Employer of Record in Georgia: A Comprehensive Guide for 2026

Introduction

The Labour Code of Georgia governs every employment relationship, requiring a written agreement once the relationship runs past one month, a flat 20% income tax withheld at source, and mandatory pension enrolment for every employee.

Georgia's tax code creates a problem before any of that applies. A local professional can register as an Individual Entrepreneur and pay 1% on turnover, so many prefer to invoice rather than be employed. Accept that for a role you direct daily, and a court can later read it as employment, with retroactive tax, unpaid pension contributions, accrued leave, and a reinstatement claim attached.

An Employer of Record (EOR) in Georgia settles that question at the start. The EOR employs the person through its own registered entity, issues the written agreement the Code requires, files monthly with the Revenue Service, and carries the classification risk instead of your company.

This guide covers agreement types, statutory leave, contractor classification, termination grounds and severance, the 2026 work permit rules, payroll, and incorporation.

Georgia at a glance

• Population: 3.8 million
• Currency: Georgian Lari (GEL)
• Capital: Tbilisi
• Languages: Georgian, Abkhazian (official in the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia), and several minority languages are spoken across the country.
• GDP: 30.54 billion

How does employment regulation work in Georgia?

The labor laws in Georgia are governed by the Labour Code of Georgia, which sets statutory floors on working time, leave, notice, and severance. A contract can improve on those terms and cannot go below them.

What are the types of employment contracts in Georgia?

Georgian law recognises indefinite and fixed-term agreements. An employment agreement may be oral or written, though it shall be concluded in writing if the labour relationship lasts longer than 1 month, which effectively covers every commercial hire.

Indefinite agreements have no end date and are the default. Fixed-term agreements are restricted: unless the duration is 1 year or longer, a fixed term is only permitted where a specific circumstance justifies it, such as seasonal work, a temporary increase in workload, or covering an absent employee.

A fixed term running more than 30 months, or consecutive fixed terms totalling more than 30 months, is deemed to have been concluded as indefinite. The same applies where a fixed term is used without a justifying circumstance.

A written agreement is concluded in a language understandable to the parties, so an English contract is valid where both sides read English.

What are the employment entitlements in Georgia?

Maternity, parental, and newborn adoption leave is paid from the State Budget of Georgia rather than by the employer, though employers and employees may agree to additional pay.

A written agreement is required once labour relations run past one month, and a fixed term used without a justifying circumstance converts to indefinite. What follows the agreement is heavier than the agreement itself: 24 working days of annual leave with carry-over limits, 126 or 143 days of maternity leave, 604 days of parental leave, 550 for newborn adoption, and no statutory sick pay unless you wrote it into the contract yourself.

Skuad's Manage platform helps you keep the agreement and everything that runs off it in one place, supporting employment contract generation across 160+ countries aligned with local labor laws and statutory requirements. Leave tracking, contract amendments, renewals, and probation records stay with employee documentation, and onboarding workflows help get the required elements in before day one.

What are the Georgian public holidays in 2026?

Georgia observes 18 public holidays in 2026, five of which fall on a weekend. The Easter cluster moves each year, since Georgia follows the Orthodox calendar.

Georgia has no automatic substitute day where a holiday falls on a weekend, though the government can add days off by an ordinance of the Government of Georgia, usually announced shortly before. Work performed on a holiday shall be deemed overtime work and is compensated accordingly.

What is the difference between contractors and full-time employees in Georgia?

An employment relationship is governed by labour law and exists when an employee works under an employer’s direction and organised working conditions in return for pay. A contractor provides services under a commercial agreement governed by the Civil Code and controls how the work is performed.

Contractors suit defined project scopes, specialist input, and short engagements. Employment is the right structure for ongoing roles you direct day-to-day.

Georgia makes contracting unusually attractive on the contractor's side. An individual can register as an Individual Entrepreneur and apply for small business status, which means annual turnover of less than GEL 500,000 taxed at 1% on their turnover, against the standard 20% on employment income.

Many Georgian professionals prefer to invoice for this reason, which is worth knowing before you assume a contractor arrangement is your idea.

If a contractor is engaged on paper but works under your direction, on your schedule, and integrated into your team, the relationship can be treated as labour relations regardless of what the agreement says.

The consequences attach retroactively: unpaid income tax and pension contributions, accrued leave, and on exit, the full termination procedure. A court finding the dismissal unlawful can reinstate the person, order an equal job, or award compensation in the amount determined by the court, plus compensation for lost earnings running from the termination date to the final judgment.

Post-termination restrictions also carry a price, since a non-compete may run 6 more months after terminating labour relations only if the employer keeps paying remuneration through it.

Georgia's tax code makes invoicing attractive from the worker's side, so the contractor arrangement is often their preference rather than your decision. That does not change what happens if the relationship is later read as employment: retroactive income tax and pension contributions, accrued leave, and a dismissal a court can void with reinstatement, an equal role, or lost earnings running from the exit date to final judgment.

Skuad supports both hiring models from a single platform:

EOR for full-time employees

• Acts as the legal employer across 160+ countries, so you can hire without setting up a local entity
• Supports employment contract generation aligned with local labor laws across supported markets
• Facilitates statutory contribution workflows covering applicable pension and social obligations
• Supports payroll processing in 70+ currencies with tax withholding and statutory deductions
• Helps administer statutory benefits, paid leave, and parental entitlements in line with local requirements
• Assists with termination and offboarding, including notice periods and severance calculations as required locally

Contractor management

• Helps onboard contractors with locally compliant agreements that reduce misclassification exposure
• Supports invoice generation, approval workflows, and payment processing
• Helps flag classification risk early with built-in worker classification checks
• Facilitates multi-currency payouts across 70+ currencies
• Helps maintain contractor records, agreements, and payment history alongside full-time employees in one dashboard

Full-time or contractor, Skuad supports both. Compare pricing for your Georgia hires.

What are the key things to know about hiring in Georgia?

If you want to hire employees in Georgia, you can work with a local recruitment agency, set up your own entity with an HR function, or hire through an EOR that already holds a Georgian entity. Most employers in Georgia advertise their job openings on websites and portals, such as:

• Jobs.ge
• HR.ge
• MyJobs.ge
• LinkedIn

The Labour Code sets limits on pre-employment screening. An employer may obtain information about a job candidate, except for information which is not related to the performance of the job, and may verify the accuracy of information submitted by job candidates. Background checks covering criminal records, references, and credentials are permitted on that basis.

What are the data protection rules when handling candidate data?

Candidate CVs, ID copies, and background check results are personal data under the Law of Georgia on Personal Data Protection. If you already run General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) processes, the obligations will look familiar.

The Personal Data Protection Service enforces the law and can inspect and fine for a first violation, with penalties scaled to turnover. Hiring through an EOR puts these obligations on a party that already holds the registration and processes.

Screening is permitted in Georgia only where it relates to performance of the job, and the CVs, ID copies, and results you collect are personal data the enforcement body can inspect and fine you for on a first violation.

Skuad supports background checks as part of the hiring workflow, covering identity verification, employment history, criminal records, and education credentials, so you have a clearer picture of who you are onboarding before agreements are signed.

What are the probation and termination rules in Georgia?

Georgia gives employers more flexibility than most of the region, with a six-month trial period and a short-notice dismissal route. The trade-off is a closed list of lawful grounds and mandatory severance.

What is the probation period in Georgia?

To ensure that the employee is well-suited for the job that they are hired for, employers can, with mutual agreement, add a probationary period to a Georgian employment contract. The Code sets no default length, and a trial period cannot exceed 6 months.

A trial agreement shall be concluded only in writing. It may be concluded only once with the same person, so a failed trial cannot be rerun for a different role. The work performed during a trial period shall be paid for at a rate agreed by the parties.

During the trial, the employer may at any time either convert the arrangement into a full employment agreement or end it. The requirements of Article 48 do not apply, so no notice, no severance, and no written substantiation are owed. The employee is remunerated in proportion to the time worked.

How does termination of employment work in Georgia?

Terminating labour relations is inadmissible on grounds other than those referred to in the Code, so a dismissal that does not map to one of these is unlawful regardless of how reasonable it was.

• Economic circumstances, and/or technological or organisational changes requiring downsizing
• The expiry of an employment agreement or the completion of the work under it
• The voluntary resignation of an employee on a written application
• A written agreement between parties
• The incompatibility of an employee's qualifications or professional skills with the position held
• The gross violation by an employee of his/her obligations under the contract or internal regulations
• A further violation where a disciplinary step has already been taken against the employee during the last year
• Long-term incapacity for work, where the period exceeds 40 consecutive calendar days, or the total incapacity period exceeds 60 calendar days within a period of 6 months, and the employee has already used his/her leave
• The entry into force of a court judgment precluding performance of the work
• The death of an employer who is a natural person, or of an employee
• The initiation of liquidation proceedings against an employer who is a legal person
• Other objective circumstances, which the employer must substantiate in writing

Termination is also blocked during protected periods, including from the point a pregnant employee notifies the employer, during military or reserve service, and while serving on a jury, except on grounds such as expiry, resignation, mutual agreement, or gross violation.

What notice and severance apply?

Where the employer terminates on economic grounds, qualification incompatibility, long-term incapacity, or other objective circumstances, the Code offers two routes:

What happens if the employee challenges the dismissal?

The employee has 30 calendar days to request written substantiation of the grounds, and the employer has 7 calendar days to provide it. Missing that deadline shifts the burden of proof onto the employer if the matter reaches court. Where a court voids the termination, it may order the employer to reinstate the person, provide an equal job, or pay compensation in the amount determined by the court.

The employee may additionally claim compensation for lost earnings covering the full period from termination to final judgment, which is the exposure that makes documentation worth the effort.

Cutting 10 or more employees in a company of 20 to 100 staff, or 10% of the workforce in a company above 100, within 30 days counts as a collective redundancy. This triggers consultation with employee representatives and 45 calendar days' written notice to the Minister before the redundancies take effect.

The lawful grounds for dismissal in Georgia are a closed list, so a termination that does not map to one of them is unlawful regardless of how reasonable the decision was.

Written substantiation is due within 7 calendar days of a request; missing that deadline shifts the burden of proof onto you, and a court that voids the termination can order reinstatement, an equal role, or lost earnings covering every month from the exit to final judgment.

Skuad helps with employment risk and compliance monitoring through the Shield platform, so your team has support tracking procedural requirements.

Here is what Skuad helps with:

• Termination and offboarding support aligned with local labor requirements across supported markets
• Notice period and severance calculation support based on applicable local rules
• Documentation support across the exit process, including written notice and evaluation records
• Ongoing monitoring of regulatory changes across supported markets
• Worker classification checks that help surface misclassification exposure before it escalates

Exits are where procedural mistakes turn expensive, and having the process documented from the start reduces that exposure.

Why use an EOR in Georgia for hiring?

An Employer of Record already holds a Georgian entity and employs your hire on your behalf. You direct the work; the EOR carries the legal employer obligations.

Registration through the National Agency of Public Registry (NAPR) is fast; there are no social security contributions in Georgia. The administrative case for an EOR is weaker here than in most markets. What remains is employment law exposure, which is where Georgia is stricter than its tax system suggests.

What are the benefits of hiring through an EOR in Georgia?

• No entity, no local infrastructure: Employing directly means NAPR registration, a Georgian bank account, and monthly Revenue Service filings. An EOR removes all three.
• Pension enrolment handled at source: Joining a pension scheme is mandatory for all employees, with the employer running both its 2% and the employee's 2% through payroll monthly.
• Compliant contracts from day one: A written agreement is required if labour relations last longer than 1 month and must carry the statutory essential terms. An EOR issues them correctly.
• Termination risk carried by the EOR: Dismissal is inadmissible on grounds other than those referred to in the Code, and getting it wrong exposes you to reinstatement and lost earnings.
• Employee data handled by an established controller: The 2023 data protection law covers collecting, storing, sharing, disclosing and erasing employee data. An EOR already holds the processes.

Georgia's registration process is quick; there is no minimum capital barrier for a standard Limited Liability Company (LLC), and the ongoing tax burden on employers is light.

If you are hiring more than a handful of people, need to contract locally, bill Georgian customers, or want access to the Virtual Zone and small business regimes, your own entity is worth the overhead. An EOR fits best for testing the market, a first hire or two, or a distributed team where Georgia is one country among several.

Skuad acts as the legal employer across 160+ countries, so your company can hire, onboard, and pay employees without entity setup.

Here is what Skuad helps with:

• Employment contract generation across 160+ countries, aligned with local labor laws and statutory requirements
• Statutory contribution workflows across supported markets, covering applicable pension and social obligations
• Payroll processing in 70+ currencies with tax withholding and statutory deductions
• Work permit and visa support for foreign nationals joining your team
• Termination and offboarding support aligned with local labor requirements across supported markets
• Background verification covering identity, employment history, and criminal records before onboarding

What are the types of visas in Georgia?

The Georgian government issues five categories of visa: diplomatic (A), special (B), ordinary (C), immigration (D), and transit (T). For commercial hiring, three sub-types matter.

A short-term ordinary visa allows business travel without work authorisation. A long-term immigration visa is the route for someone taking up employment, and it is the gateway to a residence permit.

Nationals of many countries enter Georgia visa-free for up to a year, so check whether your hire needs a visa at all before starting an application. A person may not hold more than one valid visa, so a C3 cannot run alongside a D1.

What is the work permit process in Georgia?

Georgia introduced a mandatory work permit on 1 March 2026, replacing a system where a long-term visa was enough. Changes to the Law on Labor Migration now require a separate authorisation called the "right to work" before a foreign national performs paid work. Visa-free entry, which many nationalities enjoy for up to a year, no longer confers the right to work.

Who applies for the right to work in Georgia?

The employer does, and authorisation is approved by the LEPL State Employment Support Agency (Legal Entity under Public Law SESA) and obtained by the local employer or by the self-employed foreigner. This is the practical shift for anyone hiring in Georgia: the obligation sits with the Georgian employing entity, so a company without one cannot sponsor at all.

Authorisation is tied to a specific employer and a specific position, meaning a change of role or employer requires a fresh application.

What are the steps and how long does it take?

1. The employer applies for the right to work through the Ministry's labour migration portal. A signed employment contract is required.
2. The employee secures entry status. From outside Georgia, you must apply for a D1 work visa for entry; from inside, a work residence permit application follows.
3. Both conditions must be satisfied simultaneously. Neither the permit nor the visa works alone.

Authorisation is tied to one employer and one position, so a role change restarts it; the permit and the entry status both have to be in place at the same time, and working without authorisation carries a 2,000 GEL fine that falls on the employer as well as the worker.

Skuad's global immigration platform helps support work permit and visa applications for foreign nationals joining your team, so your HR team has support across the process. Here is what Skuad helps with:

• Helping coordinate visa documentation with relevant local immigration authorities
• Assisting with residence or work permit conversions as required by local immigration law
• Helping track documentation requirements and deadlines across the full permit lifecycle
• Helping keep your team aligned with requirements as permits come up for renewal

How do payroll and taxes work in Georgia?

Georgia runs one of the simpler payroll systems in the region. Employers withhold a flat 20% income tax at source and pay pension contributions, and there is nothing else stacked on top. There are no social security contributions in Georgia, no unemployment fund, and no health levy.

Employers file and remit monthly through the Revenue Service portal, reported as due by the 15th of the following month.

What are the payroll tax rates in Georgia?

Employer cost in Georgia is 2% of gross salary on top of pay, which reads simple until you are comparing Georgia against three other markets in the same hiring plan and each one carries a different contribution base. Skuad helps you model total employment cost across supported markets using the employee cost calculator.

Estimate your total cost of hiring in Georgia.

Joining a pension scheme is mandatory for all employees since 1 January 2019, with two exceptions: individuals who have been 60 years of age (55 years of age in case of women) before the enactment of the law, and self-employed individuals, who may join voluntarily at 4%.

No state contribution applies above GEL 60,000 of annual income. Employee health benefits in Georgia are not mandatory by law, so private cover is a competitive choice rather than a compliance one.

What other taxes apply to employers in Georgia?

• Corporate Income Tax (CIT): Flat 15%, charged only on distribution
• Value-Added Tax (VAT): 18%

Georgia's corporate tax works differently from most systems. Since 2017, it has followed the Estonian model of CIT, under which retained profits are no longer taxable until they are distributed, so a company reinvesting its profits pays no corporate tax at all. A 20% CIT rate applies to commercial banks, credit unions, microfinance organisations, and loan providers.

Neither corporate tax nor VAT arises when hiring through an EOR, since the EOR's entity carries them.

How to set up a subsidiary in Georgia?

The most popular structure for a subsidiary in Georgia is the limited liability company (LLC). Registration runs through the National Agency of Public Registry, a legal entity of public law under the Ministry of Justice.

Georgia registers companies faster than almost anywhere. NAPR's published schedule sets company registration at 1 working day - 200 GEL, or on the day of filing the application - 400 GEL for same-day processing.

What are the steps to incorporate a subsidiary in Georgia?

1. Prepare the charter and shareholder documents. A foreign parent supplies its own incorporation certificate and constitutional documents, with translation into Georgian.
2. Provide a registered Georgian address and appoint a director.
3. File with NAPR. All the required supporting documents as well as the form of application must be submitted and become publicly available on the register. Signature certification, where needed, is immediately - 7 GEL.
4. Collect the registration certificate. Georgian entities receive a nine-digit identification code that also serves as the tax identification number. An English-language extract is prepared together with any service and an additional fee of 26 GEL, which banks and foreign authorities usually ask for.
5. Open a Georgian bank account. This is typically the slowest step, since banks run their own onboarding checks independent of NAPR.
6. Register for tax and enrol employees. Corporate tax applies only on distribution under the Estonian model, and joining a pension scheme is mandatory for all employees, so payroll enrolment follows immediately.

Registration in Georgia takes a day and costs 200 GEL, but the entity that comes out of it still needs a Georgian bank account, monthly Revenue Service filings, pension enrolment for every employee, and a director on file.

For teams that want to hire in Georgia without that commitment, Skuad acts as the legal employer, so you can onboard employees without incorporating a local entity first.

What is a Professional Employer Organization (PEO) in Georgia?

A PEO handles payroll, benefits administration, and HR compliance for your Georgian employees while the employment contract stays between you and the employee. An EOR employs the person through its own Georgian entity, so the employment relationship sits with the EOR rather than with you.

What is the difference between a PEO and an EOR in Georgia?

A PEO only works if you already have a Georgian entity, since your company stays the legal employer. That means pension enrolment, which is mandatory for all employees, stays your obligation, as does the work permit process for foreign hires. Dismissal exposure stays with you too, and termination is inadmissible on grounds other than those referred to in the Labour Code.

Georgia's employment rules are stricter than its tax and registration systems suggest. For most companies hiring their first employees in Georgia, an EOR is the better fit, since it takes on the employment liability that comes with being the legal employer.

Employer of Record in Georgia: hire without an entity

Georgia's numbers make the country look easier than it is. Income tax is flat, employer contributions are among the lightest in the region, corporate tax only applies when profits are distributed, and a company can be registered in a working day.

The Labour Code is where the story changes. Dismissal grounds are a closed list, so a termination that does not map to one of them is unlawful no matter how sound the business reason was, and a court that voids it can order reinstatement plus lost earnings running from the exit date to final judgment. Since March 2026, foreign hires also need a work permit that only a Georgian employing entity can apply for.

An Employer of Record in Georgia carries all of that as the legal employer. Skuad acts as the legal employer across 160+ countries, helping you issue compliant agreements, process payroll in 70+ currencies with the right deductions applied, support work permit applications, and document exits properly.

The next step is to decide whether Georgia is a market you are testing or building in, since that answer usually settles the entity question.

Book a demo to see how Skuad supports your first Georgia hire.

FAQs

1. What is an Employer of Record in Georgia?

An employer of record in Georgia is a provider that holds a Georgian entity and acts as the legal employer under the Labour Code of Georgia. It issues the written agreement, withholds the flat 20% income tax, files monthly with the Revenue Service, and runs pension enrolment.

2. How much does an Employer of Record in Georgia cost?

Pricing generally runs as a flat monthly fee per employee, charged on top of salary and statutory costs. Employer contributions in Georgia are unusually light at 2% of salary for pension, with no social security levy, so the provider fee typically dominates the total.

3. Can a foreign company hire in Georgia without a local entity?

Foreign companies can typically hire through an EOR without registering, since the provider holds the employment relationship. Direct hiring generally requires NAPR registration, a Georgian bank account, and monthly Revenue Service filings, and since March 2026, only a Georgian entity can sponsor a foreign hire's work authorisation.

4. What happens if a contractor is reclassified as an employee in Georgia?

Reclassification generally attaches retroactively, pulling in unpaid income tax at 20%, pension contributions, and accrued leave. Because Individual Entrepreneur status taxes turnover at 1%, many Georgian professionals prefer invoicing, so the arrangement often originates with the worker rather than the hiring company.

5. What is the difference between an EOR and a PEO in Georgia?

A PEO usually administers payroll while your company remains the legal employer, so you need a Georgian entity first. An EOR generally employs the person through its own entity, meaning Revenue Service filings, pension enrolment, and dismissal exposure sit with the provider instead.

6. How long does it take to onboard an employee in Georgia through an EOR?

Onboarding typically takes one to two weeks, covering agreement drafting, review, and pension scheme registration. Foreign nationals usually take longer, since work authorisation through the State Employment Support Agency became mandatory on 1 March 2026 and must be in place alongside entry status.