Agricultural land and foreigners in Georgia: the history and today's rule

Why can foreigners not own agricultural land in Georgia?

Because the Constitution says so. Since December 2018, Article 19(4) of the Constitution of Georgia has treated agricultural land as a resource of special importance and limited its ownership to the State, self-governing units, Georgian citizens and associations of Georgian citizens. Exceptions may be created only by an organic law passed by at least two thirds of all members of Parliament. The Organic Law on Agricultural Land Ownership of 2019 sets out those exceptions: a foreign individual may own agricultural land only by inheritance, and a company controlled by foreigners only under an investment plan approved by the Government.

Today's rule is the latest step in more than twenty years of changes. Foreigners were limited to leases in 1996, gained and lost the right to buy several times, and won three cases in the Constitutional Court before the rule moved into the Constitution itself. This explainer follows that history, sets out who the rule covers today and lists what it leaves open. For the practical side of buying a plot, such as reading the category on an extract, see our guide to buying land as a foreigner.

The rule over time

1996 to 2012: from leases to inheritance only

The first post-Soviet law on agricultural land, adopted on 22 March 1996, gave ownership to Georgian citizens. Foreign citizens and stateless persons could use agricultural land only under a lease, and a foreigner who inherited a plot had to dispose of it. In 2000 Parliament opened ownership to legal entities registered in Georgia, which in practice let a foreigner hold land through a Georgian company. In 2003 that route was narrowed to Georgian companies whose main activity was agriculture.

The 2007 amendment put the restriction in its strictest form. Foreigners and companies registered abroad could own agricultural land only if they had inherited it, or kept it from a time when they had been Georgian citizens, and they had to sell it to a Georgian citizen or a Georgian-registered entity within six months of acquiring it. If they did not, a court could deprive them of the land for the benefit of the State, with compensation.

The Constitutional Court steps in

The 2007 rule was challenged by a Danish citizen with a Georgian residence permit, Heike Kronqvist. On 26 June 2012 the plenum of the Constitutional Court upheld her claim and found the provisions on foreigners, and the six-month sale duty, contrary to the property clause of the Constitution then in force. The ruling helped foreign individuals only: the six-month rule stayed in the law for companies registered abroad.

Parliament answered in June 2013 with a moratorium. From 17 July 2013, purchases by foreigners, foreign-registered companies and Georgian companies founded by foreigners were suspended until 31 December 2014. Land they already owned was not affected, and in February 2014 exceptions were added for commercial banks and for special cases approved by the Government. A co-sponsor of the bill put foreign holdings at about 30,000 hectares while admitting there were no precise data. An Austrian citizen, Mathias Huter, challenged the moratorium, and on 24 June 2014 the Court declared it void as regards foreign individuals, because it repeated a norm the Court had already struck down. Companies remained under the moratorium until it expired.

In June 2017, while a new constitutional text was being prepared, Parliament suspended purchases by foreigners once more, this time until the constitutional amendments took effect. Two Greek citizens who had inherited land in Georgia and could not register it, Prokopi Savvidi and Diana Shamanidi, challenged that suspension. On 7 December 2018 the Court declared it void as to foreign individuals, reasoning that a constitutional law not yet in force could not narrow the property right protected by the Constitution in force; three judges dissented. The window that ruling opened was short, because the new Constitution took effect with the presidential inauguration on 16 December 2018.

2017 to 2019: the rule moves into the Constitution

The new Article 19(4) was adopted by Constitutional Law No 1324-rs of 13 October 2017 and came into force with the main constitutional amendments in December 2018. It does two things. It lists who may own agricultural land, and it allows exceptions only through an organic law adopted by at least two thirds of all members of Parliament. That second part is why the rule is now hard to change in either direction: an ordinary majority can no longer open or close the door, as it did in 2007, 2013 and 2017.

The organic law followed on 25 June 2019 and entered into force when it was published on 2 July 2019, repealing the 1996 law. A companion law of the same date, on the designated purpose of land and the sustainable management of agricultural land, supplies the procedures, including the investment plan route and changes of category. For the months between December 2018 and July 2019, no dedicated rule settled how the new constitutional text related to the old law's provisions on foreigners.

Who counts as a citizen, an alien and a foreign-controlled company

Under the organic law, a Georgian citizen who also holds another citizenship, as Georgian law allows, counts as a citizen, so a recognised dual citizen may own agricultural land like any other Georgian. An "alien" is a natural person who is neither a Georgian citizen nor a person with stateless status in Georgia.

For companies the test is control. A Georgian-registered company may own agricultural land freely if its dominant partner is a Georgian citizen, the State or another permitted owner. The dominant partner is the person or group holding more than 50% of the shares, or forming a majority of the partners, who also has a practical ability to decide on the company's land. Where a partner is itself a Georgian company, the test looks through it to that company's dominant partner, at every level of the chain. A company whose dominant partner is a foreigner or a foreign-registered entity, or whose dominant partner cannot be identified, falls under the restricted regime. A land-owning company controlled by Georgians also may not change its partners in a way that hands control to foreigners, except under an approved investment plan, and the registry may ask for documents identifying the dominant partner when such a company registers land.

The exceptions today

Inherited land under the 2019 law

Inheritance is the only way a foreign individual can become the owner of agricultural land today, and the 2019 law treats it more gently than the 2007 rule did: there is no deadline to sell and no forced sale. The ban on a change of partners that would give foreigners control of a land-owning company does not apply to inheritance either. What the law does not answer is just as important for a family: whether a foreign heir may later sell or give the plot to another foreigner, whether a foreigner can inherit agricultural land from another foreigner, and whether one foreign heir may buy out the shares of the others. The text speaks only of land "inherited by the alien". Our guide to inheritance explains the wider rules on heirs and certificates.

The investment plan route for companies

A Georgian-registered company with a foreign or unidentified dominant partner can own agricultural land only on the basis of an investment plan approved by the Government of Georgia. The procedure is set by Government Ordinance No 222 of 18 May 2021. For private land the company applies to the National Agency for Sustainable Land Management and Land Use Monitoring under the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture; for state or municipal land, to the body that privatises it. Plots near the state border are reviewed with the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

• Content. The plan states the purpose, timetable, source and amount of investment, jobs, infrastructure, output and technology, with an environmental impact assessment report. An agricultural plan must commit that at least four fifths of the staff are Georgian citizens.
• Scale. The investment is presumed to raise the land's value considerably if it is at least four times the value of the land; grant money does not count as investment.
• Timing. An admissibility check of 5 business days, a review of up to 2 months that can be extended by 1, an advisory review board, then a Government decision.
• Cost. A service fee of 1% of the investment, at least GEL 1,000 and at most GEL 30,000, and within 4 months of approval a bank guarantee of 2% of the investment obligation.
• Supervision. Annual audit reports within 60 days of each reporting year; non-performance brings a fine of 2% of the period's investment and one grace period of up to a year.

If default is confirmed after that, the guarantee goes to the state budget and the registry records an obligation to sell. The owner then has one year to sell. If it does not, the plot passes to the State against prior, full and fair compensation, through expropriation if the owner does not accept the terms. A plan is therefore a commitment of several years, not a formality for obtaining a title.

Land owned before the rules changed

The 2019 law does not take land away from foreigners who acquired it lawfully under earlier rules. Title based on a document issued under the previous law, whether a court or arbitration decision, an administrative act or a transaction, can still be registered, and once such a title is registered the obligations of the new law do not apply to it. This is why foreign ownership of agricultural land still appears in the registry: it reflects titles from before July 2019 or inheritances, not a way to buy now. Whether that protection continues when such land is resold or passed on is a point the law does not spell out.

What the law leaves open

• Leases. The organic law has no rule on leases or usufruct of agricultural land by foreigners. The companion law gives a lessee of private agricultural land a pre-emptive right to buy after 2 years of registered lease, but expressly denies that right to foreigners and foreign-controlled companies.
• Spouses. The law says nothing about matrimonial property where one spouse is a foreigner.
• Stateless persons. People with stateless status in Georgia are not "aliens" under the law, yet they are not on the list of permitted owners either.
• A breach. The only express nullity rule concerns transactions in the occupied territories. For other cases, the registry can refuse registration on grounds provided by legislation and may cancel a registration made on incorrect information about a company's dominant partner.
• Location and size. There is no exception for small plots or for plots inside towns and villages: the registered category decides.

Category and change of designated purpose

The Public Registry records every plot as agricultural or non-agricultural and, if agricultural, in one of four categories: pasture, hayfield, arable land including perennial crops, and homestead. The registry agency also decides changes, both of designated purpose from agricultural to non-agricultural and of category. Categories can only move towards more intensive use: pasture to hayfield, arable or homestead, hayfield to arable or homestead, and arable to homestead. Registering such a change costs GEL 150 for 4 working days, GEL 270 for 1 working day and GEL 350 for the same day.

Compensation to the state budget is due only when the purpose changes from agricultural to non-agricultural, and only in two zones: GEL 100,000 per hectare in territories of special regulation and GEL 34,001 per hectare within the administrative boundaries of the Tbilisi and Batumi municipalities. Elsewhere Ordinance No 396 sets no payment, and land of the State, an autonomous republic or a municipality is exempt. The compensation is paid before the final decision.

How much agricultural land do foreigners hold?

No official figure is published. In February 2014 Transparency International Georgia reported that neither the statistics office nor the Public Registry kept statistics on foreign ownership, and that experts estimated about 18,500 hectares in foreign hands, roughly 0.7% of Georgia's 2.6 million hectares of agricultural land. Two investors held about 11,000 hectares between them. At the time, 75-80% of agricultural land was not formally registered, and about 1% of it changed owners. We found no official figure for the years after 2019.

What this means for a foreign buyer today

• The rule concerns agricultural land only; flats, offices and non-agricultural plots are open to foreigners.
• Buying agricultural land in your own name, or receiving it as a gift, is not possible.
• A company helps only with an approved investment plan, a project of several years with a guarantee and audits.
• If you inherit agricultural land, you may keep it.
• Agricultural land does not count towards a residence permit by property.
• A change of category or purpose has to be completed by a permitted owner before any transfer to you.

Risks and exceptions

• Advice based on old rules. Articles written before 2019 describe a law that no longer applies.
• A neighbour's foreign title. It may date from before July 2019 or come from an inheritance.
• A company without a plan. Foreign control is traced through every layer of owners.
• Expecting a lease to lead to ownership. Foreign lessees do not get the pre-emptive right to buy.
• Inherited land shared with co-heirs. The rules on buying out their shares are not settled.

Frequently asked questions

When did the current rule start?

The constitutional rule took effect on 16 December 2018 and the organic law on 2 July 2019.

Can a dual citizen buy agricultural land?

Yes, a Georgian citizen who also holds another citizenship under Georgian law counts as a citizen.

Do I have to sell agricultural land I inherit?

No, the 2019 law sets no duty to sell inherited land.

Can my Georgian company buy agricultural land?

If you are its dominant partner, only with an investment plan approved by the Government.

Could the rule change soon?

Exceptions need an organic law passed by at least two thirds of all members of Parliament.

Can I lease agricultural land?

The organic law is silent on leases; a foreign lessee does not get the right to buy after 2 years.

What did the Constitutional Court decide?

In 2012, 2014 and 2018 it lifted restrictions for foreign individuals; the 2018 Constitution then changed the basis of the rule.

Is a change of purpose paid everywhere?

No, only in Tbilisi and Batumi municipalities and in territories of special regulation.

Sources

1. Constitution of Georgia (Article 19), Legislative Herald of Georgia (accessed 18 October 2026)
2. Organic Law of Georgia on Agricultural Land Ownership (Articles 3-12), Legislative Herald of Georgia (accessed 18 October 2026)
3. Law of Georgia on Agricultural Land Ownership of 1996 and its versions, Legislative Herald of Georgia (accessed 18 October 2026)
4. Constitutional Court decision No 3/1/512 of 26 June 2012, Legislative Herald of Georgia (accessed 18 October 2026)
5. Constitutional Court ruling No 1/2/563 of 24 June 2014, Legislative Herald of Georgia (accessed 18 October 2026)
6. Constitutional Court ruling No 3/10/1267,1268 of 7 December 2018, Legislative Herald of Georgia (accessed 18 October 2026)
7. Law of Georgia on Determination of the Designated Purpose of Land and on Sustainable Management of Agricultural Land, Legislative Herald of Georgia (accessed 18 October 2026)
8. Government Ordinance No 222 of 18 May 2021 on investment plans, Legislative Herald of Georgia (accessed 18 October 2026)
9. Government Ordinance No 396 of 1 July 2020, Legislative Herald of Georgia (accessed 18 October 2026)
10. Immovable property registration: fees and terms, National Agency of Public Registry (accessed 18 October 2026)
11. Ban on land sales: stories from large foreign farmers, Transparency International Georgia (accessed 18 October 2026)
12. Foreigners will no longer be able to buy land in Georgia after 16 December, JAMnews (accessed 18 October 2026)
13. Report on the 2013 moratorium vote (30 June 2013), Civil.ge (accessed 18 October 2026)

Change log

• 18 October 2026 - Explainer published from the Constitution, the 1996 and 2019 agricultural land laws, three Constitutional Court rulings, Ordinances 222 and 396 and TI Georgia data.