No Residence Test in Any Instrument We Read - What Stands Between a Foreigner and an Account Is Customer Due Diligence
Nothing in the Law on the Legal Status of Aliens and Stateless Persons makes a bank account depend on residence. Article 25(1) gives aliens equality of treatment with citizens unless legislation provides otherwise, article 28 lets them carry out investment and business activity with the same rights and duties as citizens, and article 32(1) lets them own, inherit and bequeath property. No provision conditions a financial service on holding a permit. The constraint is anti-money-laundering law. Article 11(1)(ა) of the Law on Facilitating the Prevention of Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism makes the preventive measures mandatory on the establishment of a business relationship - with no threshold, unlike the one-off transaction triggers at GEL 15 000 and GEL 3 000 in the same paragraph. Article 10(1) says what those measures are: identify the customer and verify them against a reliable and independent source, identify the beneficial owner and take reasonable steps to verify them, establish the purpose and intended nature of the business relationship, and monitor it. Article 10(4) adds that establishing the purpose means finding out the substance of the customer's activity and obtaining information on the nature, volume and frequency of expected transactions. That is the questionnaire a foreign applicant meets, and it is statutory rather than a bank's preference.
At a glance
- A residence requirement for a bank account
- None in the Law on the Legal Status of Aliens and Stateless Persons
Articles 25(1), 28 and 32(1) of that Law put aliens on the same footing as citizens unless other legislation says otherwise, and none of the thirteen permit types in article 15 is about banking.
- When due diligence becomes mandatory
- On establishing a business relationship, with no monetary threshold
Article 11(1)(ა) of the Law on Facilitating the Prevention of Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism. Thresholds apply only to one-off transactions.
- Threshold for a one-off transaction
- GEL 15 000, or GEL 3 000 for a transfer of funds
Article 11(1)(ბ) and (გ) of the same Law. A convertible virtual asset service has its own trigger at USD 1 000, EUR 1 000 or GEL 3 000.
- What the bank must establish about you
- The substance of your activity and the nature, volume and frequency of expected transactions
Article 10(4) of the same Law, read with article 10(1)(გ).
Requirements
- Identification of the customer and verification against a reliable and independent source
- Identification of the beneficial owner, with reasonable steps to verify
- A statement of the purpose and intended nature of the business relationship, including the nature, volume and frequency of expected transactions
- No residence permit is required by any instrument read for this record
Exceptions by origin
No exceptions recorded
Nothing we have read treats any nationality differently for this topic. The rule above applies to everyone.
What the law says
«1\. ანგარიშვალდებული პირი ვალდებულია ამ კანონის მე-11 მუხლის პირველი−მე-4 პუნქტებით გათვალისწინებულ შემთხვევებში განახორციელოს შემდეგი პრევენციული ღონისძიებები: ა) განახორციელოს კლიენტის იდენტიფიკაცია და სანდო და დამოუკიდებელ წყაროზე დაყრდნობით მისი ვერიფიკაცია; ბ) განახორციელოს ბენეფიციარი მესაკუთრის იდენტიფიკაცია და მიიღოს გონივრული ზომები სანდო წყაროზე დაყრდნობით მისი ვერიფიკაციისთვის; გ) დაადგინოს საქმიანი ურთიერთობის მიზანი და განზრახული ხასიათი; დ) განახორციელოს საქმიანი ურთიერთობის მონიტორინგი.»Our translation - not official
An accountable person is obliged, in the cases provided for in article 11(1) to (4) of this Law, to carry out the following preventive measures: (ა) identify the client and verify them on the basis of a reliable and independent source; (ბ) identify the beneficial owner and take reasonable steps to verify them on the basis of a reliable source; (გ) establish the purpose and intended nature of the business relationship; (დ) monitor the business relationship.
About this source
The official gazette and consolidated statute book of Georgia, a legal entity under public law under the Ministry of Justice. Every instrument lives at matsne.gov.ge/ka/document/view/<id>: laws, organic laws, Government resolutions, presidential decrees and ministerial orders, each page opening with a metadata block that gives the document number, the issuing body, the date of issue, the source and date of publication, the date of entry into force and the registration code, then listing every consolidated publication by date with its own publication index. Above the body of each page the site states which edition is being shown: კონსოლიდირებული ვერსია (საბოლოო) means the final consolidation, and a different line means it is not. Amending instruments are published separately and in full, each citing the registration code of the act it amends, so a schedule whose consolidation is paywalled can still be reconstructed from the original plus the amendments. Renders through Firecrawl without difficulty, including million-character statutes: the Georgian Tax Code comes back at 1,190,393 characters.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: Three things it must not be cited for. First, it is not free for everything: for some Government resolutions - resolution No 255 of 5 June 2015 on visa-free entry, and resolution No 36 of 21 February 2013 on universal health care - the site serves only the text as originally published and prints დოკუმენტის კონსოლიდირებული ვარიანტის ნახვა ფასიანია, that viewing the consolidated version is a paid service requiring registration and the purchase of a viewing right. A reading of such a page is a reading of the original, however many consolidations have followed, and must be labelled as one. Second, it publishes the consolidated law and not the reasoning: no explanatory memorandum, no case law, no ministerial guidance, and a great deal of Georgian immigration and tax practice sits in orders of the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Internal Affairs which it holds but which are not linked from the parent act. Third, the Georgian pages are the law and the English pages at the matching address are not the same document - see ge-matsne-en. Pages render statutes inside HTML tables, so stored text carries table pipes and <br> markers around the publisher's own words.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«ა) საქმიანი ურთიერთობის დამყარება; ბ) ერთჯერადი გარიგების დადება, თუ ერთჯერადი გარიგების თანხა ან დაკავშირებული გარიგებების ჯამური თანხა 15 000 ლარს ან უცხოურ ვალუტაში 15 000 ლარის ეკვივალენტს აღემატება, ხოლო კონვერტირებადი ვირტუალური აქტივის მომსახურებასთან დაკავშირებული ერთჯერადი გარიგების დადების შემთხვევაში − 1 000 აშშ-ის დოლარს, 1 000 ევროს ან 3 000 ლარს; გ) ფულადი სახსრების ერთჯერადი გადარიცხვა, თუ ერთჯერადი გარიგების თანხა ან დაკავშირებული გარიგებების ჯამური თანხა 3 000 ლარს ან უცხოურ ვალუტაში 3 000 ლარის ეკვივალენტს აღემატება;»Our translation - not official
(ა) the establishment of a business relationship; (ბ) the conclusion of a one-off transaction, where the amount of the one-off transaction or the aggregate amount of linked transactions exceeds GEL 15 000 or the equivalent of GEL 15 000 in foreign currency, and in the case of a one-off transaction related to a convertible virtual asset service - USD 1 000, EUR 1 000 or GEL 3 000; (გ) a one-off transfer of funds, where the amount of the one-off transaction or the aggregate amount of linked transactions exceeds GEL 3 000 or the equivalent of GEL 3 000 in foreign currency;
About this source
The official gazette and consolidated statute book of Georgia, a legal entity under public law under the Ministry of Justice. Every instrument lives at matsne.gov.ge/ka/document/view/<id>: laws, organic laws, Government resolutions, presidential decrees and ministerial orders, each page opening with a metadata block that gives the document number, the issuing body, the date of issue, the source and date of publication, the date of entry into force and the registration code, then listing every consolidated publication by date with its own publication index. Above the body of each page the site states which edition is being shown: კონსოლიდირებული ვერსია (საბოლოო) means the final consolidation, and a different line means it is not. Amending instruments are published separately and in full, each citing the registration code of the act it amends, so a schedule whose consolidation is paywalled can still be reconstructed from the original plus the amendments. Renders through Firecrawl without difficulty, including million-character statutes: the Georgian Tax Code comes back at 1,190,393 characters.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: Three things it must not be cited for. First, it is not free for everything: for some Government resolutions - resolution No 255 of 5 June 2015 on visa-free entry, and resolution No 36 of 21 February 2013 on universal health care - the site serves only the text as originally published and prints დოკუმენტის კონსოლიდირებული ვარიანტის ნახვა ფასიანია, that viewing the consolidated version is a paid service requiring registration and the purchase of a viewing right. A reading of such a page is a reading of the original, however many consolidations have followed, and must be labelled as one. Second, it publishes the consolidated law and not the reasoning: no explanatory memorandum, no case law, no ministerial guidance, and a great deal of Georgian immigration and tax practice sits in orders of the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Internal Affairs which it holds but which are not linked from the parent act. Third, the Georgian pages are the law and the English pages at the matching address are not the same document - see ge-matsne-en. Pages render statutes inside HTML tables, so stored text carries table pipes and <br> markers around the publisher's own words.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«Aliens in Georgia may carry out investment and business activity under the legislation of Georgia. In that case they shall have the same rights and duties as the citizens of Georgia, unless otherwise provided for by the legislation of Georgia.»About this source
The same publisher's English rendering of Georgian instruments, served at matsne.gov.ge/en/document/view/<id> - the same document id as the Georgian, so the two texts are one address apart. Where an English consolidation exists it is a full translation of that consolidation, with the same article numbering, the same amending-law footers and the same metadata block. For the Law on the Legal Status of Aliens and Stateless Persons the English kept pace with the Georgian through the amendments of 15 April and 25 June 2026, so the 2026 spouse permit and the interagency marriage commission can be read in both languages.
Standing:
Cannot be cited for: It may never be cited as the law, for four reasons found in the text itself. (1) It lags, silently to a reader who does not look up: on 11 October 2026 the Tax Code in English was the consolidation of 25 June 2026 while the Georgian was that of 30 September 2026, and the Organic Law on Georgian Citizenship in English was the edition of 7 March to 26 June 2025 while the Georgian was 25 June 2026. (2) The newest consolidation of a lagging instrument does not exist in English at all: the English page for Tax Code publication 246 and citizenship publication 12 carries no law, only 'Attention! The consolidation of the document is underway. You are not reading the latest version of the document.' (3) The default English address serves the last complete English edition under the line 'Attention! You are not reading the final edition', which is one line of body text above a million characters of statute. (4) Subparagraph letters are relabelled by alphabetical position rather than transliterated, so Georgian ფ becomes u, ჟ becomes p and თ becomes h - and the trap is live, because the Latin letter that a reader would reach for by sound lands on a different and sometimes repealed subparagraph: English article 99(1)(p) is Georgian 99(1)(ჟ), while Georgian 99(1)(პ) was deleted on 30 May 2018. It also mis-states one amending law's number, printing the law of 30 May 2018 as No 3591 in twelve places and as No 2391 in twelve others where the Georgian prints №2391 throughout, and it loses superscripts: article 21¹ appears as '211' and paragraph 6¹ as '61'. Cite it beside the Georgian, as a translation, never instead of it.
We re-read it every 120 days. More about this source
«1\. Aliens in Georgia may own, inherit, or bequeath any property, as well as enjoy non-property rights under the legislation of Georgia.»About this source
The same publisher's English rendering of Georgian instruments, served at matsne.gov.ge/en/document/view/<id> - the same document id as the Georgian, so the two texts are one address apart. Where an English consolidation exists it is a full translation of that consolidation, with the same article numbering, the same amending-law footers and the same metadata block. For the Law on the Legal Status of Aliens and Stateless Persons the English kept pace with the Georgian through the amendments of 15 April and 25 June 2026, so the 2026 spouse permit and the interagency marriage commission can be read in both languages.
Standing:
Cannot be cited for: It may never be cited as the law, for four reasons found in the text itself. (1) It lags, silently to a reader who does not look up: on 11 October 2026 the Tax Code in English was the consolidation of 25 June 2026 while the Georgian was that of 30 September 2026, and the Organic Law on Georgian Citizenship in English was the edition of 7 March to 26 June 2025 while the Georgian was 25 June 2026. (2) The newest consolidation of a lagging instrument does not exist in English at all: the English page for Tax Code publication 246 and citizenship publication 12 carries no law, only 'Attention! The consolidation of the document is underway. You are not reading the latest version of the document.' (3) The default English address serves the last complete English edition under the line 'Attention! You are not reading the final edition', which is one line of body text above a million characters of statute. (4) Subparagraph letters are relabelled by alphabetical position rather than transliterated, so Georgian ფ becomes u, ჟ becomes p and თ becomes h - and the trap is live, because the Latin letter that a reader would reach for by sound lands on a different and sometimes repealed subparagraph: English article 99(1)(p) is Georgian 99(1)(ჟ), while Georgian 99(1)(პ) was deleted on 30 May 2018. It also mis-states one amending law's number, printing the law of 30 May 2018 as No 3591 in twelve places and as No 2391 in twelve others where the Georgian prints №2391 throughout, and it loses superscripts: article 21¹ appears as '211' and paragraph 6¹ as '61'. Cite it beside the Georgian, as a translation, never instead of it.
We re-read it every 120 days. More about this source
Practical notes
This record says what the statutes require. It does not say what any bank does: a bank may decline a customer for its own risk reasons and no instrument read here obliges it to open an account.
The subordinate order of the head of the Financial Monitoring Service, which article 11(5) lets set identification duties regardless of threshold, has not been read. Nor has the National Bank's own customer due diligence regulation.
- consolidatesფულის გათეთრებისა და ტერორიზმის დაფინანსების აღკვეთის ხელშეწყობის შესახებ საქართველოს კანონი
საქართველოს საკანონმდებლო მაცნე (Legislative Herald of Georgia) · consolidated to 2026-04-01
About this source
The official gazette and consolidated statute book of Georgia, a legal entity under public law under the Ministry of Justice. Every instrument lives at matsne.gov.ge/ka/document/view/<id>: laws, organic laws, Government resolutions, presidential decrees and ministerial orders, each page opening with a metadata block that gives the document number, the issuing body, the date of issue, the source and date of publication, the date of entry into force and the registration code, then listing every consolidated publication by date with its own publication index. Above the body of each page the site states which edition is being shown: კონსოლიდირებული ვერსია (საბოლოო) means the final consolidation, and a different line means it is not. Amending instruments are published separately and in full, each citing the registration code of the act it amends, so a schedule whose consolidation is paywalled can still be reconstructed from the original plus the amendments. Renders through Firecrawl without difficulty, including million-character statutes: the Georgian Tax Code comes back at 1,190,393 characters.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: Three things it must not be cited for. First, it is not free for everything: for some Government resolutions - resolution No 255 of 5 June 2015 on visa-free entry, and resolution No 36 of 21 February 2013 on universal health care - the site serves only the text as originally published and prints დოკუმენტის კონსოლიდირებული ვარიანტის ნახვა ფასიანია, that viewing the consolidated version is a paid service requiring registration and the purchase of a viewing right. A reading of such a page is a reading of the original, however many consolidations have followed, and must be labelled as one. Second, it publishes the consolidated law and not the reasoning: no explanatory memorandum, no case law, no ministerial guidance, and a great deal of Georgian immigration and tax practice sits in orders of the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Internal Affairs which it holds but which are not linked from the parent act. Third, the Georgian pages are the law and the English pages at the matching address are not the same document - see ge-matsne-en. Pages render statutes inside HTML tables, so stored text carries table pipes and <br> markers around the publisher's own words.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
- publishesLaw of Georgia on the Legal Status of Aliens and Stateless Persons (matsne English translation)
Legislative Herald of Georgia, English translation service · consolidated to 2026-06-25
About this source
The same publisher's English rendering of Georgian instruments, served at matsne.gov.ge/en/document/view/<id> - the same document id as the Georgian, so the two texts are one address apart. Where an English consolidation exists it is a full translation of that consolidation, with the same article numbering, the same amending-law footers and the same metadata block. For the Law on the Legal Status of Aliens and Stateless Persons the English kept pace with the Georgian through the amendments of 15 April and 25 June 2026, so the 2026 spouse permit and the interagency marriage commission can be read in both languages.
Standing:
Cannot be cited for: It may never be cited as the law, for four reasons found in the text itself. (1) It lags, silently to a reader who does not look up: on 11 October 2026 the Tax Code in English was the consolidation of 25 June 2026 while the Georgian was that of 30 September 2026, and the Organic Law on Georgian Citizenship in English was the edition of 7 March to 26 June 2025 while the Georgian was 25 June 2026. (2) The newest consolidation of a lagging instrument does not exist in English at all: the English page for Tax Code publication 246 and citizenship publication 12 carries no law, only 'Attention! The consolidation of the document is underway. You are not reading the latest version of the document.' (3) The default English address serves the last complete English edition under the line 'Attention! You are not reading the final edition', which is one line of body text above a million characters of statute. (4) Subparagraph letters are relabelled by alphabetical position rather than transliterated, so Georgian ფ becomes u, ჟ becomes p and თ becomes h - and the trap is live, because the Latin letter that a reader would reach for by sound lands on a different and sometimes repealed subparagraph: English article 99(1)(p) is Georgian 99(1)(ჟ), while Georgian 99(1)(პ) was deleted on 30 May 2018. It also mis-states one amending law's number, printing the law of 30 May 2018 as No 3591 in twelve places and as No 2391 in twelve others where the Georgian prints №2391 throughout, and it loses superscripts: article 21¹ appears as '211' and paragraph 6¹ as '61'. Cite it beside the Georgian, as a translation, never instead of it.
We re-read it every 120 days. More about this source
- consolidatesუცხოელთა და მოქალაქეობის არმქონე პირთა სამართლებრივი მდგომარეობის შესახებ
საქართველოს საკანონმდებლო მაცნე (Legislative Herald of Georgia) · consolidated to 2026-06-25
About this source
The official gazette and consolidated statute book of Georgia, a legal entity under public law under the Ministry of Justice. Every instrument lives at matsne.gov.ge/ka/document/view/<id>: laws, organic laws, Government resolutions, presidential decrees and ministerial orders, each page opening with a metadata block that gives the document number, the issuing body, the date of issue, the source and date of publication, the date of entry into force and the registration code, then listing every consolidated publication by date with its own publication index. Above the body of each page the site states which edition is being shown: კონსოლიდირებული ვერსია (საბოლოო) means the final consolidation, and a different line means it is not. Amending instruments are published separately and in full, each citing the registration code of the act it amends, so a schedule whose consolidation is paywalled can still be reconstructed from the original plus the amendments. Renders through Firecrawl without difficulty, including million-character statutes: the Georgian Tax Code comes back at 1,190,393 characters.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: Three things it must not be cited for. First, it is not free for everything: for some Government resolutions - resolution No 255 of 5 June 2015 on visa-free entry, and resolution No 36 of 21 February 2013 on universal health care - the site serves only the text as originally published and prints დოკუმენტის კონსოლიდირებული ვარიანტის ნახვა ფასიანია, that viewing the consolidated version is a paid service requiring registration and the purchase of a viewing right. A reading of such a page is a reading of the original, however many consolidations have followed, and must be labelled as one. Second, it publishes the consolidated law and not the reasoning: no explanatory memorandum, no case law, no ministerial guidance, and a great deal of Georgian immigration and tax practice sits in orders of the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Internal Affairs which it holds but which are not linked from the parent act. Third, the Georgian pages are the law and the English pages at the matching address are not the same document - see ge-matsne-en. Pages render statutes inside HTML tables, so stored text carries table pipes and <br> markers around the publisher's own words.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source