[TEST] How I Registered My First Company in Tbilisi in Three Weeks

I moved to Tbilisi planning to freelance for a few months and ended up registering an LLC before the month was out. Here's what actually happened, in the order it happened.

The Plan That Changed

I came to Georgia with a laptop, a handful of freelance clients, and no intention of starting a company — just renting an apartment, sitting in a few coworking spaces, and seeing how remote work in Tbilisi felt. Three weeks in, one of my clients asked if I could invoice through a local entity instead of as an individual. That one email is the reason this story exists.

Picking a Structure

A consultant I met through a coworking space walked me through the options over coffee: sole proprietorship versus LLC. For a single foreign freelancer with one or two clients, either works, but an LLC felt cleaner for opening a business bank account later, so that's what I went with.

The Registration Itself

I expected paperwork spread over weeks. Instead, I filled out the application at the House of Justice with my passport and a proposed company name, paid the registration fee, and had a registered LLC the same day. The part that actually took time was choosing a name that wasn't already taken — my first two picks were gone.

What I'd Do Differently

I'd have opened the business bank account in the same week, not two weeks later — the account application needed documents I hadn't thought to bring the first time, which meant a second trip. Otherwise, the whole thing took less effort than registering a company back home.