No Retirement Category, No Pension Threshold, and the Year Most Retirees Use Is Not a Permit at All
There is no retirement residence permit in Georgia. Article 15 of the Law on the Legal Status of Aliens and Stateless Persons is a closed list of the residence permits Georgia issues, and as it stands after the amendments of 15 April and 25 June 2026 it has thirteen entries: work, study, family reunification, former citizen of Georgia, stateless person, special, permanent, spouse of a citizen of Georgia, investment, temporary for a victim of domestic violence, short-term on property, unlimited, and temporary for a person employed in information technologies. None of them mentions a pension, an age, or retirement, and no minimum pension figure appears in the article. What a retiree from one of the ninety-six nationalities on the schedule to Government Resolution No 255 actually has is the full year of visa-free stay under article 10(3), renewed by leaving and returning - lawful presence, with no permit, no card and no accrual towards permanent residence, because article 15(ზ) counts only years spent on a temporary residence permit. Where a retiree wants a permit rather than a stay, the routes available are the ones everybody else uses: property at USD 150 000, investment at USD 300 000, family reunification with a permit-holding relative, or marriage to a Georgian citizen.
At a glance
- A residence permit for retirees
- None among the thirteen types in article 15 of the Law on the Legal Status of Aliens and Stateless Persons
No subparagraph of article 15 refers to a pension, to an age or to retirement.
- Minimum pension or income required
- None stated in article 15 of that Law
The article states property values and one employment figure, and no pension figure at all.
- What a retiree on the visa-free schedule has instead
- One full year of lawful stay, with no permit
Article 10(3) of the Law and note 1 to the annex of Government Resolution No 255 of 5 June 2015.
- Whether those years count towards permanent residence
- No - article 15(ზ) counts only years lived on a temporary residence permit
Article 15(ზ) of the Law on the Legal Status of Aliens and Stateless Persons, which also excludes years spent here for study or medical treatment.
Requirements
- No retirement category exists, so a retiree qualifies, if at all, on property, investment or family grounds
- A visa-free year under article 10(3) needs only a nationality on the schedule to Resolution No 255
- Years of visa-free stay do not count towards the ten years article 15(ზ) requires for permanent residence
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
«ზ) მუდმივი ცხოვრების ნებართვა, რომელიც გაიცემა საქართველოს მოქალაქის არასრულწლოვან შვილზე, საქართველოს არასრულწლოვანი მოქალაქის მშობელზე, აგრეთვე საქართველოს მოქალაქის მეუღლეზე, რომელიც საქართველოს მოქალაქის მეუღლის ბინადრობის ნებართვის საფუძველზე საქართველოში ცხოვრობდა ბოლო 5 წლის განმავლობაში. მუდმივი ცხოვრების ნებართვა გაიცემა ასევე უცხოელზე, რომელიც დროებითი ბინადრობის ნებართვის საფუძველზე საქართველოში ცხოვრობდა ბოლო 10 წლის განმავლობაში. ამ ვადაში არ ითვლება საქართველოში სწავლის ან მკურნალობის მიზნით ცხოვრებისა და დიპლომატიურ წარმომადგენლობებსა და მათთან გათანაბრებულ წარმომადგენლობებში მუშაობის პერიოდი;»Our translation - not official
(ზ) a permanent residence permit, issued to a minor child of a citizen of Georgia, to the parent of a minor citizen of Georgia, and to the spouse of a citizen of Georgia who has lived in Georgia for the last 5 years on the basis of a residence permit for the spouse of a citizen of Georgia. A permanent residence permit is also issued to an alien who has lived in Georgia for the last 10 years on the basis of a temporary residence permit. That period does not include time lived in Georgia for the purpose of study or medical treatment, or periods of work at diplomatic missions and missions equivalent to them.
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
«g) a permanent residence permit, which is issued to a minor child of a citizen of Georgia, to a parent of a minor citizen of Georgia, as well as to a spouse of a citizen of Georgia who has resided in Georgia for the last 5 years on the basis of a residence permit for a spouse of a citizen of Georgia. A permanent residence permit shall also be issued to an alien who has resided in Georgia for the last 10 years on the basis of a temporary residence permit. This period shall not include the period of residence in Georgia for the purpose of studying or medical treatment, and the period of employment at diplomatic missions and missions equivalent thereto;»matsne's English of this subparagraph is faithful. It is lettered g because ზ is the seventh Georgian letter.
Read it at the sourceAbout 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
Bounded by what we read: article 15 of the Law on the Legal Status of Aliens and Stateless Persons in the Georgian consolidated text of 25 June 2026, and the annex to Government Resolution No 255 with its eight amending resolutions. We make no claim about ministerial practice.
- 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
- 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
- consolidatesსაქართველოს მთავრობის 2015 წლის 5 ივნისის №255 დადგენილება - იმ ქვეყნების ჩამონათვალის დამტკიცების შესახებ, რომელთა მოქალაქეებსაც შეუძლიათ საქართველოში უვიზოდ შემოსვლა
საქართველოს საკანონმდებლო მაცნე (Legislative Herald of Georgia)
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