Two Routes — the General Work Permit and the Special IT Document
The Law of Georgia on the Legal Status of Aliens and Stateless Persons gives an information-technology specialist two legal routes: the general one — through a work residence permit with documents on income and the employer's turnover — and the special one: the temporary residence permit for a person employed in the field of information technologies, established by Article 15-м and in force since 1 September 2025. From 2026 both routes connect to the new right-to-labour-activity regime of the Law of Georgia on Labour Migration, and that connection is the main object of planning for an IT specialist who wants to work in Georgia lawfully. On this page we take both routes apart by the norms of the law: whom each covers, what must be confirmed documentarily, and on what timelines the system works.
The Special IT Permit: Three Categories, 2 Years' Experience and a 25 000-Dollar Income
The special document is issued to three categories of applicants, and for each of them the status extends to family members. The first category is the IT labour immigrant registered in the ministry's database. The second is the entrepreneur natural person with small-business status conducting an IT activity from the list established by government decree; the list itself is a sub-statutory act, and when the application is prepared the profile of the activity is checked precisely against it. The third is the person authorised to lead and represent an international company operating in the field of information technologies.
The requirements for the categories are uniform and concrete: experience of labour or economic activity in IT of at least 2 years, and remuneration of at least 25 000 US dollars per year in lari equivalent. Both conditions are confirmed documentarily: experience — by contracts, orders and confirmations of employers and clients; remuneration — by annual sums in lari equivalent according to payment documents. The application file must answer the two questions of the law directly: whether there are two years of experience and whether there is annual income at the 25 000-dollar level — vague formulations the agency does not accept.
The IT Permit and the Right to Labour Activity — the 2026 Rules
From 1 March 2026 the work residence permit is tied in the law to the right to labour activity: remunerated labour and entrepreneurial activity in Georgia are permitted to an alien who holds a work residence permit, a D1 category immigration visa or another document issued together with the right to labour activity. The application for the right is filed with the ministry — for labour immigrants through the local employer after the contract is concluded, by the self-employed personally; after the full set of documents is submitted the examination may not exceed 30 calendar days, and the service fee is capped at 500 GEL.
For the IT route the law names the next step directly: having obtained the right and being in Georgia, the alien applies for a work residence permit or for the residence permit of a person employed in the field of information technologies no later than 10 calendar days; if he or she is outside Georgia — for a D1 category visa no later than 30 calendar days. Fully remote labour that does not require entry into Georgia is not covered by this regime — the exception for remote work is written into the law directly. Working without the right carries a fine of 2 000 GEL — separately for the employer (for each immigrant), for the employee and for the self-employed — and a repeated violation doubles the fine. The full chain — mandatory contract terms, refusal and termination grounds, re-application, appeal of a refusal in court within 1 month — is analysed on our page “Work Permit and Work Right in Georgia (D1) — 2026”.