Starting a Business · Georgia
Starting a business in Georgia: foreigner's guide (2026)
Georgia shaded by its starting a business status
Georgia is highly open to foreign business formation: foreigners may own 100% of a Georgian LLC with no minimum share capital, no mandatory local partner, and no residency requirement. Registration is handled by NAPR at Public Service Halls nationwide and can be completed within one business day. A 2021 legislative reform modernised the corporate law framework to align with EU Association Agreement obligations.
Key points
Foreign nationals and foreign-registered entities may own 100% of a Georgian LLC (შპს) or JSC. No Georgian co-founder or resident director is legally required. The Law on Promotion and Guarantees of Investment Activity guarantees foreign investors treatment no less favourable than that accorded to Georgian nationals.
Georgian law imposes no statutory minimum share capital for an LLC. Founders may set capital contributions at any commercially chosen amount, removing a common barrier to entry for small and medium enterprises.
Registration is filed with NAPR at a Public Service Hall (Tbilisi, Batumi, and other cities) or via authorised representative. Required documents: valid passport, company charter, director appointment decision, and application form. Standard processing is one business day; an expedited same-day service is available for a higher fee.
NAPR charges GEL 100 (≈ USD 35) for standard LLC registration and GEL 200 (≈ USD 70) for expedited same-day processing. Additional fees apply for certified extracts and English-language copies.
The new Law of Georgia on Entrepreneurs (in force January 2022) fully replaced the prior law, modernising entity structures and governance rules to meet EU Association Agreement standards. Entities registered before 2022 must bring their corporate documents into compliance by 1 April 2026.
Strategic sectors (defence, nuclear energy, air traffic control) are state-reserved; no other foreign-ownership caps apply. From March 2026, a Special Labour Activity Permit is required for most foreigners working in Georgia, but company founders and directors—and remote workers serving foreign clients—are explicitly carved out of that requirement.
Timeline - major decisions & events
The World Bank's expanded Business Ready 2025 report (101 economies) placed Georgia 4th globally and 2nd in the operational-efficiency dimension. NAPR's streamlined digital registration and standard-charter option are cited as key contributors to Georgia's sustained top ranking.
National Agency of Public Registry (NAPR) ↗Parliament amended the Law on Entrepreneurs to push the compliance deadline for pre-2022-registered entities from April 1, 2025 to April 1, 2026. Non-compliant companies face suspension of their registry entry, blocking issuance of official extracts needed for most transactions.
Legislative Herald of Georgia (Matsne) ↗Georgia signed the Association Agreement with the EU (DCFTA part entered into force 1 September 2014), committing to approximate its corporate and commercial legislation to EU standards. This treaty became the primary legal mandate that ultimately produced the 2022 Law on Entrepreneurs reform and aligned Georgia's business-formation rules with EU Company Law Directives.
EUR-Lex (European Union) ↗The landmark Tbilisi Public Service Hall opened, housing ~400 Ministry of Justice staff delivering ~300 services under one roof—including same-day business registration, property registration, and notary services. The broader PSH network won the UN Public Service Award in 2012, establishing Georgia's one-stop model as a global benchmark for business-start ease.
Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor ↗The Ministry of Justice launched Georgia's first Public Service Hall on Independence Day in Batumi, consolidating business registration, civil documents, and property services in a single walk-in centre. This one-stop-shop model eliminated the multi-agency registration process and removed a structural source of administrative friction and petty corruption.
Open Government Partnership ↗Parliament made sweeping simplifications to the Entrepreneurs Law, cancelling mandatory regulations and granting partners broad freedom to self-regulate through bespoke charters. While cutting red tape further, the changes inadvertently created corporate governance gaps—particularly in shareholder-dispute resolution—that later required the comprehensive 2022 reform to correct.
Legislative Herald of Georgia (Matsne) ↗Following the November 2003 Rose Revolution, the Saakashvili government created the National Agency of Public Registry (NAPR) under the Ministry of Justice and radically simplified business registration—cutting procedures, fees (to 10–40 GEL), and time to a few days. Georgia's World Bank Doing Business rank rose from 112th (2006) to 16th (2012), the fastest improvement in the index's history.
National Agency of Public Registry (NAPR) ↗Georgia - other topics
Last verified 5/24/2026 · Orientation, not legal advice - verify against the primary sources linked above. Explore the full world map →