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.)

• 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 him/her. - Effect on minors and family neutrality: a change in (or loss of) the citizenship of one or both spouses does not change the children's citizenship by operation of family relationship; changing a minor's citizenship requires a parental/representative application, and a 14-year-old minor's citizenship may be changed only with his/her consent (except in cases of loss).

• A presidential decree on renunciation takes effect on a deferred trigger keyed to avoiding statelessness: upon competent Georgian authorities receiving documents confirming the person has been granted foreign citizenship, or on the 15th day after signing the decree if the person holds a foreign-authority document confirming he/she will definitely be granted that country's citizenship upon renouncing Georgian citizenship. - Decision authority and appeal for termination: the President of Georgia makes the final decision on terminating citizenship (by decree for a positive decision, ordinance for a negative one). A decision of the President on terminating citizenship MAY be appealed in court (uniquely among presidential citizenship decisions), with the President acting as defendant. - A renunciation of Georgian citizenship follows a defined decision chain: the interested person submits the application, directly or through an authorised representative, to the LEPL Public Service Development Agency (PSDA) or to a Georgian diplomatic mission or consular office abroad (Art 22(1)); the Agency considers the matter and forwards its opinion on terminating citizenship to the President of Georgia for final decision (Art 24(9)); the final decision is made by the President (Art 25(1)), who issues a decree in the case of a positive decision (Art 25(2)); the time frame for considering and deciding shall not exceed three months (Art 26(1)). A renunciation may not be permitted where the person has unfulfilled military or other duties to Georgia or is accused of a crime / subject to an unexecuted final court decision (Art 20(2)). The Presidential decree on renunciation takes effect only on the statelessness-avoidance trigger in Art 20(3) — upon receipt by competent Georgian authorities of documents confirming the person has been granted foreign citizenship, or on the 15th day after signing the decree where the person holds a foreign competent authority's confirmation of guaranteed grant upon renunciation. Uniquely, a Presidential decision on terminating citizenship is the only citizenship decision that may be appealed in court, with the President as defendant (Art 29(1)). [Currency: per Constitutional Court Decision No 3/3/1601 (7 Mar 2025), a negative naturalisation/restoration/special-procedure refusal is NOW ALSO judicially appealable — the 'only' reflects Art 29(1) as originally enacted.]

Timeline: standard. Document burden: low. Required: none of residency/language/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 20(1), Art 25 (renunciation procedure + decree effective dates); Constitution Art 32(2). Operative 1993-03-25–present. Authority: Public Service Development Agency (PSDA); President of Georgia (grant/loss decree).