How to Get Married in Georgia as a Foreigner (Complete Guide)

Georgia (the country) lets two foreigners marry with no residency rule and no waiting period. Bring your passports and two witnesses to a Public Service Hall and you can register the day you apply, free of charge if you skip the ceremony. This guide covers who can marry, the documents, where to register in Tbilisi, the fees, the apostille that makes the certificate count at home, and a 3-day plan for couples flying in.

Quick Summary:

• Any man and woman aged 18 or over can marry in Georgia, whatever their nationalities or religions, as long as neither is already married and both are in the country legally.

• You need both passports, proof of lawful stay, 2 adult witnesses with ID, and an apostilled or legalized divorce or death certificate if either of you was married before.

• Registration without a ceremony at a Public Service Hall is free, a ceremony costs GEL 75 at a Public Service Hall or GEL 135 to 225 at a Wedding House, and the registrar comes to a venue of your choice for GEL 255.

• There is no waiting period: you can register the day you apply or on any date within the 2 months an application stays valid.

• To use the certificate abroad you need an apostille for GEL 30 to 150, depending on speed, or embassy legalization for countries such as the UAE, Qatar and Kuwait.

• Both of you must attend in person, because Georgia has no online or proxy marriage and does not register same-sex couples.

Can Foreigners Get Married in Georgia?

Yes, and on the same terms as Georgians. The law asks four things of every couple: both partners are 18 or older, they are a man and a woman, neither is married to someone else, and they are not close relatives. It does not ask about nationality, religion or where you live, so a Brazilian and a Pakistani, or two Germans on holiday, register exactly as a local couple would.

Foreigners have one extra condition: you must be in Georgia legally on the day. The entry stamp, visa or residence card you are here on is the proof, and no minimum stay comes with it. A couple can land in the morning and register that afternoon.

There are two things Georgia does not do. It does not register same-sex couples, and a same-sex marriage from abroad has no legal force here. It also has no online or proxy marriage: a representative can file your application with a notarized power of attorney, but both partners and both witnesses have to be in the room to sign.

The minimum age of 18 has no exceptions. The court route for 16 and 17 year olds was abolished in 2016, and the last transitional cases ended on 1 January 2017.

Getting Into Georgia

Many couples need no visa at all. Citizens of more than 90 countries, including every EU state, the UK and the US, can stay up to a full year visa-free. If your passport is not on that list but you hold a valid visa or residence permit from one of 50 listed countries, among them all six Gulf states, the Schengen states, the UK and the US, you can stay 90 days in any 180.

Gulf residents from 17 countries, including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria and Morocco, have an extra rule since 16 May 2025: the Gulf residence permit or multiple-entry visa you enter on needs at least 1 year of validity left on the day you arrive. Everyone else applies through the e-visa portal, which charges USD 20 plus a 2% service fee and decides in about 5 working days.

Documents You Need to Get Married in Georgia

The official list from the Public Service Development Agency is short. You fill in and sign the joint application at the counter, so everything you bring is either identity or proof that nothing stands in the way.

A certificate of no impediment is not on the list. You declare your status in the application, and the registrar explains the legal bars to marriage before you sign. Your home country may still ask for one when you register the marriage there, which is a question for your own embassy rather than the Georgian registry.

Georgia has no sworn translators. A translator with a diploma translates the document and a notary certifies the translator's signature, which costs GEL 6 for a one-page document plus GEL 5 to enter it in the notarial register, before VAT. The translator's own fee comes on top.

Watch out: only the country that issued your divorce decree or a former spouse's death certificate can apostille or legalize it. If it arrives in Georgia without that stamp, the registry cannot accept it, and nothing done in Tbilisi fixes it.

Where to Get Married in Georgia

Any Public Service Hall in the country registers marriages, and Rustavi, Sighnaghi and Kutaisi each have a Wedding House for ceremonies. In Tbilisi the choice looks like this.

The Central branch is the riverside building with the mushroom-shaped roofs, and it is the only one of the three Public Service Halls that opens at weekends. The legal result is identical in every row. A civil registration is the only thing that creates a marriage in Georgia, so a church wedding or religious blessing can follow it but adds nothing in law.

Weekends and Public Holidays

The free registration without a ceremony runs on weekdays only. If your one free day is a Saturday or Sunday, your options in Tbilisi are the ceremony at the Central Public Service Hall for GEL 75 or a Wedding House for GEL 225. On the coast, Batumi's No. 1 Public Service Hall keeps the same weekend hours.

Public Service Halls close on Georgian public holidays. The Wedding Houses stay open on most of them, except 1 and 2 January, 7 January and the four days of Orthodox Easter, from Good Friday to Easter Monday.

How to Get Married in Georgia, Step by Step

1. Check your documents before you book flights. Both passports should show your names in Latin letters, and a divorce or death certificate needs its apostille or legalization from the issuing country.

2. Enter Georgia legally and keep the proof. The registrar checks the entry stamp, visa or residence card of each foreign partner.

3. Get translations certified. A foreign divorce decree, or a passport without Latin letters, needs a Georgian translation certified by a notary in Georgia.

4. Line up two witnesses. They need to be adults with full legal capacity and bring a passport or ID card. No rule says they must be Georgian.

5. Apply at a Public Service Hall. You both sign the joint application. You can register the same day or on any date within 2 months, which is how long an application stays valid. A ceremony booked online takes 50% of the fee within an hour of confirmation and the rest when your application is registered.

6. Register. The registrar explains the legal bars to marriage, and then you, your partner and both witnesses each read the marriage record and sign it.

7. Ask for the paper certificate. Certificates have been issued electronically since 1 June 2021, and a paper copy is issued on request. The paper copy is the one you legalize and carry home.

8. Order the apostille or legalization. Any Public Service Hall does it, so you can order it on the same visit.

There is no express fee for marrying fast, because the day you apply is the normal registration day. The one limit is capacity: an office with too many applications that day can turn down a same-day registration.

Tip: apply on a weekday morning. Same-day registration depends on how busy the office is, and an early application gives the registrar the whole day to fit you in.

Choosing Your Surnames

You choose surnames in the same sitting, and the options are the same for husband and wife. You can each keep your own, both take one partner's surname, or combine your surname with your spouse's, unless either surname already has 2 parts. Georgia records the choice on the certificate, but your passport keeps its old name until your own country issues a new one from the legalized certificate.

A 3-Day Plan for Couples Flying In to Tbilisi

Three days on the ground covers the paperwork with a day to spare. Stay central: the Old Town, Sololaki and Marjanishvili are all a short taxi ride from the Central Public Service Hall. The plan below assumes you arrive on a Monday, live in a country that takes an apostille, and one of you has a divorce decree to translate.

What It Costs to Get Married in Georgia

The state's share is small. These are the official fees:

What a couple actually pays comes down to 3 choices: a ceremony or not, the day of the week, and how fast you need the apostille.

Flights, the hotel, a translator's own fee and any embassy charges come on top.

Apostille or Legalization: Using the Certificate Abroad

A Georgian marriage certificate is valid in Georgia from the moment it is issued. To use it anywhere else, it needs a stamp that proves it genuine. Georgia has been a party to the Hague Apostille Convention since 14 May 2007, so for most countries that stamp is an apostille, and the Public Service Development Agency's apostille service issues it at any Public Service Hall.

Countries outside the convention want legalization instead. It costs the same at the Public Service Hall, which also collects the Foreign Ministry's stamp for you, and then the destination country's embassy certifies it. After that, the certificate is valid in that one country.

For UAE residents the chain has a third step. After the UAE Embassy in Tbilisi attests the certificate (USD 41 for a marriage document), MOFA attests the original again in the UAE (AED 150).

Your home country decides what it does with the certificate after that, from accepting it as it is to asking you to register the marriage locally. Georgia does not issue multilingual certificates, so most countries also want a translation. The agency translates into English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Greek, Russian or Turkish for GEL 30 a page.

Doing It Yourself or Using a Paperwork Service

The registration itself is simple to do alone. The paperwork around it is where trips go wrong: a divorce decree without its stamp, a translation the registry will not take, or a certificate legalized for the wrong country.

Doing it yourself works well when:

• Your passports use Latin letters. There is nothing to translate for the registration.

• Neither of you was married before. No foreign documents need legalizing or translating.

• Your home country takes an apostille. One stamp at the same Public Service Hall finishes the Georgian side.

• You have 3 days. That is enough for a same-day registration with a spare day.

A paperwork service earns its fee when:

• A divorce decree or death certificate is involved. It needs the right foreign stamp and a certified translation before the registry will accept it.

• You live in the UAE, Qatar or Kuwait. The certificate goes through legalization and an embassy rather than a single apostille.

• You cannot afford a second trip. A missing stamp found at the counter means flying home and starting again.

If you would rather hand it over, you can use Get Married in Georgia, a Tbilisi paperwork service for foreign couples. They check your documents before you book flights, handle the translations and return the certificate with its apostille, for a fixed $500, or $750 with embassy legalization for couples living in the UAE, Qatar or Kuwait.

If You Already Live in Georgia or One of You Is Georgian

Expats who already live here marry the same way. Your residence card is your proof of lawful stay, and a Georgian partner brings their Georgian ID card instead of a passport. A certificate issued in Georgia needs no apostille for use in Georgia, so the legalization step only matters if you will also use it abroad.

Marriage also opens a way to stay. The foreign spouse of a Georgian citizen, or of a foreigner with Georgian residence, can apply for a family reunification residence permit, which rests on the marriage rather than on a job or an investment.

FAQ

Can we get married in Georgia on the same day we apply?

Yes. The day you apply is the normal registration day, and there is no fee for speed. An office with too many applications can decline a same-day slot, so apply on a weekday morning or book a date up to 2 months ahead.

How much does it cost to get married in Georgia?

Nothing, if you register at a Public Service Hall without a ceremony. A ceremony costs GEL 75 at a Public Service Hall, GEL 135 to 225 at a Wedding House and GEL 255 at a venue you choose. Couples who will use the certificate abroad also pay GEL 30 to 150 for the apostille and GEL 30 a page for a translation.

Do you need witnesses to get married in Georgia?

Yes, 2. They must be adults with full legal capacity, bring a passport or ID card, and sign the marriage record with you. They do not have to be Georgian, and a foreign passport with Latin letters needs no translation.

Can we get married in Georgia at the weekend?

Yes, with a ceremony. In Tbilisi the Central Public Service Hall holds ceremonies on Saturday and Sunday from 10:00 to 17:00 for GEL 75, and the Wedding Houses charge GEL 225 at weekends. The free registration without a ceremony is weekdays only.

Do we need to speak Georgian?

No official rule requires you to speak Georgian or bring an interpreter. The registration is conducted in Georgian, though, and you each read and sign the record, so if neither of you understands Georgian, bring someone who can translate the registrar's explanation.

Is a church wedding in Georgia legally valid?

Not on its own. Only a state registration creates a marriage in Georgia, so couples who want an Orthodox or other religious ceremony also register at a Public Service Hall or Wedding House.

Can we get married in Georgia online?

No. Georgia has no online or proxy marriage. A representative with a notarized power of attorney can file the application, but both partners and both witnesses must attend the registration in person.

Is a marriage in Georgia recognised in other countries?

That is decided by the country where you use it. The UK, for example, recognises a foreign marriage that was lawful where it took place and would be allowed under UK law. Check your own country's rule, then apostille or legalize the certificate the way that country asks.