Criminal Cases and Immigration Status in Georgia

Identify the criminal status and immigration status separately

Record the person’s visa-free or visa basis, residence-permit type and expiry, application status and travel documents alongside the arrest, charge, restraint measure, judgment and sentence. The same event may have different consequences at different stages.

Residence-permit applications and renewals

Article 18 of the Law on the Legal Status of Aliens and Stateless Persons permits refusal of a residence permit on defined public-safety, prosecution, wanted-person and conviction grounds. The applicable wording, offence classification, finality of any judgment and criminal-record status must be checked as of the application date.

A pending residence application does not prevent the criminal case from progressing. Equally, the defence should not assume that an acquittal, dismissal or expungement will update the immigration file automatically; obtain the final decision and submit the correct record through the appropriate procedure.

Departure and travel restrictions

Article 49 addresses circumstances in which an alien may be denied exit, including a court restriction and an uncompleted criminal sentence. A passport retained as evidence, a restraint condition and a formal restriction on departure are not interchangeable. Obtain the authorising decision and challenge the correct instrument.

Expulsion after or alongside criminal proceedings

Article 51 sets out grounds for expulsion, including absence of a lawful basis to remain, public-safety or legal-order concerns, repeated legal breaches and defined sentence-related situations. The law also addresses suspension of expulsion proceedings while criminal prosecution or extradition is active.

Expulsion involves a separate administrative or court process. The decision should identify its legal basis, voluntary-departure position, enforcement consequences and review route. Article 56 provides a short court appeal period from service, so every page and proof of delivery should be preserved immediately.

Entry bans and consequences abroad

A Georgian expulsion decision may include or lead to an entry restriction under the applicable law. A Georgian arrest or conviction may also need to be disclosed in a foreign visa, residence, citizenship, professional or background-check process, but those consequences are governed by the foreign jurisdiction. Georgian counsel can provide certified case documents and procedural explanations; foreign counsel should advise on the receiving country’s rules.

Documents to preserve

• Passport, visa, entry stamp, border record and residence card
• Residence application, renewal receipt and all Agency correspondence
• Arrest record, indictment, restraint ruling and any passport-surrender document
• Judgment, appeal status, sentence information and criminal-record certificate
• Expulsion, departure, entry-ban or public-safety decision and proof of service
• Family, employment, business, medical and dependency evidence relevant to proportionality
• Certified translations and foreign-law advice where another country’s status is affected

Coordinated response

What Georgian counsel can do

Counsel can obtain the criminal record, challenge arrest or restraint, protect the appeal position, analyse the residence or expulsion document, coordinate certified court materials and ensure that statements in the criminal and immigration files do not become inconsistent.