---
title: "Self-Employment Visa"
url: "https://legal.ge/en/service/migration-and-immigration-law-en/self-employment-visa-en"
field: "Migration & Immigration Law"
description: "Self-employment visa and residence permit in Georgia for individual entrepreneurs: D1 visa, income and turnover thresholds under the law. Legal.ge."
reviewed: "2026-06-27"
updated: "2026-10-14"
publisher: "legal.ge"
---

# Self-Employment Visa

> Source: legal.ge, https://legal.ge/en/service/migration-and-immigration-law-en/self-employment-visa-en

A foreign individual entrepreneur in Georgia works with three interlocking legal instruments: the right to conduct entrepreneurial activity, a D1 category immigration visa, and a work residence permit. This page explains how these three elements connect under the Law of Georgia on the Legal Status of Aliens and Stateless Persons, which income and turnover thresholds apply, and how this route differs from the investment and corporate routes. It is worth saying at the outset: this page is about a self-employed person who lives off his or her own entrepreneurial activity, not an employee working under a contract with an employer.

## The right to conduct entrepreneurial activity

Article 28 of the law recognises that an alien may conduct investment and entrepreneurial activity in Georgia in accordance with Georgian legislation. In doing so, the alien has the same rights and bears the same obligations as a citizen of Georgia, unless Georgian legislation provides otherwise. This means that the status of an individual entrepreneur places a foreigner on an equal footing with citizens within the business environment — but the migration status still has to be arranged separately, through a visa and then a residence permit.

## The D1 immigration visa for entrepreneurs

The appropriate visa instrument for a prospective entrepreneur is the D1 category immigration visa. Under the law, Georgian visas fall into diplomatic, special, ordinary, immigration and transit categories, and may be short-term or long-term. The D1 category is intended, among others, for persons who conduct entrepreneurial activity in accordance with the Law of Georgia on Entrepreneurs; under the wording in force since 1 March 2026, a D1 visa is issued to an alien who has received the right to carry out labour activity, as well as to an alien coming to Georgia to conduct entrepreneurial activity under the Law on Entrepreneurs. The immigration visa is precisely the bridge that connects a business project planned from abroad with its Georgian legal form.

## The work residence permit and the income threshold

A work residence permit is issued to an alien who conducts entrepreneurial activity in Georgia under the procedure established by Georgian legislation. Such a person submits to the Agency a document confirming the conduct of entrepreneurial or labour activity in Georgia, together with a certificate confirming that his or her monthly income from that activity is not less than five times the average consumer subsistence minimum established in Georgia. The wording in force since 1 March 2026 keeps these requirements, with the receipt of the right to labour activity named as the basis for the permit. Documentation of income is therefore the central element of this route: the entrepreneur must show a stable monthly income that is not below five times the subsistence minimum.

The full text is available on legal.ge after signing in: https://legal.ge/en/service/migration-and-immigration-law-en/self-employment-visa-en

### Which visa does an individual entrepreneur need in Georgia?

The D1 category immigration visa, intended for entrepreneurial activity under the Law on Entrepreneurs and, since 1 March 2026, also for holders of the right to labour activity.

### What income threshold applies?

Monthly income must not be less than five times the average consumer subsistence minimum established in Georgia.

### What turnover is required from the enterprise?

At least 50 000 GEL per applicant alien; for educational and medical institutions the threshold is 35 000 GEL.

### Is the entrepreneur route the same as the investment permit?

No — the investment permit rests on an investment of 300 000 US dollars in lari equivalent or qualifying real estate, while the work permit rests on actual activity and income.