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Permanent residence: how it differs from temporary

The difference between temporary and permanent status is not length but nature. A temporary permit is issued for a basis and lives as long as that basis does. Permanent status no longer depends on any particular basis - which is exactly why the conditions for obtaining it are stricter, and why the qualifying time accrues differently from how most people assume.

The essential difference

Temporary status is tied to a basis: work, study, family reunification, property. Lose the basis and the status is in question. Every renewal is a fresh confirmation that the basis still holds.

Permanent status does not require the basis to be proved again. It is more stable and gives more independence. Correspondingly, the requirements for obtaining it are higher: the law sets a period of lawful residence that has to be accumulated, along with further conditions.

Not every year counts

This is what people most often learn too late, and what costs them years. Simply being in the country lawfully does not mean the period counts towards permanent status. Certain kinds of status do not count - and someone who diligently renewed their papers for several years discovers they have accumulated nothing.

Which bases count and which do not is set by legislation, and these rules change. We will not list them in reference material: a mistake here is too expensive, and checking on the date of the enquiry takes very little time.

The practical conclusion matters more than the list: if permanent status is part of your plans, the basis for the temporary one is chosen with that in mind from the very start. Switching it in year three, on discovering that the first two do not count, is time lost.

What interrupts the accumulation

Besides the kind of basis, continuity of residence affects the count. What matters:

• Long absences. The law sets out how much absence is permissible without losing what has accrued, and how much breaks it.
• Gaps between statuses. The period when the previous status has ended and the new one has not yet been granted may not count - even if you were formally in the country lawfully on another footing.
• Changing the basis does not in itself reset the count, but the outcome depends on whether both bases qualify.

Hence a recommendation that sounds dull and saves more than any other: keep a record of entries, exits and statuses from day one. Reconstructing it five years later from stamps in passports, some of which have since been replaced, is a job of its own.

Further conditions

Besides the residence period, the law usually imposes other requirements: that your stay was lawful throughout, that certain circumstances are absent, that a connection with the country can be shown. What the conditions are and how they are evidenced is set by legislation and secondary rules and checked on the date of filing.

Permanent status and citizenship

These are different things, and the second does not follow automatically from the first. Permanent status is a right to reside; citizenship is a legal bond with the state, with its own procedure, its own requirements and its own decision. Citizenship also almost always engages the law of your current country: some allow a second citizenship, some do not. That question is settled by that country's rules, not by Georgian law.

If there is a gap in your record

Finding that part of the period does not count is unwelcome, but it is not always a dead end. The next step is to work out which periods do count, whether the basis can be changed so that accumulation continues, and what yields the most from where you stand now. The answer depends on the actual chronology, which is precisely why that gets reconstructed first.

What to prepare for the consultation

• Every international passport covering the period of residence, including replaced ones.
• A chronology of entries and exits with dates.
• Every status held: type, basis, start and end dates.
• Details of any gaps between statuses.
• The documents for each basis on which a status was granted.
• Details of long absences from the country and how long they lasted.
• Any previous refusals and the decisions on them.
• Your plans: whether you want permanent status or citizenship.

Disclaimer. This material is for reference, sets out the general procedure and is not legal advice. It has been prepared without regard to the circumstances of any particular matter and cannot serve as a basis for decisions on filing documents, entering transactions or taking other legally significant steps. Reading it or relying on it does not create a lawyer-client relationship. Document requirements, fee levels and time limits are set by Georgian legislation and secondary rules; the law and the practice of applying it change, so the currency of any information is checked on the date of the enquiry. Decisions in state procedures are taken by the competent authority, and no outcome can be guaranteed.