Changes will be made to the regulations for the acquisition of residence permits for foreign persons in Georgia. The initiator of the changes is the governing party.
The legislation includes changes with investment and short-term residency permits and D5 category visas.
Namely, the following changes will be incorporated in the law:
– Foreigners who wish to receive a permanent residence permit in Georgia will receive a five-year permit initially only if they present documents proving they have a turnover of 120,000 USD or more annually.
– Investors applying for the investment residency permits will first receive 5 years residency allowance before becoming eligible for a permanent residency
– In order to get investment residency permit, the foreign person needs to invest no less than 300,000 USD instead of the current 300,000 GEL
– In order to retain the investment residence permit, the investor has to demonstrate an annual turnover of no less than 120,000 USD.
– The permanent residence permit will no longer be issued initially; instead, it will only be issued based on investments carried out. However, after the expiration of investment residency permit (i.e. 5 years) the investor will have an opportunity to receive a permanent residency if throughout the 5 years he/she can prove an annual turnover of no less than 120,000 USD equivalent in GEL from the business activities carried out in Georgia.
– The minimum benchmark for the property market value will be increased for those seeking to receive a residence permit on the basis of property or D5 category visa. The foreign national must purchase real estate worth 100,000 USD equivalent in GEL.
From 2014 until and inclusive of 2017, 1552 short-term residence permits were issued based on possession of real estate worth 35,000 USD.
The amount of residence permits issued has been increasing over the years, in 2016, 328 short-term residence permits were issued in total, and in 2017, 1173 residence permits were issued.
As for the investment residence permit, since the enforcement of the law up until today, 437 investment permits have been issued.
