Search results
Type one or two words and press Search. The results list the pages whose title, summary or keywords match.
How to get better results
- Use the main word, not the whole question. "Permit" or "residence" finds the residency guides faster than "how can I get a residence permit in Georgia if I buy a flat".
- Use the term Georgian documents use. The site explains official terms, so "extract", "cadastral code", "preliminary agreement" or "Public Service Hall" lead straight to the pages that deal with them.
- Search in the language of the page. The English site searches English pages. Each language version has its own list, so a Russian or Georgian word gives results on the Russian or Georgian site.
- Try a place. "Tbilisi", "Batumi", "Gudauri" or "Bakuriani" bring up the guides for each place, and from there the districts and resorts.
- Try a number with its subject. "$150,000", "5%" or "GEL 15,000" work best together with a word, for example "5% rental tax".
- Search for the task. Words for what you want to do, such as "register", "renew", "transfer" or "rent out", find the step-by-step guides; words for things, such as "flat" or "property", match almost everything.
- Shorter is safer. Every word you add must appear somewhere in a page's title, summary or keywords, so one precise word often beats three.
Reading the results
Each result shows three things. The small label above the title names the section the page belongs to, so you can tell a residency guide from a tax guide at a glance. The title is the page's own heading. The line underneath is the summary that also appears in search engines, written to say in one sentence what the page answers. Up to thirty pages are listed, the closest match first. If the first result is a long main guide and you wanted a narrow answer, look further down: the detailed article on that one question is usually close behind. If you want a list of everything in a section rather than the best matches, open the section itself, or the site map, which lists every page by section. Results open in the same window; use your browser's back button to return to the list.
How this search works
The search runs entirely in your browser. When you search, the page loads a list of every published guide in this language, with its title, a one-sentence summary and a set of keywords, and compares your words with that list. Titles weigh more than keywords, and keywords more than summaries, so the page most specifically about your subject comes first. The full text of the pages is not searched, which keeps the search fast on a phone and means the results are pages about your subject rather than every page that mentions it in passing. Nothing you type is sent to us or to anyone else, and no search history is stored. For the same reason the search needs the published site: a page saved to your computer and opened from there cannot load the list. This page itself is excluded from search engines, because a list of results is not a page worth finding on its own.
Browse by topic
If you are not sure what to search for, start from the subject. Each section of the site has a main guide that covers the whole topic and links to the detailed pages.
Buying and the law
The process of buying as a foreigner, from the first viewing to the extract in your name, is in the complete buying guide. Ownership, registration, contracts and the protections the law gives a buyer are explained in the guide to property law in Georgia, with separate pages on reading an extract, the cadastral code, encumbrances, the sale contract, the developer contract and powers of attorney. The Buying & law section lists all of them.
Residence permits
What the law requires for a residence permit through property, how the value is confirmed and how the application, renewal and family permits work: the residency guide answers each step, and the rules tracker records every change to the thresholds with its date and source.
Money and taxes
Opening an account, moving the purchase price, paying property tax and declaring rental income are covered from the guide to money and taxes for a foreign buyer. The pages in this group are marked for review by an accountant until that review is complete.
Investing and renting out
Yields, price trends, off-plan risk and the honest case against buying are in the investment guide. Letting a flat as an owner who lives abroad, with contracts, managers and taxes, is in the guide to renting out an apartment.
Places
Districts, prices and the character of each city are described in the guides to Tbilisi, Batumi and the mountain and sea resorts.
New builds
Twenty questions to ask before trusting a developer are in the guide to checking a developer; the meaning of black, white and green frame, and what each leaves for the buyer to finish, has a page of its own.
Living in Georgia
Arriving, settling, schools, healthcare and the practical life around a purchase are in the guide to moving to Georgia.
Tools, data and terms
The calculators estimate the full cost of buying, the yield of a rental and eligibility for a residence permit, each with its assumptions visible. The glossary explains Georgian legal and property terms, and the site map lists every page in one place.
Questions readers often come with
- Can a foreigner own an apartment in Georgia? Yes, with limits on agricultural land: see the buying guide.
- How much must the property be worth for a residence permit? The current rule and how value is assessed: residency through property.
- What will the purchase cost on top of the price? The official fees, item by item: buying costs.
- Can I buy without travelling? The power of attorney route and its checks: buying remotely.
- How do I pay safely? Bank transfer, escrow, a notary's deposit or stages: safe payment.
- How is rent taxed? The rate, the register and the declaration: rental income tax.
- Tbilisi or Batumi? The two cities compared for different investors: Tbilisi vs Batumi.
- What are the common traps? Schemes we have seen and how to avoid them: scams and mistakes.
Using search from the keyboard or a screen reader
You do not have to come to this page to search. On any page of the site, the magnifying-glass button in the header opens a small search panel, and on a computer the forward-slash key does the same without touching the mouse. The panel shows the eight closest matches as you type; Enter brings you here with the complete list, and Escape closes the panel and puts the focus back on the search button. On this page, the search box keeps the words you searched for, so you can refine them and search again. The number of matching pages is read out by screen readers as soon as the list is ready, and each result is an ordinary link, so you can move through the list with the Tab key.
A word from a Georgian document? Look it up here
Buyers often meet a Georgian word in a contract, an extract or a message from a notary and want to know what it means before they search for it. The table gives the words that come up most in a purchase, the English term this site uses for each, and the page that explains it. Searching for the English term in the box above leads to the same pages.
| In the document | Term used on this site | Explained in |
|---|---|---|
| საჯარო რეესტრის ამონაწერი | Public Registry extract | Reading an extract |
| საკადასტრო კოდი | Cadastral code | The cadastral code |
| იპოთეკა | Mortgage | Encumbrances |
| ყადაღა | Seizure | Encumbrances |
| მინდობილობა | Power of attorney | Powers of attorney |
| წინარე ხელშეკრულება | Preliminary agreement | The preliminary agreement |
| საჯარო რეესტრი | Public Registry | Registering a purchase |
| ბინადრობის ნებართვა | Residence permit | The residency guide |
| შავი, თეთრი, მწვანე კარკასი | Black, white, green frame | Frame conditions |
The full list of terms, with definitions in all five languages, is being built in the glossary.
Searching in the other languages
Each language version of the site has its own search, built from the titles and summaries in that language. The facts and the pages are the same in all five; what differs is the wording a reader is likely to type. In Russian, readers tend to search for ВНЖ rather than the full name of a residence permit, and for выписка when they mean the registry extract; in Hebrew and Arabic, the names of Georgian institutions and places can be spelled in several ways, so searching for the subject, such as tax or permit, works better than searching for the institution. If a search in one language finds nothing, switch the language from the menu at the top of the page and try the English term: every page exists in English, and the language menu then takes you to the version you prefer.
When the answer is in an official register
Some questions cannot be answered by a guide because they concern one specific property, company or person. Who owns a particular flat, whether it is mortgaged or under seizure, and what its cadastral code is are recorded by the National Agency of Public Registry, and our guide to reading an extract shows how to obtain and interpret one. The text of a Georgian law in force on a given date is on the Legislative Herald of Georgia, matsne.gov.ge, which every legal page on this site cites by article. Official statistics on prices and construction come from Geostat, and exchange rates from the National Bank of Georgia. Our pages link to the exact source each time, so that you can check the figure yourself rather than take our word for it.
If you cannot find what you need
The site is being written section by section, and some subjects have a place in a section before they have a page. If a section shows a topic as coming soon, the page is planned but not yet published. If your question is not covered at all, tell us through the contact page or on WhatsApp: questions readers send us are one of the ways we decide what to write next, and a question about your own situation can be answered directly by an adviser. If you found a page but believe something on it is wrong or out of date, the report-an-error page explains how we check and correct it.
Frequently asked questions
Is my search recorded?
No. The search runs in your browser against a list of pages; nothing you type is sent to us or stored.
Why does search not work on a saved copy of the page?
The search loads the list of pages from the published site. A page opened from your own computer cannot load it, so browse the topics instead.
Why did my question return nothing?
Search matches words in titles, summaries and keywords. Try one precise word, such as permit, extract or tax, instead of a full sentence.
Can I search the full text of the pages?
No. The search reads titles, summaries and keywords, so that the results are pages about your subject. To find a word inside a page you have open, use your browser's find-in-page function, usually Ctrl+F on a computer or Find on page in a phone browser's menu.
Why is this page not shown in search engines?
A list of results is of no use on its own when found through another search engine, so this page asks search engines not to index it. Every guide it lists is indexed normally.
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