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Georgia Citizenship Guide

18 citizenship paths — everything you need to know about eligibility, documents, timelines, and costs.

12 min readLast updated: May 2026
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Adoption

1 path in this category

Acquisition by a minor adopted by a Georgian citizen — regular procedure, by grant (Art 13(2))

A minor adopted by a citizen of Georgia is granted citizenship of Georgia under the regular procedure (Art 13(2)) — a dedicated adoption ground within the minors' acquisition framework. The acquisition is by APPLICATION / grant (made by Presidential decree as a type of naturalisation), not automatic by operation of law. Conversely, outbound adoption is protective: the adoption of an underage Georgian citizen by a foreign (alien) adopter does NOT cause the minor to lose Georgian citizenship — the Georgian child retains it (Art 20-style retention), and where the adopted minor is aged 14 or older the Art 6 consent gate applies to any change of citizenship.

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Birth

1 path in this category

Foundling / statelessness-safeguard presumption (Art 11(2)) — NO general jus soli

Positive disconfirmation: Georgia has NO general jus soli — birth on Georgian territory does not by itself confer citizenship, because Art 10 grants citizenship by birth only through descent (Art 10(a)) or the enumerated statelessness safeguards. As a foundling safeguard, a minor living in Georgia whose both parents are unknown is deemed a citizen of Georgia unless proved otherwise — a rebuttable presumption (Art 11). As a statelessness-at-birth safeguard, a child born in Georgia to stateless persons holding a status in Georgia, and a child born in Georgia who would otherwise be stateless, acquire Georgian citizenship by birth (Art 10(c)/(d)), giving effect to Georgia's 1961-Convention obligations; a child of surrogacy born in Georgia is likewise covered (Art 10(b)).

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Child

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Derivative acquisition by a minor of an acquirer (descent-by-application; age-14 consent gate, Art 13(1))

Derivative acquisition by a minor is the by-application alternative to acquisition by birth: a minor who did NOT acquire Georgian citizenship at birth is granted it under the regular procedure where one of his/her parents holds (or acquires) Georgian citizenship (Art 13(1)). The signature CBN rule is the age-14 consent gate — the citizenship of a minor aged 14 or older may be changed (other than loss) ONLY with that minor's own consent (Art 6), so derivative or adoptive acquisition for a 14–17-year-old requires their consent. Derivative acquisition can also occur by joinder: when a former citizen is granted citizenship by restoration under the temporary Art 32-2 window, citizenship is also granted to his/her accompanying minor child on the same terms.

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Descent

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Citizenship by descent (jus sanguinis) at birth — one parent a citizen (Art 10(a))

Georgia acquires citizenship at birth by jus sanguinis: a person is a citizen of Georgia by birth if, at the moment of his/her birth, one of his/her parents is a citizen of Georgia (Art 10(a)). Either parent suffices, and the rule carries NO generational limit and NO territorial qualifier — the statute requires only that one parent hold Georgian citizenship at the child's birth. A child who at birth acquires both Georgian and a foreign citizenship retains both from birth until the age of 18, but the Georgian citizenship is terminated at 18 unless a retention application is filed during minority (Art 21-1(3)).

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Citizenship by descent — child born abroad to a Georgian-citizen parent (Art 10(a), declaratory)

The Art 10(a) jus-sanguinis rule applies equally to a child born ABROAD to a Georgian-citizen parent: Georgian citizenship arises by operation of law at birth (the act is declaratory, not constitutive), so there is no discrete registration or declaration that confers it — registration only evidences a status already held. Either parent's Georgian citizenship at the moment of birth suffices, with no generational limit or territorial qualifier. Where parentage is established out of wedlock, after the birth, or posthumously, Art 10(a) keys acquisition to a parent being a Georgian citizen 'at the moment of birth' once that parentage is legally established (the civil-law parentage mechanics sit in the Civil Code, outside the citizenship statute and conservatively coded).

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Historical

1 path in this category

Historical / Soviet-successor regime — founding-nationals at independence (transitional Art 30²) + repealed 1993 Organic Law

GE-HIS-01 spans two structurally distinct layers. (A) CLOSED / HISTORICAL: the Organic Law of 25 March 1993 was expressly declared invalid by Art 32 of the 2014 Organic Law (No 2319-IIs) on its entry into force; statuses acquired under the 1993 law are preserved, but the 1993 law is not itself a live route. (B) LIVE-but-TRANSITIONAL establishment of citizenship: under Art 30-2, founding-nationals are DEEMED citizens by determination (not naturalisation) across three cohorts (born before 31 March 1975 with at least 5 years' Georgian residence and present by 31 March 1993; born after 31 March 1975 and resident by 31 March 1993; and persons born in Georgia who left after 21 December 1991), with residence/presence proved by a municipal commission certificate issued within 7 business days (Art 30-2(2)/(4)); Art 31-1 provides a special procedure for those who cannot be so established. Both Art 30-2 and Art 31-1 SUNSET on 1 January 2027 (Art 34(3)). Separately and PERMANENTLY (no sunset), Art 30-1 — introduced by Organic Law No 2481 of 6 July 2018

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Investment

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Investment-based citizenship — NONE (positive disconfirmation; investor access only via discretionary Art 17 exceptional grant)

Positive disconfirmation: Georgia has NO standalone, priced citizenship-by-investment programme. Investor access to Georgian citizenship exists ONLY through the discretionary presidential exceptional grant (Art 17), under which significant investment can feature among the enumerated 'state interests' circumstances — but even where the criteria are met the President retains discretion and the grant is neither guaranteed nor rights-based. There is no published price, no statutory investment threshold conferring an entitlement, and no fast-track scheme. The Caribbean-style CBI pattern must NOT be imported to Georgia.

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Marriage

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Naturalisation via marriage — spouse of a Georgian citizen, 5 years continuous residence (simplified, Art 14/15)

A foreign spouse of a Georgian citizen may naturalise under the simplified procedure after 5 years of continuous lawful residence in Georgia in marriage (Art 14(1)/Art 15), a shorter residence clock than the 10-year ordinary route. 'Continuous residence' carries the same Art 2(c) meaning (no combined period of more than 90 days outside Georgia in a year, subject to limited carve-outs). The applicant must satisfy the pre-application electronic examination of the Georgian language, the history of Georgia and the basic principles of law (Art 12(1)(b)(c); MoJ Order No 996, in force 1 May 2024), give the Art 8 oath of allegiance, and — the grant being a naturalisation other than the Art 17 exception — the President's decree takes effect on proof of renunciation of the prior citizenship.

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Military

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Military-service-linked acquisition — NONE (positive disconfirmation)

Positive disconfirmation: Georgian citizenship law provides NO military-service-linked acquisition route. The two forms of acquiring citizenship are birth and naturalisation (Art 9(1)), and the four enumerated types of naturalisation — regular procedure, simplified procedure, by way of exception, and by way of restoration (Art 9(3)) — contain no military-service ground. Foreign or Georgian military service appears in the statute only on the LOSS side (joining a foreign military/security service is an Art 21 loss ground) and as a bar to renunciation (unfulfilled military duty), never as a means of acquiring citizenship.

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Naturalization

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Ordinary naturalisation — 10 years continuous lawful residence + language/history/law exam (Art 12)

Ordinary (regular-procedure) naturalisation of an adult requires lawful residence in Georgia for the last 10 consecutive years up to the day of applying (Art 12(1)) — the threshold was NOT cut to 5 years in the reform. 'Continuous residence' means residence in Georgia without spending a combined period of more than 90 days outside Georgia in a year, with limited statutory carve-outs (e.g. study, treatment) (Art 2(c)). The applicant must additionally demonstrate, through a PRE-APPLICATION electronic examination (MoJ Order No 996, in force 1 May 2024), knowledge of the official Georgian language, the history of Georgia and the basic principles of law within the established limits (Art 12(1)(b)(c)); the President takes the final grant decision and, for grants other than the Art 17 exceptional grant, the decree takes effect only on proof of renunciation of the prior citizenship.

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Simplified / eased naturalisation — stateless-with-status (5yr), Georgian-origin & enumerated classes (Art 12(1¹)/(2)/(3))

Simplified and eased naturalisation gathers the statutory reductions and exemptions that sit within (or alongside) the regular procedure: a stateless person lawfully resident in Georgia for the last 5 consecutive years may naturalise on the shortened clock (Art 12(1-1)), while persons in enumerated classes — a beneficiary of support (Art 12(2-1)), a person with a relevant disability (Art 12(3)), and a refugee (whose Art 12(1)(d) clean-record-style condition is disapplied, Art 12(4)) — receive eased or exempt treatment of the otherwise-applicable conditions. The same 'continuous residence' definition (no more than 90 days/year abroad, Art 2(c)) and the pre-application language/history/law examination (electronic, 10 items per subject across state language, history of Georgia and basics of law; MoJ Order No 996) apply except where expressly exempted. The closed Art 14 'simplified procedure' (spouse and repatriate classes) is captured separately under GE-MAR-01 and GE-RST-02.

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Restoration

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Restoration / reacquisition of citizenship for a former citizen (Art 18)

A former citizen of Georgia may have citizenship restored / reacquired (Art 18), one of the four Art 9(3) types of naturalisation, by Presidential decree. Restoration applicants are not put to the full ordinary-route burden in the same way as first-time naturalisers, but where the language/history/law conditions apply they are checked through the same PRE-APPLICATION electronic examination (Art 24(6-1)–(6-4); MoJ Order No 996), and a restoration grant outside the Art 17 exception takes effect on proof of renunciation of any conflicting citizenship; the Art 8 oath of allegiance applies to naturalisation acquirers. A distinct TEMPORARY restoration/retention window (Art 32-2) lets a former citizen who lost Georgian citizenship by acquiring a foreign one apply, before 1 January 2027, for restoration on eased terms — a sunset to be distinguished from this permanent Art 18 restoration. (The Constitutional Court's Decision No 3/3/1601 of 7 March 2025 bears on the appealability of citizenship decisions generally.)

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Repatriate (Meskhetian-deportee) status → simplified naturalisation (Repatriation Law 2007 + Art 14(2))

Holders of REPATRIATE status — Meskhetian deportees forcibly displaced from the Georgian SSR by the USSR in the 1940s, and their direct descendants — are granted Georgian citizenship under the SIMPLIFIED procedure (Organic Law Art 14(2)), feeding off a separate status ladder created by the Law on Repatriation (11 July 2007). Repatriate status is itself granted by order of the responsible Minister on the application of the displaced person or a direct descendant, and follows a registered 'seeker of repatriate status' stage before grant; it is a distinct civil status that ENABLES the Art 14(2) simplified naturalisation rather than conferring nationality automatically. (Distinguish from GE-SPC-02 compatriot status, which is a separate non-nationality status under the Compatriots Law and is NOT a citizenship pathway.)

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Special

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Citizenship by way of exception — discretionary presidential grant (exceptional merit / state interests, Art 17) — DUAL-PERMITTED

Citizenship by way of exception is a DISCRETIONARY presidential grant and a full pathway to Georgian nationality: the President of Georgia MAY grant citizenship by way of exception to a citizen of another country who has made a contribution of exceptional merit to Georgia, or to an alien on the basis of state interests (Art 17(1)). For the state-interests limb the law enumerates qualifying circumstances (e.g. the applicant considers Georgia his/her homeland and he/she or an ancestor resided in Georgia; significant investment) (Art 17(2)). The exceptional grant is exempt from the ordinary naturalisation conditions — the 10-year residence, livelihood, and generally the language/history/law-knowledge requirements of Art 12 do not apply — and it is the principal lawful route to DUAL citizenship, because (unlike other naturalisation) its decree is not conditioned on renunciation of the prior nationality. It is discretionary and not rights-based; the Constitutional Court's Decision No 3/3/1601 (7 March 2025) conspicuously did not extend an appeal guarantee to the Art 17 grant.

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Compatriot residing abroad ('Georgian-origin') status

Compatriot residing abroad ('Georgian-origin') status is a distinct civil status (

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Honorary citizenship of Georgia (Art 7)

Honorary citizenship of Georgia (Art 7) is a distinct statutory NON-NATIONALITY status (

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XCT

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Voluntary renunciation of Georgian citizenship (Art 20(1)/25) — one of three modes of termination

Voluntary renunciation: a citizen of Georgia MAY renounce citizenship of Georgia (Art 20(1)) — one of the enumerated modes by which citizenship terminates. Renunciation is BARRED where the citizen has not fulfilled military or other duties owed to Georgia, or is accused of a crime under the Criminal Code of Georgia or has an unexecuted final court decision against them. A Presidential decree on renunciation takes effect on a deferred trigger keyed to avoiding statelessness: it becomes effective only upon the competent Georgian authorities receiving documents confirming the person has acquired (or is guaranteed) another citizenship (Art 25), giving effect to Georgia's 1954 and 1961 statelessness-Convention commitments. (Georgia is NOT a party to the European Convention on Nationality (1997) or the 1957 Convention on the Nationality of Married Women — positive disconfirmations.)

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Loss of citizenship by ground (Art 21) — ground-based LOSS, NOT punitive deprivation (deprivation INADMISSIBLE, Art 3(5)/Const 32(3))

Involuntary cessation in Georgia is ground-based LOSS (Art 21), NOT punitive deprivation — deprivation of citizenship is constitutionally and statutorily INADMISSIBLE (Constitution Art 32(3); Organic Law Art 3(5)). A citizen LOSES citizenship if, among the enumerated grounds, he/she joins the military, police or security service of a foreign state, or voluntarily acquires a foreign citizenship without the State's prior retention consent. Those grounds carry exceptions: the foreign-service ground (Art 21(1)(a)) does not apply to citizens granted citizenship by way of exception or to retention-consent holders serving the State of their own nationality. Retention (Art 21-1) preserves Georgian citizenship where the citizen obtains the State of Georgia's consent to retention BEFORE acquiring the foreign citizenship, and a minor who acquires a foreign citizenship by birth retains Georgian citizenship to age 18 (Art 21-1(3)).

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Common questions about Georgia citizenship

Short answers to the questions visitors most often ask. For a case-specific verdict, book a one-on-one assessment above.

Georgia citizenship by descent eligibility depends on your specific ancestor's birth date, place, and whether the citizenship line was broken (typically by naturalization elsewhere before your parent's birth). Each generation has its own rules under the laws in force at the time. Take our free 2-minute eligibility quiz for a preliminary assessment, or book a one-on-one verdict with a citizenship expert for a definitive answer.

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