behalf can be drawn up before a Georgian notary while you are in the country, or abroad with the same legalisation steps as any other foreign document.
If you bought under the $100,000 rule
On 1 March 2026 the threshold went up from $100,000 to $150,000. According to our sources, holders who qualified under the old rule can continue to renew while they keep the property that qualified them. The practical consequences are two: check the effect on your renewal before you sell that property or change the way it is owned, and if you plan to add family members or change the basis of your permit, check whether the new threshold applies to the new application. Our partner lawyer will confirm the transition rules from the official text before the dedicated page loses its review notice.
How this section is organised
The first group of pages, the property route, takes the rule apart line by line: the threshold and the valuation, the documents, the filing, the family, the renewal, the refusals and the withdrawals. The second group covers the other routes and life with a permit: the investment permit, the IT permit, work permits, what changes for tax, banking and schools once you are a resident. The complete guide to the residence permit by property presents the whole route once, from the text of the law, and links to each detailed page as it is published.
Every page here is a legal page. It is based on the Public Service Hall's own instructions and the Georgian Law on the Legal Status of Aliens and Stateless Persons. Our partner lawyer reviews it before the review notice is removed. Threshold figures also feed the residency checker, which gives a first answer in seconds and sends you to the right page for the detail. The checker is a filter, not a decision; it is the Public Service Development Agency that decides, based on the file you hand in.
Frequently asked questions
Does the $150,000 have to be one property?
Plan on one. The article speaks of one immovable thing worth more than $150,000, and whether two or more properties can be added together is not confirmed; our lawyer is checking agency practice.
Does my contract price count as the value?
No. The value that counts is the market value in a report by an accredited appraiser. It can be higher or lower than what you paid.
Can my family get permits with me?
Yes. A spouse and children can be included on the basis of the same property. Their documents need translation and legalisation like yours.
Can I work in Georgia with a property-based permit?
The permit gives the right to live in Georgia. Working for an employer has required a work permit since 1 March 2026, with exemptions that were still being finalised when our source was checked. Ask before you sign an employment contract.
What happens if I sell the property?
The ground for the permit disappears and the permit can be withdrawn. If you want to sell, plan the sale around another ground for staying or around the end of the current term, and take advice first.
I got my permit when the threshold was $100,000. Do I need to buy more?
According to our sources you can keep renewing while you keep the property that qualified you. Do not change the ownership of that property without checking the consequences. Confirmation from the official text is pending lawyer review.
Is this permit a path to citizenship?
Not by itself. It is a one-year renewable permit. Longer-term statuses have their own rules, which will be covered on the pages about life with a permit.
Sources
- IMI Daily, "Georgia to hike property-based investor visa to $150,000 next month", imidaily.com, accessed 10 October 2026.
- EIG Law, "Georgia to increase real estate investment threshold for residence permits effective March 1, 2026", eiglaw.com, accessed 10 October 2026.
- Healy Consultants on the $300,000 investment permit, healyconsultants.com, accessed 10 October 2026; conditions confirmed from the Law on the Legal Status of Aliens and Stateless Persons, Article 15(h), matsne.gov.ge, accessed 11 October 2026.
- Work permits from 1 March 2026: armenian-lawyer.com, accessed 10 October 2026; to be replaced with the official exemption list.
- Primary text: Law of Georgia on the Legal Status of Aliens and Stateless Persons, Legislative Herald of Georgia, matsne.gov.ge; article references to be added after lawyer review.