Notary Services and Power of Attorney in Georgia

A notary in Georgia is not a government clerk behind a counter. Notaries are private lawyers who hold a license and work under the supervision of the Ministry of Justice, and their job is to certify documents so that they carry legal force.

For a foreigner, the most common reason to see a Georgian notary is a power of attorney. It lets another person register a company, sign a lease, or close a property deal in your name while you are still outside Georgia.

How notaries in Georgia work in practice

Notaries in Georgia run their own private practices rather than working as civil servants, but every notarial act follows a set procedure, and most standard services have a price fixed by government decree.

Any licensed notary can handle the standard acts, so you do not need to look for a particular office tied to your district or your type of case. The Notary Chamber of Georgia keeps a full public register of notaries at notary.ge.

When you actually need a power of attorney

The most frequent case for a foreigner is registering as an individual entrepreneur in Georgia or setting up a Georgian LLC without being there in person. A notarized power of attorney lets a representative file the registration papers at the Public Service Hall on your behalf.

The same goes for property deals, opening or managing a bank account through a representative, and a range of other administrative steps where turning up in person is impractical or impossible by the closing date.

A power of attorney can be narrow and cover one specific action, such as signing a single contract, or general and cover an open-ended range of actions in your name. Choose the narrow version whenever you can. A general power of attorney over financial and legal matters hands over a great deal of control, and it is hard to revoke quickly and completely if your relationship with the representative changes.

What a notary really costs

The official state tariff for the most common notarial acts is set by government decree, and it is far lower than what most foreigners end up paying in total. Certifying a power of attorney for an individual costs 18 lari, certifying a signature on a one-page document costs 6 lari, certifying a translator's signature on a one-page translation also costs 6 lari, and certifying a copy of a one-page document costs 4 lari.

Every act except a certified copy also carries a fee of 5 lari for registration in the notarial register, and a notary who is registered for VAT adds VAT on top.

Drafting the document itself, when it goes beyond simple certification, is billed separately and by agreement, and that is where the real cost usually hides. Law firms and relocation agencies that draft a bilingual power of attorney, translate it, and arrange the notarization as a package commonly charge several hundred lari for the whole service, not for the notary's stamp.

How to certify a power of attorney from outside Georgia

Georgia is unusual in that it allows a notarial act, including a power of attorney, to be certified remotely over a video call with a notary while a witness is present. That option is open to Georgian citizens and to foreigners who hold a Georgian residence permit, so it does not help a foreigner without one.

Remote certification costs 60 lari for an individual and 90 lari for a company or an individual entrepreneur, higher than the standard in-person rate because of the extra identity checks involved.

If you are outside Georgia and have no Georgian residence permit, the practical route runs through a Georgian consulate or embassy in your country of residence. A power of attorney certified there already counts as a Georgian state act and needs no apostille to be accepted in Georgia.

A local notary in the US, the UK, Ireland, Canada, or Australia works too, but the document then needs an apostille for Georgia from the authorities of that country, and once in Georgia it must be translated into Georgian, with the translation certified by a notary, before any Georgian institution accepts it. Those are two extra steps that a visit to the consulate avoids.

What to bring and what to expect at the appointment

A foreigner needs a valid passport as identification. You do not need a Georgian personal number or a residence permit to use a notary.

If the document is in a language the notary does not work with, or you do not understand Georgian well enough to confirm what you are signing, you need to arrange an interpreter who will be present at the signing itself. The interpreter's fee is paid separately from the notary's tariff.

As a rule, bring documents unsigned. The notary has to witness the act of signing, not just check a signature you made earlier.

Documents that commonly need notarization

• Powers of attorney for registering a business, closing a property deal, or handling a bank account through a representative
• Property purchase agreements, when the parties choose a notary instead of signing at the Public Service Hall
• Wills and inheritance certificates
• Certified translations of documents issued in other countries into Georgian
• Certified copies of original documents for submission to government agencies

What a notary does not do

A notary certifies that a document and the signatures on it are genuine. A notary does not build legal strategy, does not represent either side in a dispute, and does not advise on tax or immigration beyond the document in front of them.

Anything that calls for judgment, whether that is structuring a deal, choosing between business forms, or appealing a refusal, is a job for a lawyer. The notary steps in only at the final stage, when the document is certified.