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.

• Ordinary (regular-procedure) naturalisation of an adult requires lawful residence in Georgia for the last 10 consecutive years up to the day of applying — the residence threshold was NOT cut to 5 years in 2024; 10 years remains the operative ordinary requirement.

• 'Continuous residence' for the naturalisation residence clock means residence in Georgia without spending a combined period of more than 90 days outside Georgia during a year, excluding absences of up to two years for education and treatment; a 'year' = 365 (366 in a leap year) consecutive days. - Regular-procedure naturalisation additionally requires (b) knowledge of the official Georgian language within established limits, (c) knowledge of the history of Georgia and basic principles of law within established limits, and (d) a job and/or real estate in Georgia or carrying on business / holding shares in a Georgian enterprise (economic-tie requirement). - A person who acquires citizenship through naturalisation (except the Art 12(2)/(3) exempt cases) must give an oath of allegiance to Georgia in the Georgian language and sign it before the grant takes full effect. [NB: Art 12(2) was deleted by Organic Law No 3400 of 20 Mar 2015; the only operative Art 8 oath exemption is the Art 12(3) disability case — the Art 8 cross-reference to 12(2) is a residual stale reference in the consolidated text.] - For grants other than the exceptional grant (Art 17), the President's decree granting citizenship takes effect only upon receipt by competent Georgian authorities of a document certifying the applicant's renunciation of the other country's citizenship — operationalising the single-citizenship default for ordinary/simplified/marriage/restoration applicants. - The substantive level ('limits') of the required knowledge of the official language and of the history of Georgia and basic principles of law is not set in the statute itself but delegated: for regular-procedure naturalisation Art 12(5) provides that those limits are 'determined under Article 28(1)', i.e. by a regulation approved by an ordinance of the Citizenship Commission. For the exceptional grant a SEPARATE standard applies: a homeland applicant under Art 17(2)(a) must, 'within the limits determined for granting citizenship of Georgia by way of exception', have knowledge of (a) the State language and (b) the history of Georgia and the basics of law (Art 17(3)). That exception-specific standard is expressly carved out of the Commission's ordinary ascertainment function: under Art 24(6) the Commission ascertains the conditions for the exceptional grant 'except for the conditions defined by the requirements provided for in Article 17(3)'. The general pre-application knowledge check (Art 24(6-1)) is administered by the Agency before the application is filed and is valid for 1 year (Art 24(6-3)); a person with a consistent physical/psychological/intellectual/sensory disorder is exempted by Commission decision (Art 24(6-2); Art 12(3); Art 17(4)). PRECISION NOTE: MoJ Order No 996 Art 2(1) lists the exceptional procedure ('საგამონაკლისო წესით') among the procedures whose knowledge is tested before application, which sits in apparent tension with the Art 24(6) carve-out of Art 17(3); the operative reconciliation (whether the Order-996 exam covers the Art 17(3) exceptional-grant standard or only the regular/simplified/special-procedure standard) is flagged for a precision review and is not resolved by inference. - The pre-application knowledge-exam service fee is set by MoJ order and statutorily capped: under Organic Law Art 24(6-4) the fee 'must not exceed the highest rate of a fee, fixed by the legislation of Georgia, payable in Georgia and effective on 7 June 2023, for the expedited service set in relation to the issue of granting citizenship of Georgia under regular procedure and for preparation of a relevant opinion'. MoJ Order No 996 Art 7(1) sets the figure within that ceiling: the first test is free, and each subsequent (re-)test costs GEL 40 domestically (Art 7(1)); under delegated consular authority abroad the first test is free and each subsequent test costs USD 15, payable in USD or local currency at the National Bank fixed rate (Art 7(2)).

• Since the 2023/2024 reform the language/history/basics-of-law examination is a PRE-APPLICATION step: the level of knowledge is checked before the citizenship application is submitted to the Agency (PSDA) or a Georgian diplomatic/consular mission; the test result is valid for 1 year. - The pre-application examination is electronic, comprising 10 test items per subject (30 total) drawn from the state language, history of Georgia and basics of law; each subject has 20 minutes and the candidate must score at least 7 of 10 per subject to pass. - Decision authority: PSDA (the Public Service Development Agency / 'the Agency') processes the application with the assistance of the 6-member Citizenship Commission; the President of Georgia makes the final decision to grant/retain/refuse/terminate (positive = decree, negative = ordinance). - The statutory time frame for considering and deciding a citizenship application/notification is no more than 3 months; after a negative naturalisation decision the applicant may re-apply on the same grounds 6 months later. - On filing a citizenship application the applicant pays a service fee set by the Government of Georgia under the procedure prescribed by it (Art 27); in the case of restoration the service fee is refunded where the citizenship had been terminated unlawfully. The exact GEL fee schedule is set by Government ordinance (administrative figure), not by the Organic Law. - The pre-application knowledge examination (MoJ Order No 996 of 30 Apr 2024, in force 1 May 2024) is administered as an electronic test booked through the PSDA Civil Registry's citizenship/migration electronic management system: the candidate registers in person or via a representative at PSDA, a Justice House, or a Georgian diplomatic/consular office (Art 3(2)) and selects a slot from free times available within 2 months of registration, and may reschedule no later than 48 hours before the test (Art 3(6)). Each subject presents 10 items (30 total) with 4 options each, one correct (Art 4(1)); 20 minutes per subject (Art 4(2)); a pass requires at least 7 of 10 in each subject (Art 4(4)). A candidate may appeal the result to a Claims Commission (of at least 3 PSDA members) by lodging a claim within 3 working days of being notified (Art 9(1),(3)); the Claims Commission decides within 10 working days (Art 9(6)); where the result is annulled, a re-test is held within 15 working days free of charge (Art 9(8)). The fee is non-refundable on a no-show or removal from the test room (Art 7(5)). A successful result is valid for 1 year (Art 8).

Timeline: standard, ~3 months. Document burden: high. Required: residency, language, physical presence, renunciation.

• The citizenship service fee is fixed by Government of Georgia ordinance under Art 27(1) of the Organic Law and varies by processing-speed tier (the gazetted schedule is Government Decree No 508 of 29 Dec 2011, citizenship items as amended by Resolution No 217 of 21 Apr 2022, in force 1 May 2022). For regular-, simplified- and special-procedure naturalisation (Decree 508 item 15: GE-NAT-01, GE-NAT-02, GE-SPC-01) the fee is GEL 65 at the 80-calendar-day tier, GEL 130 at 60 days, GEL 260 at 40 days and GEL 390 at 20 days; a stateless person having a status in Georgia is exempt from the 80-day-tier fee for regular-procedure naturalisation (Decree 508 Art 1(6) inserting item 6-2). Marriage-based simplified naturalisation (GE-MAR-01) takes the same item-15 band. Restoration (GE-RST-01, item 18) is GEL 130 at 30 days and GEL 195 at 20 days; the temporary-right restoration track (item 20-1) is GEL 325 / 455 / 650. Exceptional grant (GE-SPC-01 in its exceptional mode, item 20) is GEL 500 / 700 / 1,000, and retention (item 20-2) is likewise GEL 500 / 700 / 1,000. Renunciation (GE-XCT-01, item 16, 'exit from citizenship') is GEL 130 at 30 days, GEL 260 at 20 days and GEL 390 at 10 days. Establishment of citizenship / legal-bond determination (GE-HIS-01, item 19) is free at the 15-day tier, GEL 40 at 5 days, GEL 65 at 3 days and GEL 100 same-day, with the Abkhazia/Tskhinvali establishment track (item 19-1) free at 30 days then GEL 40 / 65 / 100. The compatriot-status fee (item 40) is GEL 65 (80-day) / GEL 130 (70-day). Under Art 27(2) the restoration fee is refunded where the prior termination of citizenship was unlawful. Consular (delegated-authority) tracks are denominated in USD (Decree 508 Art 1(4) amending item-set 4).

Primary statute: Organic Law Art 12(1); Art 2(c) (continuous residence = ≤90 days/yr absence); MoJ Order No 996 (exam pre-application, EIF 1 May 2024). Operative 2014-05-27–present. Authority: Public Service Development Agency (PSDA); President of Georgia (grant/loss decree).

• Georgia has NO standalone statutory citizenship-by-investment (priced CBI) programme; an investor may obtain citizenship only via the discretionary presidential exceptional grant (Art 17), where substantial investment in the state economy is one of the 'state interest' factors the President may weigh — it is a merit/interest-based exception, not a fee-for-citizenship statute. - There is NO military-service-linked acquisition of Georgian citizenship in the Organic Law; the only military references are in the loss/renunciation regime (joining a foreign country's military/police without permission is a LOSS ground under Art 21(1)(a); unfulfilled military duties bar renunciation under Art 20(2)(a)). No naturalisation route is conferred by service in the Georgian armed forces.